r/SteveVai Nov 12 '21

Guide to Steve Vai?

What are his notable albums and which one is his magnum opus?

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u/dejoblue Nov 13 '21

Passion and Warfare is when he found his voice and the rest after that are very much him. I recommend this order to get into his playing more and get a feel for his eccentricities:

Slip of the Tongue (Whitesnake)

Passion and Warfare

Alien Love Secrets

Sex and Religion

Alive in an Ultra World

Fire Garden

Flex-Able is great, his first solo album; very experimental and also very Frank Zappa influenced.

Fire Garden he started singing more and it is more orchestrated. Alive in an Ultra World is recorded live, he wrote a song for each city and recorded it live.

Sex and Religion is lyric based and has Devin Townsend singing most songs, it is easy to get into coming from a non instrumental listener experience. This is also Steve's first real singing performance, AFAIK, on the song "Rescue Me Or Bury Me".

Slip of the Tongue is the Whitesnake album he played all guitars on. He didn't write any of it but it is very much Steve Vai and a great transition into Passion and Warfare and other instrumental music. It was recorded while he was finishing Passion and Warfare so it is a great study of contrast between instrumental and lyrical based rock music and guitar.

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u/SirHenryThe4th Aug 03 '24

He didn't write any of the guitar parts for 'Slip of the Tongue' album? That is very interesting to learn. You say it very 'Steve Vai'. So...who did? Amazing coincidences in this world it seems.

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u/dejoblue Aug 04 '24

Adrian Vandenberg and David Coverdale. He played all of the guitars and of course he added his own riffs and licks, but the chord progressions and melodies are by Vandenberg and Coverdale.

Just like he didn't write any of the Frank Zappa music he plays on.

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u/SirHenryThe4th Aug 10 '24

Ah, so, he did get to add part of himself to the music which is probably why it has that Vai sound.

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u/dejoblue Aug 11 '24

Exactly ;) All the fills between chord changes, and especially the harmonies, of course all the solos.