Live in Paris: I Just Wanna Rock

Epic

satrianiThe best instrumental music emotionally engages the listener at a stratospheric level, making up for the lack of words. When it comes to Satriani, not many guitarists fly higher — his ultramelodic rock is the genre’s gold standard.

Recorded May 27, 2008, at the Grand Rex Theatre, “Live in Paris” offers a compelling cross section of the musician’s output, from his 1987 sophomore album “Surfing With the Alien” onward with the exception of 1998’s “Crystal Planet,” 1999’s “Engines of Creation,” 2002’s “Strange Beautiful Music” and 2004’s “Is There Love in Space?”

Rounding out the quartet are Galen Henson on rhythm guitar (who’s also managed tours and/or served as technician for everyone from Reba McEntire to Kenny Wayne Shepherd to Dream Theater); longtime Steve Vai and Satriani bassist Stuart Hamm; and Jeff Campitelli on drums, who goes all the way back with Satriani to a band called the Squares in 1979.

The emphasis is on the last studio album, 2008’s “Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock,” which supplies eight of the CD’s 22 songs. Of those, “Ghosts” was an iTunes bonus track and is one of “Satch’s” best songs of late. The “Jetsons”-era computer sound effect he gets out of his instrument is beyond cool.

“Revelation” and “Out of the Sunrise” also are among the cream of the latest crop. On the latter, a piano emulation by Henson works so well that adding real piano on the next album deserves serious consideration.

The companion DVD offers something different than Satch’s other two live DVDs since 2001: eye candy. Lighting designer Ernesto Corti’s intense colors and song-specific psychedelic LED programming (including line drawings and computer-rendered art by Satriani), along with director Gunther Kutsch’s post-editing computer enhancements, elevate the viewing experience to a new level.gnm_end_bug

Tracks
Disc One
1. I Just Wanna Rock
2. Overdriver
3. Satch Boogie
4. Ice 9
5. Diddle-Y-A-Doo-Dat
6. Flying In A Blue Dream
7. Ghost
8. Revelation
9. Super Colossal
10. One Big Rush
11. Musterion
12. Out Of The Sunrise

Disc Two
1. Time Machine
2. Cool #9
3. Andalusia
4. Bass Solo
5. Cryin’
6. Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing
7. Always With Me, Always With You
8. Surfing With The Alien
9. Crowd Chant
10. Summer Song

Total time: 2:06:33

External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store