The Day Arrives…

And so the new Vai Album is released.

Having had a ’sneak preview’ before my copy arrived yesterday, I’ve had a week to listen and digest the 11 tracks which constitute ‘Real Illusions:Reflections‘, so here’s a few comments on each track by yours truly

Track 1: Building The Church: Opening track which starts with an arpeggiated synth sequence leading into a very cool riff. Familiar Vai vibes here, with a slight ‘Ultra Zone’ album feel. Love the ending riffing with power chords interspersed with harmonics, whammy bar dives and whammy pedal squeals. Very cool.

Track 2: Dying For Your Love: The ’skipper’ track . I’m a fan of Vai’s singing but for me this song is possibly too ‘weird’ for my tastes and at times seems to plod along. Next.

Track 3: Glorious: Ah now we’re talking, great opening riff of ‘add9′ shapes with main melody being played with Roland guitar synth. Great driving rhythm throughout with great breakdown section over the solo. One of my faves on the album.

Track 4: K’m-Pee-Du-Wee: Another album fave for me. Slightly reminiscent of the opening solo of ‘You’re Here’ played on the Triple neck during last years G3 concerts this is a brilliant laid back track of solo guitar with low mixed drums and bass.

Track 5: Firewall: This is Possibly my favourite song on the album, truly fantastic opening sequence with Vai singing phonetic rhythms e.g Boom Shika-Boom Shika ba-ka-tu-ka. Love that sort of stuff. This song grooves and features cool horn blasts with Vai singing competently. Fun, funky stuff.

Track 6: Freak Show Excess: Vai going off on one here. Lots of unison keys and guitar runs, odd time signatures and of course Vai-tastic outro soloing. Great stuff.

Track 7: Lotus Feet: The seventh song. I had the great pleasure being present and hearing this performed live with the Metropole Orchestra in Holland at the Paradiso. The beauty of the piece blew me away that night and I’m happy to hear the Album version is a recording from those nights in Amsterdam. Simple but sorrowful melody that beautifully intertwines with the soaring strings of the orchestra building to a uplifting ending.

Track 8: Yai Yai: No Vai album is complete without that quirky touch and this track is just that. Strange ‘vocal’ effect used on the guitar, similar to that of ‘Kill The Guy With The Ball’ from ‘Alien Love Secrets’, which drives along an amusing piece that brings a smile to the face.

Track 9: Midway Creatures: Cool thumping rhythm to this one with some cool low synth tones over the guitar. Strangely, reminds me of ‘Satch’ in places apart from the distinctly Vai solo which features the Roland Guitar Synth again, layering a high pitch sound over the lead guitar.

Track 10: I’m Your Secrets: Almost tribal sounding drum intro with acoustic guitar playing Vai’s classic ‘chords with harmonics’ technique as featured in ‘Damn Good’ etc. I really like Vai’s singing on this one, great melody and subtle harmony vocals. Chilled and soothing, Brilliant.

Track 11: Under It All: An eight minute epic with an unsettling feel due to odd time signatures and harmony. Almost Prog! More competent singing from Vai and usual stunning guitar work during breakdown solo section. First time I listened to this I was thrown off by the voice overs near the end giving the song a slight ‘Love Secrets’ vibe.

‘Real Illusions: Reflections’ forms a part of a Rock Opera penned by Vai himself and so each song on this album is part of that story ( see the Real Illusions mini-site for info on each song ) and as such is not just a ‘guitar’ album like say ‘Alien Love Secrets’.

Overall I love the music presented here, with the odd exception, but I wouldn’t class it as my favourite Vai album. To be honest each album has something different to offer and it really comes down to favourite songs. I do know that ‘Glorious’, ‘K’m-Pee-Du-Wee’, ‘Firewall’, ‘Lotus Feet’ and ‘I’m Your Secrets’ will be high on my repeat listening list.