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Steve Vai - "Real Illusions: Reflections" Previews

30K views 108 replies 63 participants last post by  uofkman 
#1 ·
www.stevevaimusic.com

Sony has created a special page where fans can check out short sneak previews of all tracks from Steve's new album "Real Illusions: Reflections".

Share your thoughts on the album previews here!

Mikey :)
vai.com
 
#38 ·
I like the samples i think this may be among the best Vai albums. I cant really tell since the samples are quite small, but I think they may turn out really good. So far my favourite Vai almbus are: PAW (1st by far), Fire Garden and Sex and Religion.
 
#41 ·
Jeff said:
I'm kind of disapointed with this one. Most of the songs sound like rip offs of his old songs, or they were just plain boring. I'm still going to buy the album, because maybe these are just bad samples. My favorite song at this point is Yai Yai...I'm a sucker for those cute Evantide-ish sounds! :lol:
FYI- I had the same initial impression about the album from those sound samples posted. However, I recently had the opportunity to listen to the full album and the album is so...so...SO much more than those little samples are representative of. For those who thought the SAMPLES of 'Building the Church' and 'Freak Show Excess' were good, the full songs are just incredible. I mean, FSE is mind-blowing. And 'Lotus Feet' = the new FTLOG / Whispering A Prayer? Would love to SEE him perform this with the full live orchestra. Inspiring. Wish I was there. Rather than go into detail on everything, let's leave something to the imagination.

As for the songs he sings on, if you're not a fan of his singing, there isn't a lot you can do about that. BUT- I find that his songwriting... that is, for songs with lyrics... is much better and the songs are more creatively structured. They're much more listenable if you don't like his voice because the composition is that much more interesting.

I'm not posting this to do anything but promote the album... esp. as one who was initially disappointed by the samples as well. This certainly could have been one of those albums that I put off buying 'indefinately' and now it's preordered. I didn't scurry to get tickets to the show, and now I'm taking a head count from my friends before ordering.

I just felt I needed to put this out there... hope some doubters are listening!

-Ben
 
#44 ·
megadeth said:
It's gonna sound nasty to most here..
I am satriani fan (like most here)
But I was UTTERLY disappointed by his last 2 albums.
When i heard the previews of Vai's new album..i had a thought and it's like this..
THIS ALBUM WILL OWN SATRIANI'S LAST 2 ALBUM'S ASSES !!!
Joe's playing has mellowed in a big way in recent years. Less technical, more bluesy. Steve still seems to push the technical envelope, though from a compositional perspective, I don't think this album broke any new ground. The songs seem a bit busy and at times I just find myself wanting some straight-up melody.
 
#47 ·
So I actually got my hands on a copy; It sounds pretty good, the Beast had it right though, Freak.. and Lotus... are ridicuously great pieces. Freak is a longer song but somewhere towards the end it has this wicked fast solo, just him on guitar, it goes on for some time, sounds like a lot of complex tapping patterns towards the end, really great.

Here's the thing though, There are 13 songs on the US release yet there are 11 songs on the UK release? I haven't investigated but anyone know what's going on? Oh and the songs on the UK version have different names than those found on the US version? hmmmm?
 
#48 ·
Jemmm said:
It's your typical Vai album again. Some nice songs on there. Like Km pee du wee and Yai Yai....See if I can make ring tone out of that one. ;-)

But the songs where he tries to sing......not my cup of tea.
I totally agree about the singing thing 'Jemmm'. He just shouldn't do it ! He sooo doesn't need to do it !
After all, if you're that great a guitarist people(most of them at least) really don't want valuable guitar playing space taken up by ,well,not even very good singing. I think it's the classic example of 'Shut-up And Play Your Guitar' !!!

JTM45 !
 
#49 ·
RGShredder said:
Here's the thing though, There are 13 songs on the US release yet there are 11 songs on the UK release? I haven't investigated but anyone know what's going on? Oh and the songs on the UK version have different names than those found on the US version? hmmmm?
Amazon have wrongly used the track listing from Mystery Tracks Archives 3.
There are 11 songs on the album and by the way I heard Yai Yai and it sounded very silly to me, so silly in fact I can't believe it made it into a Steve Vai CD.

ilia
 
#50 ·
Only heard the samples, but it didn't seem like anything new. km pee dm ... sounded so much like 'Die to live', FSE sounded like the attitude song.
I did like the cat sounding town on glorious tho. Still don't like his voice.

I don't know if these 'similarities' are part of his whole 'linking up a long connecting story', or whatever is happening, but I can't see myself buying this.
 
#51 ·
I've got it, it's good. I don't think it's a contender to be my favorite Vai album, but I'm not at all disappointed I got it. Finding a couple references to previous songs isn't a big deal, it's the same person writing and playing and could very well be intentional. Some bands have made very long, very successful careers out of 3 chords and a couple blues riffs... Steve's stuff is always a breath of fresh air even if you can dig out similarities to other songs on occasion.
 
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