Slash - ...and on guitar (2008)

Saul Hudson was born in Stoke-on-Trent on July 23, 1965, and was immersed in music from the outset. His father, Anthony Hudson, was an artist who created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, while his mother Ola J. Hudson was an African-American fashion designer and costumier from the United States, whose clients included David Bowie (whom she also dated), Ringo Starr, and Janis Joplin. During his early years, he was raised by his father and paternal grandparents in Stoke-on-Trent while his mother moved back to her native United States to work in Los Angeles, and when he was around five years old, they both joined his mother in Los Angeles. Following his parents' separation in 1974, Hudson became a self-described "problem child", living with his mother, but often being sent to live with his beloved maternal grandmother whenever she had to travel for her job. He sometimes accompanied his mother to work, where he met several film and music stars, and was given the nickname "Slash" by actor Seymour Cassel, because he was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another". In 1979, Slash decided to form a band with his friend Steven Adler, and although the band never materialized, it prompted him to take up an instrument, and since Adler had designated himself the role of guitarist, Slash decided to learn how to play bass. Equipped with a one-string flamenco guitar given to him by his grandmother, he began taking classes with guitar teacher Robert Wolin, but during his first lesson he decided to switch from bass to guitar after hearing Wolin play 'Brown Sugar' by the Rolling Stones. In 1981 he joined his first band Tidus Sloan, and a couple of years later he reunited with Alder and formed Road Crew, named after the Motörhead song '(We Are) The Road Crew'. He placed an advertisement in a newspaper looking for a bassist, and received a response from Duff McKagan. They auditioned a number of singers, including one-time Black Flag vocalist Ron Reyes, but they couldn't find one that suited them and so the band broke up the following year. Slash and Adler then joined  local group Hollywood Rose, which featured singer Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, and after that he played with Black Sheep, and also unsuccessfully auditioned for glam-metallers Poison. 

In June 1985, Slash was asked by Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin to join their new band Guns N' Roses, along with Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, replacing founding members Tracii Guns, Ole Beich and Rob Gardner, respectively, and they began playing Los Angeles-area nightclubs‍ ‌such as the Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Troubadour‍. Before one of the shows in 1985, Slash shoplifted a black felt top hat and a Native American-style silver concho belt from two stores on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, combining them to create a piece of custom headwear which would become his trademark. After being scouted by several major record labels, the band signed with Geffen Records in March 1986, and they released their debut album 'Appetite For Destruction' in 1987, eventually selling over 28 million copies worldwide. However, as their success grew, so did interpersonal tensions within the band, and in 1989, during a show as opening act for the Rolling Stones, Axl Rose threatened to leave the band if certain members didn't stop "dancing with Mr. Brownstone," a reference to their song of the same name about heroin use. Slash was among those who promised to clean up, but the following year Adler was fired from the band because of his heroin addiction, being replaced by Matt Sorum of The Cult. In May 1991, the band embarked on the two-and-a-half-year-long Use Your Illusion Tour, and the following September they released the long-awaited albums 'Use Your Illusion I' and 'Use Your Illusion II', which debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively on the U.S. chart. In the four years since the release of 'Appetite For Destruction', Slash had gained an enviable reputation as a guitarist, and so it was no surprise that he was asked to guest on albums from other artists, and one of the first that he accepted was an invitation from Iggy Pop, adding his guitar to Pop's 1990 'Brick By Brick' album, followed swiftly with a guest appearance on Bob Dylan's 'Under The Red Sky' album (even though Dylan later cut his solo), and collaborations with Alice Cooper, Motörhead, Michael Jackson, and Spinal Tap, and even though Spinal Tap don't take themselves too seriously, Slash pulled out all the stops for his contribution to their 'Break Like The Wind'. In November 1991 Izzy Stradlin abruptly left the band, and was replaced by Gilby Clarke of Candy and Kill for Thrills, and after the Use Your Illusion Tour had ended in 1993, the band released 'The Spaghetti Incident?', a cover album of mostly punk songs, which proved less successful than its predecessors. Slash then wrote several songs for what would have become the follow-up album to the 'Use Your Illusion' double set, but they were rejected by Rose and McKagan, and so with the band's failure to collaborate resulting in no album being recorded, Slash announced in October 1996 that he was no longer a part of Guns N' Roses. 

