Engines Of Creation [SACD]

engines of creation [sacd]

Track Listings

1. Devil's Slide

2. Flavor Crystal 7

3. Borg Sex

4. Until We Say Goodbye

5. Attack

6. Champagne

7. Clouds Race Across the Sky

8. Power Cosmic 2000, Pt. 1

9. Power Cosmic 2000, Pt. 2

10. Slow and Easy

11. Engines of Creation

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
A little cynicism is to be expected when a veteran guitar virtuoso jumps on the electronica bandwagon. But Joe Satriani, who takes that route with Engines of Creation, remains head and shoulders above most guitar gods through sheer good taste. Most of Engines is very good, and Satriani deserves credit at the very least for daring and inventiveness. However, its appeal will likely be largely limited to Satriani fans; it's difficult to imagine hardcore electronica heads getting down to this sort of thing, although the final two tracks consist of great chill music. Satriani makes effective use of the flexibility inherent in the genre's repetitiveness: often, he just lets the backing tracks play and solos over them, coming up with some truly otherworldly sonic exploration. --Genevieve Williams

Engines Of Creation,Joe Satriani,Sony,Guitar Virtuoso,Hard Rock,Instrumental Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Engines Of Creation [SACD]

Average customer rating:

Building a better guitar
A fantastic listen for the open-minded fan
Surprisingly good
Engines
Not too shabby

Engines Of Creation
Joe Satriani
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00004SGNO
Release Date: 2000-03-14

Tracks:

Devil's Slide
Flavor Crystal 7
Borg Sex
Until We Say Goodbye
Attack
Champagne
Clouds Race Across the Sky
Power Cosmic 2000, Pt. 1
Power Cosmic 2000, Pt. 2
Slow and Easy
Engines of Creation

Amazon.com

A little cynicism is to be expected when a veteran guitar virtuoso jumps on the electronica bandwagon. But Joe Satriani, who takes that route with Engines of Creation, remains head and shoulders above most guitar gods through sheer good taste. Most of Engines is very good, and Satriani deserves credit at the very least for daring and inventiveness. However, its appeal will likely be largely limited to Satriani fans; it's difficult to imagine hardcore electronica heads getting down to this sort of thing, although the final two tracks consist of great chill music. Satriani makes effective use of the flexibility inherent in the genre's repetitiveness: often, he just lets the backing tracks play and solos over them, coming up with some truly otherworldly sonic exploration. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews:

Building a better guitar.......2007-04-05

In the end of the 90s, some bands and guitar players decided to explore new grounds of music. Some of these attempts was successful, some were not. Good examples of artists that tried to sound modern was the German rock band Scorpions (EyeIIEye), Steve Vai (Sex & Religion), Jeff Beck (Who Else!, You Had it Coming, Jeff) and of course, Joe Satriani.

In a particular boarding, Mr. Satch saw the rising experiments from genius guitar player and inspiration Jeff Beck and decided to make an attempt into a more electronic kind of music. Now, the difference between Beck and Satch is that Satch was creative, bold and concise in his boarding, and Jeff, well, lost himself in the path.

Don't get me wrong, I love Jeff Beck from his Yardbirds/Tridents days to Beckology, he was truly a great genius, egomaniac, but genius, comparable only with Jimi Hendrix. But Jeff's techno sound is boring, noisy and truly out of place. He affirmed himself that his techno albums is among the worst ones ever produced by him.

Joe Satriani, in a kind of inspired mood and brilliance knew very well how to create his chops without sacrifice the music. He created a balance between him, his human band and the Pro-tools. He sounds fantastic in this release. Challenging, groundbreaking, powerful, beautiful and pleasant.

Rumor has that the title of the album was inspired in the molecular nanotechnology book "Engines of Creation", written by K. Eric Drexler in 1986. The book also have an interesting line that says that "what we can do depends on what we can built". I don't think that's a mere coincidence, considering the illustrations on the album's sleeves. Judging by that we can presume that we have a conceptual record in hands.

