UMUR "Flex-Able Leftovers" is an EP release (later re-released as a full-length studio album featuring additional material) by US, California based guitarist Steve Vai. The EP was released through Akashic Records in 1984, while the album re-release was released in 1998 by Epic Records. As the title also suggests the material on the EP/re-release album are leftover tracks from the recording sessions for Vai´s debut full-length studio album "Flex-Able" from January 1984. Vai recorded 24 tracks during the sessions, but only picked 11 to be included on the original version of "Flex-Able". A further 8 tracks from the sessions were released as the "Flex-Able Leftovers" EP later that same year, while the 8 tracks from the EP and the remaining 5 leftover tracks finally was released as the "Flex-Able Leftovers" full-length studio album in 1998.

Stylistically the material on this release (both the EP and the album versions) is a continuation of the wacky, comedic, adventurous, and Frank Zappa influenced rock of "Flex-Able". It´s actually a bit hard to figure out why Vai picked some of the tracks he did for the debut album, and left some of the tracks from this release out, as all tracks are of a similar quality and style. Some tracks are instrumental while others feature idiosyncratic vocals and quirky lyrics (in the case of opening track "Fuck Yourself" the lyrics are relatively offensive), and while the music on display are a far cry from the virtuoso guitar sound that Vai would be known for on subsequent releases, he still on occasion shows his skills and plays some pretty crazy things. As the material wasn´t recorded at a professional recording studio there is an air of demo recording quality to the whole release, but Vai still manages to make the material sound relatively decent. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Flex-Able" is the debut full-length studio album by US, California based guitarist Steve Vai. The album was released through Urantia Records in January 1984. Vai started his music career working for Frank Zappa, transcriping his songs, but from 1980-1983 he became part of Zappa´s touring band. After he left Zappa in 1983, he became a solo artist and built a studio in a shed in his back garden. The recordings featured on "Flex-Able", were recorded at his home studio. Vai handles synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, and keyboards on the album, but he is helped out by several guest musicians, including a couple of his old colleagues from the Frank Zappa band in Tommy Mars (violin, keyboards, vocals), Bob Harris (trumpet, vocals), and Chad Wackerman (drums).

The material featured on the album was recorded between 1982 and 1984 and the recording sessions spawned 24 tracks. Only 11 tracks are featured on the original version of "Flex-Able", while later reissues feature 4 extra tracks, which are culled from the 1984 "Flex-Able Leftovers" EP. The "Flex-Able Leftovers" EP originally featured 8 tracks, but was re-released in 1998 as a full-length album featuring all 13 tracks, which did not originally appear on "Flex-Able".

Stylistically the Zappa connection is obvious when listening to the music on "Flex-Able", which is a wacky, comedic, and challenging type of rock music, featuring idiosyncratic vocals, quirky lyrics, and all sorts of sonic experiments and adventurous time signatures. This is a far cry from the sound Vai would develop and be known for from the early 90s onwards, although a few tracks do featured some of his crazy signature guitar abuse. "The Attitude Song" is the track which sounds most like the Vai most people know, but a few other tracks also feature his unique guitar playing. Most of the other tracks are quite creative and experimental rock songs, even at times touching avant-garde territory. It´s not all pretty and sometimes it all becomes a bit too silly for its own good, but there´s nothing wrong with the high level musicianship on display.

As the material was recorded on an 8-track recorder, it´s not always professional studio sounding, and there is definitely an air of demo recording to some of the material. Especially the drums feature a powerless and sometimes programmed sound, and I´m pretty sure some tracks were recorded using a drum machine, which is a real shame, as the drum machine sound doesn´t do those tracks any favours.

Wearing your influence (Frank Zappa) on your sleeves as much as Vai does here is maybe just a bit too much, and thankfully Vai would later find his own path, but "Flex-Able" is still a relatively interesting release, and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

siLLy puPPy As one of the true living gods of guitar mastery, a new album by STEVE VAI is something many musicians anticipate with a sense of both awe and possible trepidation. The awe aspects are delivered by VAI’s finger breaking guitar playing antics that catapulted him into the highest ranks of rock stardom with his stints with David Lee Roth and Whitesnake as well as his innovative art guitar displays of grandeur on albums like “Passion & Warfare” however the trepidation may result from VAI’s inconsistency in his art form by often delivering some hilariously bad material with the guitar god believing his vocals are actually a pleasant thing to experience!