In 1994 he added his guitar to band-mates Gilby Clarke's solo album, and then formed Slash's Snakepit, a side project that featured his Guns N' Roses bandmates Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke on drums and rhythm guitar respectively, as well as Alice in Chains' Mike Inez on bass and Jellyfish's Eric Dover on vocals. Their 1995 album 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere' included Slash's rejected material that was intended for Guns N' Roses, and was critically praised for ignoring the then-popular conventions of alternative music. Faring well on the charts, the band toured in support of the album, before disbanding in 1996. Slash then toured for two years with the blues rock cover band Slash's Blues Ball, as well as adding his guitar to albums from Sammy Hagar and Insane Clown Posse, before deciding to regroup Slash's Snakepit in 1999, with Rod Jackson on vocals, Ryan Roxie on rhythm guitar, Johnny Griparic on bass, and Matt Laug on drums. Their second album 'Ain't Life Grand' was released in October 2000 through Koch Records, but it didn't sell as well as the band's previous release, and its critical reception was mixed. In 2002 Slash reunited with Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum for a Randy Castillo tribute concert, and realizing that they still had the chemistry of their days in Guns N' Roses, they decided to form a new band together. Izzy Stradlin was initially involved, but left after the others decided to find a lead singer; a task that took many months listening to demo tapes, before former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland got the Velvet Revolver gig. In 2003 they released their first single 'Set Me Free' followed by their debut album 'Contraband' in June 2004, which crashed in at No. 1 on the U.S. chart, eventually selling two million copies. In July 2007 Velvet Revolver released their second album 'Libertad', and embarked on a second tour, but during a show in March 2008 Weiland announced to the audience that it would be the band's final tour, following which he was fired from the band, with Slash insisting "chemical issues" had led to his departure. Despite the loss of their singer, the band did not officially disband, and in early 2010 they began writing new songs and auditioning new singers. By January 2011 they'd recorded nine demos, and was reportedly due to make a decision on their singer, but Slash eventually admitted that they had been unable to find a suitable vocalist and that Velvet Revolver would go on hiatus for the next few years while its members focused on other projects. So that's the perfect place to end this collection of Slash's extra-curricular work between 1990 and 2008, so settle down and listen to some superb rock guitar on a wide variety of genres from a stellar group of artists. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Home (from 'Brick By Brick' by Iggy Pop 1990)
02 Wiggle Wiggle (from 'Under The Red Sky by Bob Dylan 1990)
03 Always On The Run (from 'Mama Said' by' Lenny Kravitz 1991)
04 Hey Stoopid (from 'Hey Stoopid' by Alice Cooper 1991)

