Above him rests the ''eye-pyramid'' symbol, gazing out on a panorama of sky-nymphs. It shows Steve amongst the flames of hell. The biggest letdown of this album is the new age stuff on the cover.
But nonetheless they are mostly listenable. Some tracks like ''Riddle'' and ''Greasy Kid's Stuff'' fall short by his standards. You have got to hear this to understand what I'm talking about. In '' The Audience Is Listening'' Steve makes clever use of the guitar to imitate the voice of a young kid and uses his guitar to say the words ''ok'', ''so happy '' and ''dont be nervous ''. This album shows a combination of sitar effects, hyper-fast soloing, distortions and some short but meaningful lyrical passages. Personally I feel the best tracks on the album were ''Answers'', ''Love Secrets '' and ''For the Love of God '' where Steve ends saying Walking the fine line between Pagan and Christian. The album opens with the anthemic solo ''Liberty '' which kind of builds the rush of blood. The use of the Rocktron line of effects processors is pretty extraordinary. Its a pity these two songs are the shortest in the album. Finally, the use of the H3000 harmonizer was magnificent in ''Ballerina '' and '' Alien water Kiss ''. It appears the effort of a musician who knew exactly what we wanted to create. And as a result the album is a confident endeavour to say the least. Secondly, it seems like while making this album, Steve gave a damn to what others thought. Finally a drummer who seems to be knowing what cymbals are all about. First and foremost Tris Imboden is absolutely awesome in the tracks ,''For The Love Of God'' and ''I Would Love To ''. There are a few great traits in this album which deserve a special mention. I made a record that I wanted to be a statement of my most inner feelings, a blueprint of my personality. When I sat down to make this record, I stripped myself naked of all outside expectations, all hang-ups and fears of what might happen. ''I guess in every person's career they have an inspired concept and all the pieces of Karma come together to produce something that is a milestone in their creative consciousness. Steve once said about Passion and Warfare His place is more justified among the bands of Heavy Metal genre rather than those who made the so called Art Rock. But throughout his career Steve Vai has fit the stereotype of the modern ''guitar hero'' in perfect detail. He went on to release several solo albums like Flex-able Leftovers, Alive In An Ultra World, Fire Garden etc.Ĭritics have often been quoted as saying Passion and Warfare bears testimony to the best and worst of Steve Vai. So in a way it saw the baptism of vai's solo career. But Passion and Warfare was released in 1990, six years after the release of Flex-able. Passion and Warfare was his second solo project, the first being Flex-able Leftovers. After leaving the band he was involved in some projects with Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, Alcatrazz, and ex Van halen frontman David Lee Roth. He was the stunt guitarist of the band and in a short while went on to become the class act of Zappa's shows. Within a year he was seen playing with the legendary Frank Zappa. As they say, talent never goes unnoticed. In search of this dream he moved to Los Angeles. The name was Vai, Steve Vai and he dreamt of making it big. He went on to become arguably the best guitarist of all times. He had astute control of the guitar and was blessed with amazing technical prowess. Every other guy had a band and tried his hand at the six-string.But this guy was different from those ''other guys''. This was the time when Rock was a culture and not just a genre of music. In the mid 70s a long haired, leather attired teenager was learning a few juicy chops from Joe Satriani, a legend in his own might.