Apparently his time in Chickenfoot made Joe Satriani want to get back to where he once belonged, so he goes retro on 2010’s Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards.
About as far away from the heavy-footed party rock of Chickenfoot as possible, Black Swans is pure guitar prog, filled with compressed boogies, sci-fi synths, exotic flourishes, and all of Satch’s phasers and flangers in full-tilt overdrive.
Often, it feels like a throwback to the glory days of Surfing with the Alien, but there are crucial differences and they're not subtle, either.
First off, Satriani’s rock doesn’t rock so hard -- when the tempo is a little faster or when a song is built on riffs, not melody, it’s for a change in color, so nothing on Black Swans plays aggressively.
Furthermore, the album lingers instead of pushes, Satriani setting the tone with long legato melodies and solos with plenty of pauses.
As such, it’s not a record that will tear your head off but rather a record to appreciate for its contours and textures, a mature work from one of the great rock guitarists.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PremonitionJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 29 MB |
| 2 | Dream SongJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 04:48 | 11 MB | 36 MB |
| 3 | Pyrrhic VictoriaJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 39 MB |
| 4 | Light Years AwayJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 06:11 | 14 MB | 46 MB |
| 5 | SolitudeJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 00:57 | 2 MB | 3 MB |
| 6 | The Golden RoomJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 05:19 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 7 | Two Sides to Every StoryJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | Wormhole WizardsJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 06:27 | 14 MB | 45 MB |
| 9 | Wind in the TreesJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 07:42 | 17 MB | 47 MB |
| 10 | God Is CryingJoe Satriani | Joe Satriani | Play | 04:52 | 11 MB | 36 MB |
| 49 mins | 113 MB | |||||
| 49 mins | 348 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Boden | Digital Editing, Engineer |
| 2 | Mick Brigden | Direction |
| 3 | Jeff Campitelli | Drums, Percussion |
| 4 | Mike Fraser | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 5 | Mike Keneally | Keyboards |
| 6 | Judy Kirschner | Assistant |
| 7 | George Marino | Mastering |
| 8 | Eric Mosher | Assistant, Editing |
| 9 | Leann Mueller | Photography |
| 10 | Rex Ray | Package Design |
| 11 | Joe Satriani | Bass, Composer, Engineer, Guitar, Keyboards, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 12 | Dann Michael Thomson | Assistant |
| 13 | Allan Whitman | Bass |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |