| | Steve Vai Alien Love Secrets CD Steve Vai Discography of CDs
 (2 Customer Reviews)
"Tender Surrender" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
ALIEN LOVE SECRETS, which was once the name of Steve Vai's music/philosophy/advice column in a popular guitar magazine, screams open with a big, low, slinky, heavy and hairy groove. "Bad Horsie," which begins the disc, mixes strange sounds, tasteful fretboard acrobatics and a frightful lowness emanating from Vai's bottom 7th string. There is a rambunctious energy here reminiscent of the musical duel at the end of the film CROSSROADS, where Vai played the Devil's guitar prodigy.
Rock guitar fans will not be disappointed with the seven mostly instrumental escapades--many are altogether hummable, each bearing Vai's unmistakable personality and living up to his reputation for fantastic expression. The set is varied enough that each piece is drastically different, complete unto itself and yet completely Vai. The myriad of various voices and emotions he can conjure from six or seven strings, and a few signal processors, is impressive.
Aside from someone's momentary interjection ("Shut up! We know you can play!"), the only human vocals present are on "Ya-Yo Gakk," one of the cooler songs on ALIEN LOVE SECRETS, which features musical gibberish eloquently expressed by Steve's child, Julian. The effect is a successful mix of the goofy with the sublime.
After the disastrous full-band heavy metal project of Sex & Religion, Steve Vai returned to recording solo with Alien Love Secrets. It's a moodier, more atmospheric collection than his masterpiece, Passion and Warfare, which makes it slightly revelatory. With the new sonic textures, the guitarist again demonstrates his fluid technique, which manages to never become completely mechanical. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All songs written by Steve Vai.
Personnel: Steve Vai (guitar, bass, programming); Julian Vai (vocals); Tommy Mars (organ); Deen Castronovo (drums).
Entertainment Weekly (3/24/95, p.64) - "...In the liner notes to this instrumental mini-album, virtuoso Vai thanks `all the fine guitar publications'--you know, the ones that print transcriptions of his solos....But even those who don't give a Flying V about guitar heroics will give Vai props..." - Rating: B
Q (6/95, p.130) - 3 Stars - Good - "...has unequivocally restated his claim to sit at the head of the fret-melters' top table." Steve Vai Alien Love Secrets Songs | 1. | Bad Horsie | $0.99 | |
| 2. | Juice | |
| 3. | Die to Live | |
| 4. | Boy From Seattle, The | |
| 5. | Ya-Yo Gakk | $0.99 | |
| 6. | Kill The Guy With The Ball / The God Eaters | |
| 7. | Tender Surrender | $0.99 | |
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Alien Love Secrets Music Review Average Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)   The Alien Stuntman is back
In just 7 tracks, you see all sides of the Steve Vai experience. 'Bad Horsie' can be said in just one word...nasty. It is just low and rude from beginning to end. Juice is a nice up-tempo piece with strong rhythms and not a lot of flash but enough. Die To Live and Boy From Seattle recalls his days with Zappa, like at least one or two songs from every album. Ya Yo Gakk comes from his then 3 year old son and by far the most fun track to listen to on the album. Kill The Guy With The Ball comes next and it's back to vintage Vai's shredfest with the touch of a true virtuoso at work. Tender Surrender ends it beautifully. A must have for any Vai fan or a fan of true guitar wizardry.
Submitted by houseofraven (Mid Missouri USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
 Vai gets back to basics
If you thought Vai was out there like me and lost interest in his Zappa-esque songs, well this CD proves he's a true guitar master. Innovative and blistering at the same time, this CD showcases his playing, but is very varied in style and tone. Only one song, YA-YO Gakk, features his son's voice, but is actually pretty inventive and you'll want to listen to it again. Buy this CD if you want some straight-up, awesome guitar licks and no verbal BS to detract from VAI's awesome riffs.
Submitted by erichaar (Middletown, PA USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
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Buy Alien Love Secrets CD  | | Steve Vai
14.5 x 14.5 inch
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Price: $29.99 |  | | Steve Vai
14.5 x 20.5 inch
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Purchase Alien Love Secrets CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Steve Vai Passion & Warfare CD (1990)
Alien Love Secrets
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The one and only Satriani-taught and Zappa-tested virtuoso, Steve Vai, returns with his self-produced 1990 release, PASSION AND WARFARE. The album was inspired by sequential dream ...
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During my first year in college at Santa Cruz, CA, I discovered old-time fiddle music. Some friends of mine would often get together to play tunes on the fiddle, banjo, and guitar. The music was exhiliarating and infectious, and I couldn't wait to be playing it myself. I often stayed up all night, crouched in a certain concrete stairway in my dormitory, learning those tunes with a tape recorder and any instrument I could find. During that year I taught myself how to play the mandolin, guitar, and banjo, all for the love of this music.Whenever possible I would travel with these friends to old-time fiddlers' conventions that were held throughout California. I'll never forget the one spring day in 1974 at the California State Fiddle Contest in Madeira, when an old man who had been fiddling for over 60 years was introduced to the audience of fiddlers, families, and friends. This man was dying of cancer and was expected to live only a few more weeks. As I watched him play his tunes for the last time, I got choked up with tears, and, sobbing uncontrollably, I wandered outside into a wedding reception for two young fiddlers who had just gotten married. People were singing, dancing and laughing, and the air was filled with joy. Somehow between the old man and this wedding celebration my heart was torn open. The music and all of these people who were keeping it alive struck a very deep chord inside me. In that moment I understood that old-time music contains a part of all those who have ever played it. I realized that these tunes are in fact, alive. That old man and countless others gave me so much when they passed their music on to me, and the only way I know to thank them is to pass it on once more.Since learning to build and play hammered dulcimers in 1976, I have played on many street corners and at many different functions. For years I had wanted to make a recording of hammered dulcimer music, but the timing was never right. While returning home after my brother's wedding in November 1982, I stopped off in Los Angeles to visit my friends J.J. Schoch and Holly Deskin. They had an 8-track recording studio in their home and I happened to have my hammered dulcimer with me. With no immediate obligations to return home, I decided on impulse to make a recording right then and there. I was full of enthusiasm and energy, and had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.I had figured it would take around a week or so. Well, after one week I was still arranging the tunes as well as trying to figure out how all the recording equipment worked! Two weeks later we finished recording the tunes and J.J. (my indespensable engineer-musician-producer-friend) left for the holidays. I stayed on to finish the production of the tapes, thinking I'd be home in three days. Three weeks later, J.J. came back to find me still working away. I had discovered such things as mixing, editing, designing, ...
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