Steve Vai
Passion and Warfare

In a strict sense, I would say that I like Steve Vai a lot. In an even stricter sense, I would say that there are at least four or five reasons why any musician should like Steve Vai. But since objectivity in music fortunately does not exist, then it is better to say that, roughly speaking, the music he plays is disliked by 97% of our mothers and a good 89% of young people between 18 and 30 years old. Therefore, how he still manages to sell records seems like a minor miracle. Despite this, and despite the numerous criticisms that will rain on this review, I feel compelled to say that "Passion and Warfare" should be the first album to listen to when deciding to learn to play the guitar. Certainly, I forget about Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or Carlos Santana and Eric Clapton.

But in these 50 minutes of music, there's everything you need to know about the six strings that fascinate us the most. And I don't say it out of pure reverence. I firmly believe that this album is one of the most beautiful instrumental albums in living memory. And I call it an instrumental album simply because it is not 50 minutes of backing tracks on which Steve Vai practices going faster and faster. Let's leave that to the shredders.

The wealth of detail with which he crafts the arrangements is frighteningly detailed. Let's take a random song: "The Riddle". For 3/4 of the song, the chord progression stays the same, yet the experimental sounds and Steve's truly refined touch keep the piece from being monotonous. On the contrary, Steve enjoys creating particular melodies, sometimes dissonant, sometimes sweet and slow. With a nod to the master Frank Zappa, we could say that Steve does what he wants with music (and not just with the guitar). And what about the technique? Well, I would say that by his own admission, at Berklee in Boston, he dealt with people who were technically much more gifted than him but lacked feeling, touch, or whatever you call it. For 50 minutes, I never paid attention to the technique for its own sake that might stand out in an album of this kind. If there is a single virtue in this guitarist, it is precisely the ability to put technique at the service of the sound. And he succeeds splendidly, given that my first impression hearing the initial "Liberty" and "Erotic Nightmares" was: THIS MAN SINGS WITH THE GUITAR! That's it, to hell with the subjectivity of music. To hell with everything. Steve Vai plays the guitar in the most honest way possible. He can do things that many guitarists would do blindfolded with their hands behind their backs, but with one difference. They would probably do it without that famous feeling or touch we mentioned before. End of story.

Five-star album. If you want to open your mind, listen to it.