VAI has been quiet in the last decade after the release of 2012’s rather dreamy lightweight “The Story Of Light” which featured recycled ideas packaged without flashy guitar solos. The “Modern Primitive” archival material was released in 2017 but all in all VAI hasn’t released any new material of substance since 2005’s “Real Illusions: Reflections.” The guitar master is back in 2022 with his tenth studio album INVIOLATE which immediately upon admiring the album cover clearly showcases that VAI is back to his guitar shredding duties as rock god with his wickedly wild new Hydra guitar. As far as a 62 year old rock god is concerned, INVIOLATE does not feature a what may be perceived as a has been but rather a veritable talent still seemingly in a perpetual prime.

In the modern era, STEVE VAI is mostly revered by nerdy guitar stalwarts who worship him like the sun god in some ancient Egyptian setting. His perfectionist attention to detail that envelops every composition laced with modern production techniques replete with visual glitz and glamor holds his place in the pantheons of rock guitar royalty and with INVIOLATE this maestro retains his lofty perch with grace. While still chock filled with face melting guitar solos and blitzkrieg guitar chops, VAI has refined his extroverted flashiness by drifting into the world of instrumental jazz-fusion therefore INVIOLATE is much more akin to classic albums by Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin or Al Di Meola rather than VAI’s back catalogue of raucous metal and art rock rampage.

INVIOLATE is a sensual mastery of jazz-laced rockers that happen to feature VAI taking things to extremes. Unlike most of VAI’s back catalogue that became muddied with substandard vocal tracks, this album is blissfully and exclusively instrumental with nary a vocal track to be found which allows a smooth entire album’s worthy of heavy guitar edge in the context of progressive rock and jazz-rock fusion. On board are VAI’s classic guitar wails and warm tones that are as distinct as his playing style. As a virtuoso producer INVIOLATE matches the quality of many of VAI’s best offerings including his masterwork “Passion & Warfare.” The album wisely clocks in at a classic album’s running time of just shy of 47 minutes with nine beautifully crafted tracks that alternate between dreamy atmospheric escapism and jaw dropping guitar god admiration.

With the virtuosic guitar wankery toned down, INVIOLATE comes off as one of VAI’s most balanced albums which maintains a unified vibe for its entire run. Tracks such as “Teeth Of The Hydra” and “Zeus In Chains” showcase VAI’s newest mastery of transmogrifying his classic tone-rich stylistic approach into a bonafide jazz-fusion classic. With so much time out of the public’s eye, it seems STEVE VAI had something to prove to the world and that was that he could still crank out an album like the best of them and despite all the changes in the world of heavy metal, rock and modern jazz, VAI effortlessly delivers a timeless sounding album’s worth of instant classics. While guitar shredders may be disappointed by the lack of youthful energy on display, VAI more than makes up for its absent with beautifully crafted compositions that tug emotional heart strings but all is not lost for there are indeed select moments of guitar gymnastics that clearly signify that VAI remains a force to be reckoned with. Excellent album!

siLLy puPPy For true STEVE VAI fans who have kept up with his output since the beginning, one of the most amazing transmogrifications in music history occurred between his debut album “Flex-Able” and his second “Passion And Warfare.” So much so that for much of the time both albums seem to have been recorded by completely different artists, however that’s somewhat of an exaggeration since both albums contain more than enough of the trademark VAI-isms that transcend compositional style as well as exhibiting his Zappa roots however the debut was more experimental whereas the sophomore release showcased a much more developed technical shredding style.

This evolution makes more sense with the release of the 25th Anniversary Edition of Passion And Warfare which hit the market in 2016. While VAI has always been generous in the addition of bonus tracks when he re-releases an older album, this one was the greatest gift of all as it came out as basically a double album called MODERN PRIMITIVE / PASSION AND WARFARE (25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION). The unreleased album’s worth of material covers those mystery years between his first two albums when he scrapped solo albums in order to work with David Lee Roth and Alcatraz.

A double album indeed as the double CD release contains two cardboard sleeves attached and in yin yang fashion with each side acting as an independent album albeit in Siamese twin fashion. This review will only cover the MODERN PRIMITIVE album since PASSION AND WARFARE will be covered in its own review however i will cover the four bonus tracks attached to the end of P&W. While MODERN PRIMITIVE is indeed technically a bonus album for P&W’s 25th Anniversary release, it can also be thought of as an album in its own right since had destiny not intervened, this material very well could’ve been VAI’s second album.