Of course, as an experiment, somethings goes very nice and somethings nor in such a way. "Devil's Slide" is a good example of a very cool, dynamic and inspired piece. "Borg Sex" is like imagining robots having sexual relations, and the song has a very nice mood. "Champagne?" is some kind of tribute to Jeff Beck, it's very similar to the sound that Jeff has been developing in his comeback album "Who Else!", by far, his best effort with techno rock. There's also beautiful electronic moments like "Clouds Race Across the Sky", witch is a nice soundscape song, and also human moments, like the wonderful ballad "Until We Say Goodbye" and the awesome closing title track. But the breathtaking moment of the album is the two-track song "The Power Cosmic 2000", witch is a nice improvement compared with it's version released as a single.

With this release, Joe got his foot into a modern and nice sound and continues to sound relevant. Of course, this is the "we don't need another one" kind of album. Joe knew it very well, since techno music sounds dated nowadays, and returned to his human sound in his next release. But as far as it went, it was a wonderful experiment and a very consistent work that still deliver us in a nice mood.

A fantastic listen for the open-minded fan.......2006-08-14

With Engines of Creation, Joe Satriani did what he has always done: make the most of the tools he chooses to use.

Only this time, he uses electronic beats and soundscapes as the canvas on which to express his skill with the guitar. It would be easy to give this one listen and wonder where the guy who wrote "Satch Boogie," "War" and "Flying in a Blue Dream" went.

Well, he's still here, only more than ever he's showing us his incredible command of his instrument by being able to create sounds that so perfecly reflect what they intend to convey.

I've never heard robots having sex, but I'm willing to be "Borg Sex" isn't far off. And although his calmly passing, sometimes noodling melodies appear to have little structure, that's kinda how you'd expect to see "Clouds Race Across the Sky." The 'chorus' to "Devil's Slide" sounds as sinister as its name suggests and "Attack" is as close to a musical sci-fi battle as I've ever heard.

To top it off, the album includes "Until We Say Goodbye," one of Satch's best ballads in his entire catalogue.

If you're willing to put a little more mental energy into appreciating the work Satch put into this album than just waiting for the album to rock your socks off Surfing With The Alien-style, you'll find that there's an incredible amount of depth -- and musicianship -- to be found.

It's not a Satriani masterpiece, but its a true testament to the man's enduring creativity.

Surprisingly good.......2006-05-24

Like many of the reviewers I was prepared to dismiss this as an unfortunate experiment and simply refused to buy something that mixed electronica with Satriani. This all changed when I purchased the Live in San Franciso DVD which featured Devil's Slide, the fantastic Borg Sex and the beautiful Until We Say Goodbye and I was left thinking what album are these songs are off.

Imagine my surprise when I find out it's Engines of Creation so I took the plunge and bought it and it's great. There are some misses but on the whole this is an awesome album. It's chock full of that unique Satriani mix of melody, technique and songcraft and simply packaged in a new format.

All of the songs on this album could be played in a live context "sans electronica" and perhaps that's what detractors of this album need first in order to tame their automatic cynicism (such as I had) towards electronica and be able to appreciated some of the magic moments strewn throughout the album.

Some off these magic moments apart from the songs mentioned above include the two parts to The Power Cosmic 2000, Attack and Engines of Creation. All have great melodies, instrument interplay and song parts as we've come to expect from Satch.

Engines.......2006-04-29

I was a bit taken aback when I first played this CD. I had to make sure there wasn't a packaging error. After a few late night listenings this work grew on me in a big way. Highly creative and experimental. This is what Joe is all about. If the starship Enterprise had a CD player this is what would be in it. The low ratings for this CD are once again by the type of people who cannot get past an artists earlier works. This is Joe. This is what he does; continually evolving and creating things with the guitar no one deemed possible. What sold me even more about this CD was that I got to see him on tour for it. He played a good chunk of this CD with a real drummer and bass player. No machines. It was phenominal. If you don't get what Joe was trying to do here, then you don't get Joe. Each album is different. That's what a genius does. You want the same album over and over again? Go listen to Metallica.

Not too shabby.......2006-04-13

Joe, if you're reading this, I like the cd alot. Perhaps make another one with Bill Leeb. :)

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