Dirty Black Hole I always loved the way this track started. We get Devin responding to the last, incredibly long vocal note from the previous song.... and it always gives me a chuckle. We then launch into a pumping thumping metal excursion with Devin laying down one of the vocals I assume that a lot of folks aren't really fond of. I'm not a fan of death metal vocals, and I only have a certain, mild interest in some of the more screamo vocals, but for some reason I have always enjoyed Devin's take on this kind of vocal .... and I think the reason is that when Devin uses his "fry" vocal he is still actually singing a melody. I find his vocal in this style often remarkable. I also think that as his personal career went on he refined this vocal to be a great effect to embellish his more regular vocals. When listening to a song like Kingdom off Epicloud, we get an amazing operatic vocal, that on occasion slides into the fry vocal for a great effect of emphasis.... anyway This track is a rollicking scorcher of a track, that focuses on merely rocking out. we obviously get some great Vai guitar, and the instrumental breakdown is very cool. The lead break has a sort of tip of the hat to Flex-able, and for me it just adds another dimension to the song, and the album as a whole.
Touching Tongues This track could easily have gone on Passion and Warfare. We open with a nice layering or acoustic guitar, choral sitar, some piano. A nice solid drum sound. We move into a beautifully controlled lead guitar, that has a very forward mix, and it moves into some beautiful harmonies. I believe then we get that cool effect from the Digitech Whammy pedal. This track moves through some really nice section, that have that beautifully attention grabbing melodic guitar. Just after the three minute mark Devin comes in with some beautiful vocalisation. It is intense, but for me at least it suits the feel of the piece of music. Then Steve takes over to bring the track home. Great piece of music.
State Of Grace This is another great bouncing instrumental. Somewhat built around and Eastern type them. With choral sitar, and an interesting bass sound I can't quite pinpoint. This is excellent and a really nice interlude at about the centre of the album. For me the arrangement and sequencing of this album is excellent.
Survive. We open with a blood curdling scream from Devin ... I reckon Vai encouraged Devin to push it, because he was interested in pushing some boundaries and trying stuff out, and dEvin would be happy to oblige. Townsend is a somewhat gregarious and somewhat thoughtful fellow, with quite amazing voice control, and a very musical mind. Anyway, that is how the song starts, and it doesn't bug me, but I am sure it annoys some folks..... The interesting thing is, this is a quite commercial sounding song... We open with this kind of dirty funk, and a layering of percusion, percussive vocals, melodic guitar, and a dirty funk bass .. for me it works really well. We get one of Devin's straight vocals, and the melodic construction is very good and the rhythmic construction of the chorus is excellent. This is an excellent song, and I kind of guess that some folks that would prefer an edited, shorter version of the album would include this track in there. Again, one of the things this track, and most of this album in fact, shows, is Vai's versatility, and musicality. This is nothing like a mindless shredder album. We get a nice piece of leading guitar, with a short vocalising interlude, that leads into an out-chorus. Excellent song.
Pig This track is the only Devin co-write on the album. I'm not sure what percentage each wrote of this song, but this song shows Devin's eclectic styling, and although it has a somewhat metal base, it also has some quite complex melodic structuring, and also some intriguing rhythmic structuring. I could imagine this track on something like Deconstruction from Townsend's solo years. This track is a melange of sounds and textures, that is going to interest some folks, and completely repel others. Back when this came out it really interested me, because I was at that point where I wanted something completely new.... I had been through the Zappa and Beefheart catalogs, I had discovered Miles Davis and all sorts of other artists that had spent their musical lives experimenting and reaching, and I needed to know if that was all there is... Little interludes like this showed me that there were all sorts of possibilities and those possibilities were starting to look endless. This starts off like a metal track mixed with some cocktail jazz, with a little bit of Vai's Flex-able ... with all sorts of other weird little bits and pieces thrown in there.