The title MODERN PRIMITIVE refers to the fact that these tracks were started but never finished. VAI wrote “Flex-Able” between the ages of 20-23 and PASSION AND WARFARE between the ages of 27-29. The material on MODERN PRIMITIVE was started when he was between 23-26 but were never finished. At the age of 55, STEVE VAI finally found the time and the excuse to finally complete these tracks and release them as bonus material. Some of the tracks were destined for P&W but didn’t make the editing cut and thus sat in the vaults for two decades plus.

Many of these tracks emerged under the intent of being released in a period band called The Classified, a vocal jazz rock group that featured Sue Mathis on keyboards and vocals, Tommy Mars also on keyboards and vocals, Stu Hamm on bass and Chris Frazier on drums. This material was played live at many successful gigs but never recorded at all, so these recordings for the most part were written in the 80s and finally recorded in the second decade of the 21st century. While most of the musicians would return, Sue Mathis did not.

Like “Flex-Able,” MODERN PRIMITIVE still exhibits a healthy dose of Zappa influences, especially from the “One Size Fits All” era which becomes quite apparent as the schizoid vocal jazz scat opener “Bop” bursts onto the scene. Belying its title, there is nothing one would consider hard bop in the least but rather immediately provides a link between VAI’s first two albums as it retains all the quirky whimsical charm of the debut while developing the technical prowess of the second. How much of this resulted from its initial birth pangs and how much is the addition of VAI’s modern perspective will probably remain the biggest mystery of his career.

“Dark Matter” shifts completely in a Hendrix type rocker with a lot more wah-wah and shredding techniques added. Not to mention the PASSION & WARFARE production magic. “Mighty Messengers” musters up the funk bass groove but ultimately becomes a rather by-the-books vocal rock track that exhibits some guitar wankery and sound effects. “The Lost Chord” is one of those cheesy ballads that i find underwhelming and this one is no exception although Devin Townsend is the vocalist. It indeed sounds like some mellow track off one of his albums albeit with VAI’s sensual guitar antics. It’s ok but seems like a waste of Townsend’s dynamic vocal range. “Upanishads” is another chilled out progressive slow burner. It never really goes anywhere despite some guitar soloing. OK and that’s it.

“Fast Note People” is yet another chilled out rocker with some snazzy instrumental backing. VAI’s vocals turn me off but this has lots of backing vocals and turns into a more Zappa inspired fairy tale of sorts. “And We Are One” is once again a slow chilled out ballad with VAI and a female vocalist performing a duet. Yawn. “Never Forever” finally picks up some steam and sounds like one of those spacey P&W tracks with soaring guitar runs but VAI’s weak vocals ruin it for me. “Lights Are On” is finally a true rocker with some real good VAI guitar action going on. It reminds me most of P&W and seems like it was destined for that album but got nixed. It would’ve fit in perfect and better than weak tracks like “ I Would Love To.” “No Pockets” sounds completely different and is more of a garage rock track which is a Bob Harris track where he is vocalist.

The final three tracks are the “Pink And Blows Over Suite” with the second part hitting over the thirteen minute mark. “Part 1” slowly fades in with pleasant sound effects and then becomes a female vocalist ballad with lots of smooth backing vocals. Obviously part of the vocal jazz group years. Even this short intro to the suite is rich and dynamic with lots of VAI-esque time signature deviations at his most extreme and a rich lush production that offers beautiful counterpoints to the vocalists. “Part II - Mars Attack” continues seamlessly with the music melody from “The Nutcracker” backed by a deep drone in key. It remains ambient with whistles and in jazzified classical mode with electronic overtures. In fact it sounds more like a show tune piece than anything VAI would have released. There are some stellar classical piano runs but no guitar really. The tempo remains slow and the mood darkened. For an attack from Mars i would expect more musical drama! The shorter “Part III” closer finally picks up the steam and turns into a more festive jazz-rock-funk mood with VAI’s sizzling guitar soloing. It ends in the same vocal jazz style that began the three part journey. Probably the best part of the album.

PASSION AND WARFARE is included in its entirety. There was really no need for remastering since the album was cutting edge at its time of original release in 1990 and sounds modern even by today’s standards however there are four bonus tracks tacked onto the end. “Lovely Elixir” is a slow guitar ballad. It’s like many tracks distributed throughout VAI’s musical career and rather uninteresting. “And We Are One (Alternate Solo No. 2)” is pretty much just another version of “And We Are One” from the MODERN PRIMITIVE album. This version is just as slow and uneventful as the original. “As Above” is a resurrected demo and has a military march percussive drive with VAI’s soaring guitar sound. Sounds like something that may have been nixed from the original P&W lineup because it sounds a little like its opener “Liberty” but pretty decent overall. “So Below” is actually a Niels Bye Nielsen Orchestration and sounds more like a movie soundtrack in a classic John Williams fashion than a STEVE VAI track. Ok but nothing OMG.

