★
An admission: I’ve always hated Joe Satriani’s music. It started in school when I was trying to learn to play guitar. While I was struggling to make a D chord, the kids in the corner scoffed as they whizzed through a million notes a minute on their snazzy guitars. Their hero was Satch. Hence the hate.
The New Yorker is a virtuoso. His technical ability is mind-blowing. But does that good music make? No. That’s like saying the best novels are those that have been typed the quickest.
Shockwave Supernova is Satriani’s 15th studio album, and with huge bias, I was expecting it to be full of endless noodling and aural onanism. There is undoubtedly lots of that, but in fairness to the maestro, his overproficient playing does at least serve the songs. It’s just the songs are mind-numbingly dull. They’re all middle-of-the-road ’80s rock, too clean and too clinical, each sounding like a backing track from a cheesy tutorial video. Entirely instrumental, it’s a challenge to remember a single melody or hook.
Many dismiss Satriani because his playing lacks soul. That’s unfair and is probably said with more than a little bit of jealousy. What he really lacks are decent songs over which to show off.
Joe Satriani’s Shockwave Supernova is available through Sony.
