Alien Love Secrets

As with any Steve Via music, you come to expect excellent guitar work, and the songs on 'Alien Love Secrets,' all instrumentals, do just that. Opener "Bad Horsie" was derived from a riff played by Vai during the final scene of the 1986 film "Crossroads". "Juice" is guitar mania, fast rhythms and burning guitar solos scream throughout this song, giving it a near frenzied, but controlled energy. "Die To Live" is guitar heaven and on "Boy From Seattle" it's likely that Vai makes a bow to his colleague Jimi Hendrix. Like the previous song "Ya-Yo Gakk" is flavored with a bluesy texture. As always there are some aggressive Zappa like tunes like in "Kill The Guy With The Ball." And as last "Tender Surrender" demonstrates how expressive a guitar can be, from the jazzy, soulful and bluesy octaves.