It has to be remembered that this album is a combo package. Although i’m reserving my review for PASSION AND WARFARE on its own page, as a rating these two cannot be separated. P&W is a guitar classic but has some obvious flaws but one that i easily give four stars because the strengths far outweighs the weaknesses. The bonus material on this P&W 25TH ANNIVERSARY album is pretty much throwaway material but the MODERN PRIMITIVE does have some decent stuff on it although nothing that i would consider lost treasures therefore this disc really only deserves a two star rating but since this is a combo package i’ll give it all a three. If you already have PASSION AND WARFARE, there’s really no need to run and get this if you haven’t already. But as a true STEVE VAI fan i feel obliged to have all this extra stuff because of the few interesting tidbits and for those who want some historical context then this one does deliver the goods.

siLLy puPPy STEVE VAI’s debut album “Flex-able” was the result of his time between several years as “stunt guitarist” for Frank Zappa and his future as a rock / metal guitar god once he joined David Lee Roth and Whitesnake which helped launch his career as one of rock’s greatest solo shredders of all time. The material presented on his debut album which appeared in 1984 was the result of two years of recording (82-84) of which only eleven tracks appeared but STEVE’s output was quite prolific. What started out as a project to record goofy nonsensical tracks only intended to be heard by his friends resulted in a debut album with the excess of eight more tracks appearing on the FLEX-ABLE LEFTOVERS EP that was released the same year.

This EP may be a source of confusion since it was released twice in 1984 by two record labels and then again in 1998 as a full length album with an additional six tracks recorded during the same period with all three releases sporting completely different cover art. Yikes! The first release of FLEX-ABLE LEFTOVERS appeared as a vinyl 10” with only 1000 editions appearing on the Urantia label which featured fairy tale cover art that had a yellow impressionist background with a hand tugging on a heart in water. The second pressing of also 1000 editions was released on VAI’s newly created Akashic Records and featured a similar cover as the original “Flex-Able” album cover with a jet black background with a pinkish purple logo and in the EP’s case a similarly colored VAI playing guitar. Both of these EPs had the exact same track order which was changed up for the 1998 re-release.

IN SIDE (aka Side One)

One "You Didn't Break It" Two "Bledsoe Bluvd" Three "The Beast of Love" Four "Burnin' Down the Mountain”

OUT SIDE (aka Side Two)

One "So Happy" Two "Details at 10" Three "Little Pieces of Seaweed" Four "Chronic Insomnia”

The EP was expanded to a full-length on Sony Records released in 1998 with a completely different track order which included six unreleased tracks that were recorded during the same period of 1982-84. This one was released on CD only and included one major change of recording live drums to replace the original drum machine on “You Didn’t Break It.” All the tracks received a complete re-editing and mixing. To make it even more confusing four of the tracks appeared as bonus tracks on the CD release of the “Flex-Able” album that appeared in 1988. These four tracks include: “So Happy,” “Bledsoe Blvd,” “Burnin’ Down The Mountain” and “Chronic Insomnia.” Whew! The 1998 track list is:

One “F.u.c.k Yourself" (Listed as #?@! Yourself) (Bonus Ed. 1998) Two "So Happy" Three "Bledsoe Bluvd" Four "Natural Born Boy" (Bonus Ed. 1998) Five "Details at 10" Six “Massacre" (Bonus Ed. 1998) Seven "Burnin' Down the Mountain" Eight "Little Pieces of Seaweed" Nine "San Sebastian” (Bonus Ed. 1998) Ten "The Beast of Love" Eleven "You Didn't Break it” (Bonus Ed. 1998) Twelve "The X-Equilibrium Dance" (Bonus Ed. 1998) Thirteen "Chronic Insomnia”

These tracks contained many but not all of the same session musicians as “Flex-Able” with Mike Keneally and Stu Hamm joining in from the Zappa crowds. The instrumentation once again ranged from the standard guitar, bass, keyboards and drums to the more exotic which included coral sitar, violin, piccolo xylophone, bell lyre and vibraphone. Also in the mix were various vocal effects from many guests as well. While “Flex-Able” was a stand alone eclectic moment in the rock universe, FLEX-ABLE LEFTOVERS has even more bizarre concoction which include some of the most foul mouthed profanities that STEVE VAI has ever uttered in his predominantly PG-rated career therefore this is the one album that received the Parental Advisory label most due to the 1998 add on “F.u.c.k Yourself,” a shockingly hilarious critique on society and the world in general, guaranteed to either offend you beyond belief or have you rolling on the floor laughing so hard that tears are rolling out of your eyes!

