ajejebrazorf

What do you mean by acid electronics? I definitely like Eskimo's environmental residents less than other things.

"What is the concept behind your music?" And Selberg replied, "Well, fuck you, who are you? Just another one of those filthy Europeans who need a 'concept'." As a filthy European, you've piqued my curiosity a lot.

Well, from the comments and the review, it seems made for me :) I've heard good things about it, but I've never heard of them. Is it really that bad?

Marco, I don't know about you, but I really have nothing to teach anyone. I just share my thoughts. The most I can do is, like everyone else, suggest some albums that I think are worth listening to. At this point, if you want to discuss it, that's fine; let's discuss it. Tell me what you disagree with regarding what I said.

So: first point. Listen to Ege and read the review of This Heat. Second point. If it seemed to you that I treated someone dismissively, I apologize. But I didn't express any judgment about you, even though we don't have the same taste in music. If I treated something dismissively, it's this CD, and I took the liberty to do so because I know it very well. Now, since this is a site where opinions about records are expressed, there can be very different points of view. It's not that I don't want to explain myself, Marco and Jetto. However, since I've been on Debaser a bit longer than you and learned to recognize how certain discussions go, I wouldn't like to see it end up like it did with the review of CCCP, or that of Dream Theater, or the one on Pat Metheny with Basentini, to name three famous ones. The fact is that with dialectic we could go on for years (see Easy, who grew up with that review); I could counter about the whole color thing, but simply if we don't have the same listening experiences, it leads nowhere. All discussions make sense only if there's a common knowledge base. When you give a rating to an album, you do so in relation to other albums, and if the terms of comparison are unknown, good luck reasoning it out. Even saying that they can or cannot be compared, since in some ways some of the guitarists I've mentioned have various points in common. Phish, for example, are among the greatest heirs of Zappa for me, so they share something.

yet one is a war film, the other a comedy.

I don't deny the evidence; it's just that saying Vai is Zappa's greatest student is inaccurate because, in fact, he studied elsewhere and, if anything, absorbed influences like many others, recognizing the value of the many musicians who played in the Mothers. I definitely place Vai in the background in terms of importance. As for technique, as I've said, I have nothing against it, but there are those who create pieces far more impactful than the Fire Garden Suite, and given that you're much more interested in experimental music. It's probably the best thing on the album, but only within the context of the album. I don't care if it's more or less technical; that's not the point, and I know full well that the first part is done cleanly and doesn't involve scales at a thousand miles an hour (and in any case, the virtuosity is abundant). Then again, I know very well that I will never convince you: different perceptions that depend on different listens.

Marco doesn’t seem so inimitable to me; his eccentricities have a Zappa-esque style, which in turn also drew from others. Similar to Vai in style, but more valid are, for example, Belew and Snakefinger. A lot of bands take inspiration from Zappa’s harmonies. After all, there are tons of experimental guitarists, and many, whether very talented or less so, can be said to be inimitable, but that isn't necessarily a merit. Vai has talent, but he wastes it all, unlike others, by indulging in his own skill. Better than Satriani, but when compared to other guitarists, the depth of his pieces, talent aside, seems rather meager.

"I confirm that Vai is the greatest student of Frank Zappa." Well, student in what sense? Vai studied at Berklee. So he’s not a student. He has been influenced in his music, but there are musicians who have drawn from Zappa who are far more significant, coming from his bands or simply taking inspiration, from Ponty to the Residents. In Zappa's bands, there were people like Underwood, Ponty himself, Colaiuta, Bozzio, Duke, Sugarcane Harris, Adrian Belew. As for Hendrix, Vai really says very little to me, and while he surely drew from Hendrix like everyone else, I see people far more important on guitar among the Hendrixian disciples.

for gorrrgio: antitecnica? come on. If I listen to Miles Davis, Zappa, and a lot of progressive music, can I really be someone who hates technique? For jetto: this CD, on the other hand, I know very well. When I was younger, Satriani, Vai, Dream Theater, Malmsteen were my daily bread. The examples you cited, like hand on heart on this CD, are the exception and not the rule. I have nothing against four thousand notes per minute, but as often happens with these people, there's just a lot of self-indulgence behind it. This album, in particular, more than others by Vai, really goes nowhere imho. But I assure you I didn't just give it a quick listen.