05 Give In To Me (from 'Dangerous' by Michael Jackson 1991)

06 Break Like The Wind (from 'Break Like The Wind' by Spinal Tap 1992)

07 You Better Run  (from 'March Ör Die' by Motörhead 1992)

08 I Don't Live Today (from 'Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix' by Various Artists 1993)

09 Tie Your Mother Down (from 'Resurrection' by Brian May & Cozy Powell 1993)

10 Hold Out For Love (from 'Colour Of Your Dreams' by Carole King 1993)

11 Believe In Me (from 'Believe In Me' by Duff McKagan 1993)

Disc Two

01 Cure Me...Or Kill Me... (from 'Pawnshop Guitars' by Gilby Clarke 1994)

02 Where You Belong (from 'Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus' by Carmine Appice 1995)

03 Communication Breakdown (from 'Stairway To Heaven' by Various Artists 1997)

04 Moja Mi Corazón (from 'Azabache' by Marta Sánchez 1997) 

05 Little White Lie (from 'Marching To Mars' by Sammy Hagar 1997)

06 Hall Of Illusions (from 'The Great Milenko' by Insane Clown Posse 1997)

07 Human (from 'Human' by Rod Stewart 2001)

08 Over, Under, Sideways, Down (from 'Birdland' by The Yardbirds 2003) 

09 The Blame Game (from 'Hollywood Zen' by Matt Sorum 2003)

08 Street Child (from 'Street Child' by Elan 2003)
09 Mustang Nismo (from the soundtrack to the film 'The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift' 2006)
10 Gioca Con Me (from 'Il Mondo Che Vorrei' by Vasco 2008)

Various Artists - Shaken, Not Stirred (2015)

In the next of Mike Solof’s guest posts on the blog, we have his exhaustive investigation into songs which were submitted to the producers of the James Bond films, but which were rejected in favour of those which went on to be forever associated with the franchise. Mike’s main work contains 59 tracks, and, as always, contains a detailed PDF with the background on each song, but to ease you in here is a sampler of that massive work, with notes extracted from his PDF. So over to Mike....