Steve Vai - a rough history The JEM guitar Interview Talking about Zappa Some guitar techniques Stevie's Spanking with Zappa 1981 May 1981 Zappa Tinseltown Rebellion Fine Girl Easy Meat For The Young Sophisticate Love Of My Life Ain't Got No Heart Panty rap, Tell me you love me, Now You See it now You don't, Dance Contest, Blue Light, Tinseltown Rebellion, Pick Me I'm clean Bamboozeld By Love, Brown Shoes Don't Make It, Peaches 3 1981 - Shut Up And Play Yer guitar - Frank Zappa Guitar Book sept 1981 Zappa You Are What You Is Teenage Wind Harder Than Your Husband Doreen, Goblin Girl, Theme From the 3rd movement of sinister footwear Society Pages, I'm A beautiful Guy, Beauty Knows No Pain Charlies enormous mouth, Any Downers, Conehead, You Are What You Is You Are What You Is - video Mudd Club, The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing, Dumb All Over Heavenly Bank Account, Suicide Chump, Jumbo Go Away, If Only She Woulda, Drafted Again NYC Palladium 1981 - with Zappa May 1982 Zappa Ship Arriving Too Late to Save A Drowning Witch No Not Now Valley Girl I Come From Nowhere Drowning Witch Envelopes Teenage Prostitute Mar 1983 Zappa Man From Utopia Cocaine Decisions The Dangerous Kitchen Tink Walks Amok The Radio Is Broken Moggio The Man From Utopia Meets Mary Lou Stick Together Sex Jazz Discharge Party Hats We Are Not Alone Jan 1984 Zappa Flex-able + leftovers Little Green Men Viv Woman Lovers Are Crazy Salamanders In The Sun Boy/Girl Song The Attitude Song Call It Sleep Junkie Bill's Private Parts Next Stop Earth There's Something Dead In Here Flex-able Leftovers You Didn't Break it Bledsoe Blvd The Beast Of Love Burnin' Down The Mountain So Happy Details At 10 Little Pieces Of Seaweed Chronic Insomnia Oct 1984 Alcatrazz - Power Live dvd Oct 1984 Zappa - Them Or Us The Closer You Are In France Ya Hozna Sharleena Sinister Footwear II Truck Driver Divorce Stevie's Spanking - live Vai and Zappa jam Baby Take Your Teeth Out Marque-son's Chicken Planet Of My Dreams Be In My Video Them Or Us Frogs With Dirty Little Lips Whipping Post March 1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing The Peace God Blessed Video Mercy - actual song Will You Be Home Tonight Wire And Wood Desert Diamond Stripper Painted Lover A Lighter Shade Of Green Sons And Lovers Skyfire Breaking The Heart Of The City - live Vai Live at the Spirit Club 1985 Nov 1985 Frank Zappa - Meets The Mothers Of Prevention We're Turning Again Alien Orifice Yo Cats What's New In Baltimore Little Beige Samb Porn Wars Aerobics In Bondage I Don't Even Care One Man One Vote HR2911 Jan 1986 Public Image Limited (PIL) - Album FFF Rise Fishing Round Bags Home Ease Western Vacation July 86 Eat Em And Smile Yankee Rose Shy Boy I'm Easy Ladies Night In Buffalo - correction Goin Crazy Tobacco road (Spanish) Big Trouble Elephant Gun Big Trouble Bump And Grind That's Life Live In Detroit 86 Live In Montreal 86 1986 The Crossroads dual 1988 Skyscraper Knucklebones Just Like Paradise Bottom Line Skyscraper Damn Good Hot Dog And A Shake Stand Up Hina Perfect Timing Two Fools Born A Minute Nov 1989 Whitesnake Slip Of The Tongue Slip Of The Tongue Cheap N Nasty Fool For Your Lovin' Now You're Gone Kittens Got Claws Wings Of The Storm Deeper The Love Judgement Day Slow Poke Music Sailing Ships b-side Sweet Lady Luck May 1990 Passion And Warfare Liberty Erotic Nightmares The Animal Answers The Riddle Ballerina 12/24 For the Love Of God The Audience Is Listening I Would Love To Blue Powder Greasy Kids Stuff Alien Water Kiss Sisters Love Secrets extra tracks - Love Elixir, And We Are One, As Above, So Below 1991 Vai/Satriani/Cooper Feed My Frankenstein July 1993 Vai - Sex And Religion An Earth Dwellers Return Here and Now In My Dreams With You Still My Bleeding Heart Sex And Religion Dirty Black Hole Touching Tongues State Of Grace Survive Pig For The Love Of God -live with the Metropole Orchestra
Touching Tongues i hate the Dev emoting bit. Coloured my judgement since ‘93. If I heard it fresh I’d probably enjoy it, but alas. My least fave 7th song. State of Grace A Page and Plant Unledded-style interlude. it’s ok. Survive I love the guitar break at 2:34. It reminds me of the pre-solo action in ‘Big Trouble’. One of the better Dev tracks. Pig Hate it. Made myself really listen to guitar on it today. There’s some tasty grooves going on, but...
