Steve Vai - Sex & Religion
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CD Details
Artist: Steve VaiEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2009-12-16
Music Label: Epic
Soundtracks:
- Earth Dweller's Return
- Here & Now
- In My Dreams With You
- Still My Bleeding Heart
- Sex & Religion
- Dirty Black Hole
- Touching Tongues
- State of Grace
- Survive
- Pig
- The Road to Mt. Calvary
- Down Deep into the Pain
- Rescue Me or Bury Me
Music reviews of Sex & Religion
Music Review: Perhaps Vai's best effort but still pretty mediocre
Rating: 3 Stars
Sex & Religion is in my opinion the best thing Steve Vai has released as a 'solo' artist. Most of his fans tend to diss this record because it isn't as 'wicked' as Passion and Warfare or as 'deep' as Fire Garden. I bought my first Steve Vai album in March 1991 and over the last 13+ years I never really liked his music. He has excellent technique and is a virtuoso in every sense of the word but his songwriting has never appealed to me for some reason. Not to mention his tone, his production and his song arrangements. The guy has excellent prowess over his instrument but his choice of notes does nothing for me.
This is the reason why I think Sex & Religion contains some of his best moments as a 'solo' artist. This was released under the VAI moniker instead of Steve Vai because initial plans were to put together a band with competitive players like Terry Bozzio, T.M. Stevens and Devin Townsend where each musician could contribute their ideas and talents in a healthy exchange. Isn't that the point of forming a band anyway? There needs to be unconditional acceptance of everybody else's contribution. Obviously Vai was not ready for that kind of commitment. He wasn't ready to sacrifice his own 'quirky' songwriting attitude in order to write songs together with the rest of the amazing singers on the bill. He himself admitted this years later and seemed to regret it greatly. Well, too bad -- cause the album begins to drag horribly after the first 7-8 tracks and it turns into this Steve Vai solo project with amazing players merely backing him up, rather than adding something unique to the mold of the songcraft.
I've always considered Sex & Religion to be an album with some of the most amazing musicians coming together to play some of the most mediocre music ever. It's a shame Vai didn't make better use of the amazing Terry Bozzio's godly drum work. As I said, the album has a great beginning introducing the 19-year-old Devin Townsend on vocals with his mesmerizing vocal delivery. He shines on each and every track he appears on, but the lead choruses on "Here & Now", "Still My Bleeding Heart" and the title track are particularly overwhelming. It is he for the most part who makes this album a worthwhile effort. The first seven songs sound more like a band effort where each musician contributes their performance expertise. With the popular "Touching Tongues", however, the albums begins to move on a different musical path, thus utilising Vai's quirky soundscapes. He begins to experiment with more and more different styles and soon the songs lose their momentum and turn into lifeless chunks of riffs with poorly composed melodies. The guitar tone, though better than other Vai releases (with the exception of Fire Garden perhaps), is pretty thin and watery.
Although "State of Grace" is a nice instrumental it also seems to me that Vai would have done much better if he just finished the album at around 10 tracks instead of coming up with songs like "Pig", "The Road to Mt. Calvary" and "Down Deep into the Pain". While "Survive" and the last track "Rescue Me Or Bury Me" offer some quality musicianship the good ideas on these tracks could have been combined in hopes of creating a single, yet more powerful song. "Pig" is perhaps the most horrendous song on the record and it gives me the creeps. It's the epitome of a Steve Vai track with random and incoherent structure, weird (pig) noises and a lousy guitar that drones on forever. The rest of the songs are merely a noisy, chaotic and murky mess lacking dynamics and power. Apart from the run-out (tap) solo in "Rescue Me or Bury Me" the song sounds simply uninspired and forgettable. Though the back-up guys are competent, they are extremely limited because Vai wouldn't give them any creative input. It's best to check out their solo efforts (Bozzio Leven Stevens, Devin Townsend/Strapping Young Lad).
Lead singer Devin Townsend is one of the most amazing and uniquely talented souls making music as Vai himself admits. Unfortunately very little of his true brilliance comes through on S&R. Be sure to check out his solo albums (Terria and Ocean Machine would be good starting points) and discover the genius in his songwriting not to mention his otherworldly vocal ability. Overall, this album is good, but only by Steve Vai's standards. It's by no means essential listening but does contain some amazing moments such as Townsend's killer vocal melody in "Touching Tongues", Bozzio's awesome cymbal work on the title track and Stevens' bizarre and groovy bass lines through the entire album. Steve Vai? Well, you probably already know.
Description of Sex & Religion
Sex & Religion - Steve VaiThis product is manufactured on demand using CD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
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