Before his high-profile gigs with David Lee Roth as well as Whitesnake, Steve Vai served fourth dimension as Frank Zappa's guitarist inward the early on '80s. And judging yesteryear Vai's start 2 solo albums released unopen to this time, 1984's Flex-Able as well as Flex-Able Leftovers, he was heavily influenced yesteryear Zappa's songwriting as well as compositional skills. Although at that topographic point is definitely a noticeable Zappa postage stamp on the tunes, Vai's ain personality as well as awe-inspiring guitar chops are what actually brand these 2 solo albums thence impressive. Also, Vai was i of the few guitar heroes of the '80s to stress the importance of songwriting over mindless soloing. While Flex-Able was a total album, Flex-Able Leftovers was originally simply an EP of fabric that didn't larn inward onto the debut.
When Flex-Able was released on CD inward 1988, a few tracks from Leftovers were included as a bonus, yet fans bring wondered all along if the total EP would always locomote released on CD. Ten years later, their want came true. Not solely has the EP been re-released, but unreleased tracks from that era are included, making upwards a full-length album. Vai's over-the-top sense of humour tin locomote sampled on the profanity-fest "#?@! Yourself" as well as the goofy "So Happy," patch "Massacre" as well as "Natural Born Boy" characteristic his immense guitar skill. And Vai's unique songwriting talent is evident on such tracks as "Burnin' Down the Mountain," "The Beast of Love," as well as "Bledsoe Blvd." The 1998 version of Flex-Able Leftovers is highly recommended to guitar freaks everywhere, as good as lovers of completely original as well as cutting-edge stone music.
With $5000 as well as a homebuilt studio, Steve Vai recorded an album that made him a star as well as changed guitar music forever. On the 25th anniversary of Flex-Able, Vai delivers the most in-depth expect always into the making of his shred-tastic debut as well as his plans to remake it.
“I was completely scared to expiry of beingness famous,” Steve Vai confides. “And I simply thought, There’s no way I could sell this music I’ve made. I don’t fifty-fifty desire to induce to sell it! It’s likewise personal.”
The music that Vai is discussing is Flex-Able, his start solo album. Released inward 1984, a quarter of a century agone this year, it has larn a classic alongside fans of virtuoso stone guitar as well as a landmark of the Eighties shred phenomenon that forever raised the bar for stone guitar technique. It has been reissued many times as well as inward many formats, along with the right away as famous Flex-Able Leftovers bonus tracks. In commemoration of its silvery anniversary, Vai is preparing a peculiarly remastered, 25th anniversary deluxe reissue of the album that pose him on the map.
Flex-Able was the disc that introduced Steve Vai to the world. Although he had already made several albums with Frank Zappa, Flex-Able was the start tape that presented him on his ain terms. His uncanny mastery of the fretboard, the foreign voodoo he could run with a whammy bar, the soul-searching lyricism of his ballad playing, his compositional flair, fifty-fifty his mystical, tantric alien honey god persona—the whole Vai even out begins with Flex-Able.
The album is also an of import early on event of a stone instrumentalist seizing command of the agency of production as well as distribution, as well as having it his ain way. Vai recorded it inward a domicile studio that he built with his ain hands, as well as and then released it independently. In that respect, Flex-Able is an of import harbinger of our ain digital D.I.Y. era of MySpace as well as YouTube, Pro Tools as well as Garage Band—except that Vai did it all analog, at a fourth dimension earlier personal computers had fifty-fifty made their way into most people’s homes as well as the mesh was yet to a greater extent than than a decade downwards the road. Nonetheless, Flex-Able has sold to a greater extent than than 300,000 copies to date. Not bad for music that its creator idea would never sell.
Track listing:
All songs written yesteryear Steve Vai, except where noted.
"Fuck Yourself" (Listed as #?@! Yourself)[2] (Bonus Ed. 1998) – 8:27
"So Happy" (Vai, Laurel Fishman) – 2:43
"Bledsoe Bluvd" – 4:22
"Natural Born Boy" (Bonus Ed. 1998) – 3:34
"Details at 10" – 5:58
"Massacre" (Bonus Ed. 1998) – 3:25
"Burnin' Down the Mountain" – 4:22
"Little Pieces of Seaweed" – 5:12 (Vai, Larry Kutcher)
"San Sebastian" (Bonus Ed. 1998) – 1:08
"The Beast of Love" (Joe Kearney) – 3:30
"You Didn't Break it" (Bob Harris, Suzannah Harris) (1998 Version, with Robin DiMaggio (Drums)) – 4:19
"The X-Equilibrium Dance" (Bonus Ed. 1998) – 5:10
"Chronic Insomnia" – 2:00
Personnel:
Steve Vai – vocals, acoustic as well as electrical guitars, coral sitar, keyboards, electrical piano, bass guitar, background vocals
Mike Keneally – keyboards on "Fuck Yourself"
Tommy Mars – vocals, violin, keyboards
Stu Hamm – vocals, bass guitar
Bob Harris – background vocals
Joe Kearney – background vocals
Alex Acerra - background vocals
Larry Crane – piccolo xylophone, bell lyre, vibraphone
Robin DiMaggio – drums
Chris Frazier – drums
Deen Castronovo – drums
Pete Zeldman – percussion
Suzannah Harris – background vocals
Larry Kutcher - vocals as well as narration on Little Pieces of Seaweed
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