The Road To Mount Calvary We open with sound effects and a male choir. This is like a movie soundtrack piece. We then get some percussive interjection, and some crying and moaning, and then a choir-like resolve.... then more percussive hammering and moaning and such. This is unusual and I am not sure what the context was for this really .... it leads directly into the next track, Deep Down Into The Pain .... and perhaps there is supposed to be some reference into the crucifixion of Christ, but it comes across more as parody then reverence ...
Deep Down Into The Pain We open with one person crying over a cinematic backdrop, and then bounce into the track. Back in the day the last two tracks were my favourite tracks. This is an exploration of life and pain lyrically, and it has varying amounts of success. Musically it takes the form of a somewhat nu-metal type track. Devin has varieties of vocal delivery, which we already know is going to suit some folks and not others. We get a somewhat bizarre musical breakdown, about halfway with Vai visiting some of his more unusual guitar stylings and ideas. I can see why I liked this back in the day.... I always liked to here unusual new tracks, just to see what folks had to offer, and the possibilities out there.... These days this just sounds a little disjointed, and unfocussed to me really. We get another unusual breakdown that is more like a movie soundtrack again, and we return to more people "in pain". This is a weird track really, and would be something that one would have to be in the mood for.
Yes, it's the birth of Fire I believe. Quite an intimate moment Steve is sharing with us. You can hear his voice and laughter of joy as a new dad again towards the end of the song. The "godlike" comments right before the glass breaking announce the imminent arriving of a new life on the planet and reveal it all if you pay close attention to it (from 6'30" on). I recall writing it all down way back when and finding it so spiritual!!!! It's really moving and then moves nicely into the absolute gem "Rescue me or bury me" is (and I absolutely LOVED Steve's voice on that track because it had a meaning, purpose and was absolutely appropriate for the track at the time. Just saying, I'm no Steve's voice hater by principle....
Rescue Me Or Bury Me The acoustic guitar intro is beautiful, and there is a mild reflection of Damn Good in the structure of the acoustic guitar. I actually really like Vai's vocal here, and I have never really had an issue with Steve's vocals. It seems a very popular thing to knock guitarists who have a sing every now and again, but there are certainly less able singers making a living from it. This track is and was a very special closer to the album. There is this kind of dreamlike feel here, and Vai gives us some marvelous playing, that is emotive and technically stunning. The piano underneath is a really nice bed of sound for the guitar to sit on, and the atmosphere of this track never lets up for me. After the intensity of the album, this is almost like the soothing come down, in spite of the incrdible guitar playing.
There was a bonus track released at some point called Just Cartilage. I have never heard it, and I couldn't find it ... but we'll survive. If you find it, please post it for us. I really like this album. I perhaps don't like it quite as much as I initially felt that I did. It certainly has some great tracks, but a couple of the tracks in the middle don't grab me the way they used to. The opening tracks really do still work for me, and the closing track is magnificent and masterful. I don't dislike the tracks in the middle, but I don't hold them quite in the high esteem that I used to. I think to some degree Devin wasn't a popular choice of someone to sing with Vai, but he worked for me. I am a big Devin fan, and in one form or another enjoy all his solo, and DTP albums, but like I said earlier, perhaps too much spice for the recipe that was being made here. Anyway, I still reckon this is a great album.
Rescue Me... is masterful. Steve's voice really suits it-it's my favourite SV vocal evah! The song had a special place in my heart-while listening to it once, way back when the album came out, I decided that a girl I was seeing was 'the one'. Well, she was, until some time later, after 5 yrs of marriage etc she cleared off...but that's another story! I always figured it had a lot in common with Al di Meola's 'Short Tales of the Black Forest' (I know, it's a Chick composition...), which I absolutely love as well. You can hear the edits where different takes of the solo are cut in-I love the different parts of the solo, but the whole is wonderful, and then it segues into 'An Earth dweller Returns ' at the end. It's a good album, just not as epic as P&W. I could easily lose 2-3 tracks from the middle, and it would improve it.
I was thinking about this, and while I agree Sex & Religion wasn't a predictable album, I don't think its unpredictability was purposely orchestrated to be some sort of alternative side project or change in direction. I think Vai wanted a commercially viable album. His stock was riding high and he put together a very good band on paper, with the motivation to establish it long term as commercially relevant act in the rock and metal community. I just don't think it resonated and connected with audiences in any way that would establish the foundation for a long-term lifespan.
I wouldn't disagree with that. To some degree his drifter status, was probably very recognised also. It may have stood more chance if it wasn't in his name as such.... I don't really see it as an album necessarily for the Passion and Warfare audience, which was the one most likely to buy it.