FAVORITE TRACKS include: The opener “F.u.c.k Yourself” and the second track “So Happy.” A very bizarre WTF spoken word oddity that shows VAI’s uncanny ability to replicate spoken words in perfect pitch and tempo on guitar. “Massacre.” A bitchin’ guitar workout fretted over a techno beat that performs some of VAI’s best guitar antics of this era. “Little Pieces Of Seaweed.” OMG. This is just too much! This is INSANE!!! Yes, it’s got Zappa written all over it but it is filthy, raunchy, brash and experimental as hell. VAI unleashes all the production techniques including backmasking, torturous fret abuse and freaky compositional liberties. Aspects of VAI’s entire career can be heard in this one. The ultimate summary in one track. “The X-Equilibirum Dance” is a funky chunky bunch of proggy weirdness! The funk bass finds a guitar slinking in and out of sync with it and while the guitar goes to la-la land, so do the drums and bass join in offering a weird in-and-out-of focus strangeness. “Chronic Insomnia” is pure experimental guitar that would sound more at home in a no wave band like DNA. It’s actually quite frightening as a bunch of guitar sounds emulate an exorcist or something. It’s two minutes of pure mind f.u.c.k.e.r.y.

OK TRACKS include: “Details At 10.” Despite a quite cool track. This is too much straight outa the Frank Zappa playbook. Perhaps a rejected track from the “You Are What You Is” album. Nice but it’s not outstanding either. “Burnin’ Down The Mountain” is a slow acoustic guitar track with shakers that offers a pleasant melodic development but never really gains steam. “You Didn’t Break It” offers a Van Halen type of guitar riff. It was written by Bob and Suzannah Harris and features Bob on vocals. It’s not bad and VAI’s guitar adds some sizzle to an otherwise meh sort of rock song.

THROWAWAY TRACKS include: “Natural Born Boy.” One of those boring rock instrumentals that has no memorable melody and displays a generic lead over rhythmic guitar. “San Sebastian” is another one of those boring melodic tracks that chimes along and never really goes anywhere. “Beast Of Love.” One of those ballad type tracks with VAI’s awful vocal style. I can handle his voice when the track is interesting but this one is rather bland.

Overall, a great bonus for true fans. There is some excellent material on here that i could not possibly live without however this one falls short of the essential tag. As expected the term LEFTOVERS implies material that didn’t make the original cut for a reason. In many cases, it was because the material was obviously too weird and that’s the material i love the best, but some as stated are rather meh while some are just ok. However, the cream of the crop on here means this is well worth checking out if you love the most weird Zappa influences of VAI’s early work as well as his impeccable production and guitar playing skills.

AtomicCrimsonRush Shhhh... Genius at Work!

I caught this live DVD on a mate’s shelf when I visited him. He is a guitarist and happens to love Vai and I had to see for myself what the fuss is all about. I was gobsmacked by Vai’s dexterity as a guitarist and he loves his axe’s, even licks them and Hendrix style plays them behind his back or with his butt and of course the teeth.

He swings the guitar around his waist, rapes it, slaughters it and then exhumes it only to kill it again. The thing screams in pain and there is no mercy from Vai’s attack. He does double handed sweeps, massive riffing with speed picks, classical arpeggios and monstrous squeals.

The man is a guitar genius and is perhaps the best I have seen. The live DVD captures all that is great about the virtuoso guitarist. His lead breaks are killer and will force your mouth open in awe at times.

The crunching scratchy riff on Bad Horsie is perhaps the most unforgettable part of this DVD for me. He literally makes his axe sound like a whinnying horsie, and even at times gallops like hooves. The wah wah pedal is overkill but you gotta love that grinding riff.

Little Wing is one of the best Hendrix covers I have heard, almost as good as the original. The passionate performance Vai exudes is inspirational.

Whispering A Prayer has one of the most impressive examples of how to make a guitar cry in ecstasy or is it agony.

For The Love of God is beautifully played and has a memorable melody. There are other members of the band but they disappear when Vai hits the stage. He is indeed a virtuoso and one of the greatest guitarist on the planet.