I love James Bond themes. Absolutely adore them, they're some of my favorite songs. So it should go without saying that I find their history and backstory even more interesting. But I think the most intriguing thing about James Bond themes, however, is not the ones that actually made it into the movie, but the themes that don't make it into a film. So over the past few months (since a little while before SPECTRE) I've been collecting as many rejected themes as possible, and I'm going to lay them out here, because who wouldn't want to know about these gems? I'll go through the films in release order, and I've included songs here that I can definitely confirm were rejected, and I'll cite my sources for that.
Thunderball 1965
‘Thunderball' was the fourth Bond film released, and as Shirley Bassey's rendition of 'Goldfinger' really solidified what a Bond theme should be, it should not be a surprise, then, that she was asked to return for 'Thunderball'. John Barry wrote this piece after seriously considering that he could not write a theme with the phrase 'Thunderball' in the title. It was simply too vague for him. So he teamed up with Leslie Bricusse and wrote this 'Goldfinger'-esque piece that focused on Bond rather than the film. The name of the song comes from an Italian journalist, who apparently dubbed James Bond 'Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'. However, there were some issues with Bassey's singing, and so Barry turned to Dionne Warwick to re-record the same theme, and expanded on the instrumental opening to time the lyrics with Binder's opening sequence. Saltzmann and Broccoli heard the song and decided, with very little evidence, that a Bond theme that didn't use the title of the movie would not succeed, and the song was briefly relegated to the closing titles, until Bassey sued and the song was removed. Instrumental versions of 'Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' can still be found on the 'Thunderball' soundtrack.
You Only Live Twice 1967
'You Only Live Twice' actually had a rather rapid theme selection process. As with 'Thunderball' the theme was written pretty early, and the only rejected song comes from a different singer than the final version, except for this one. No one really knows where it came from, apparently Lorraine Chandler recorded it in the 70's, and then in mid-80's RCA was digging through its archives and turned up this recording, and when they released it on vinyl it became a cult hit.
The Man With the Golden Gun 1974
This is one of the more famous rejected themes, for varying reasons, not the least of which was that it was performed by Alice Cooper. But the story behind this song is interesting. John Barry did not return to score 'Live And Let Die', and from what I can gather it was a combination of him being busy, and a disagreement with Saltzman over 'Diamonds Are Forever', and he returned to the series with 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. He set forth immediately writing the title theme, later filled in with lyrics by Don Black and performed by Lulu. It's not a favorite of the franchise, and Barry had consistently stated that it was his least favorite Bond soundtrack. While the producers were courting people to create the title theme, Alice Cooper decided to give it a shot. He would claim for a while that his theme was supposed to be the actual title theme, until it was snatched away at the last minute by Lulu., but this claim seems to be unsubstantiated, and since then Cooper has gone on to say that his song wasn't actually finished by the time the producers signed their contract with Lulu.
For Your Eyes Only 1981
This is one of the strangest rejected themes, as when it came time to write the score for 'For Your Eyes Only', John Barry was unfortunately unable to participate, as he was  dealing with some tax issues, and suggested Bill Conti instead. Produces wanted Debbie Harry to sing a Conti-penned theme, but she refused and wrote her own theme with her bandmates. When it was pitched to Conti, he was less than impressed, turning it down and going on to write his own, originally intended for Donna Summer, but United Artists suggested Sheena Easton, and so a theme was born.
Never Say Never Again 1983
Prior to the release of 'Never Say Never Again' in 1983, Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan wrote what was intended to be the film's theme song, but their tune was axed when Michel Legrand, who created the film's score, threatened to sue. Originally Warner Brothers had informed Forsyth and Ryan's attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture, but shortly before its release they were informed that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. Phyllis Hyman was their first choice to sing the song, and after hearing it sung to her while she was having breakfast in her manager’s office, she agreed to sing it, and without any rehearsal, and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, delivered it in one perfect take.
The Living Daylights 1987
The title song of the film was recorded by Norwegian pop group A-ha, but originally British pop duo Pet Shop Boys was asked to compose the soundtrack, but backed out when they learned that they should not provide a complete soundtrack but merely the opening theme song. In a departure from conventions of previous Bond films, the film used different songs over the opening and end credits, and the song heard over the end credits, 'If There Was A Man' by the Pretenders, had originally been considered as film's title song. However, the producers had been pleased with the commercial success of Duran Duran's 'A View to a Kill', and felt that a-ha would be more likely to make an impact in the charts, so 'If There Was A Man' was relegated to the closing theme. 
GoldenEye 1995
'GoldenEye' was sort of a pseudo-reboot of the series. They weren't calling it a reboot, but it was the first film made after the fall of longtime Bond enemy, the Soviet Union. Hence Bond needed to be brought into the modern era, and while looking for a theme for the movie, Ace of Base submitted a demo. Ace of Base were a pretty well known band now, but when 'GoldenEye' was in production it had only been a year since their debut album. It appears that they were really banking on this film being a success to kind of kickstart their career, but their label had other plans, and forced the band to withdraw the submission, since they strongly believed the film would flop and ruin Ace of Base. How wrong they were.
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
This was the first Bond film to be scored by David Arnold, probably the second most prolific Bond soundtrack composer, after John Barry, and he intended to write a full, brassy, Bassey-eque Bond theme. The producers wanted a more well known name for the theme, and in the end we got Sheryl Crow, but for this movie the producers opened the door for anyone to submit a theme to the movie, receiving offers from, among others, Pulp, Saint Etienne, Swan Lee, The Fixx, Duran Duran, and the one featured here by k.d. lang, which is everything a classic Bond theme should be. It's bold, brassy and sultry, and after the producers chose the new theme, they moved this one to the end credits. Chris Rea was also in contention with his song, 'Shadows Of The Big Man', as the producers were keen to hear from anyone who thought they might have a song worthy of inclusion.
The World is Not Enough 1999
Let's be honest, whatever you think of 'The World is Not Enough', Garbage was a pretty leftfield choice to begin with, but Straw were an indie rock band who only ever released one album, and who submitted this piece for consideration. It was rejected in the end, probably because composer David Arnold and resident Bond lyricist Don Black finally had their chance to write their own Bond theme after the 'Surrender'/'Tomorrow Never Dies' experiment.
Die Another Day 2002
While the opportunity to provide the theme song for 'Die Another Die' eventually went to Madonna, there was a submission by synth-pop duo Red Flag, and although I should mention that I can't confirm this was actually rejected for 'Die Another Day', the evidence certainly points that way, as the production title of 'Die Another Day' was 'Beyond The Ice', and there is also the  blatant Bond references in the lyrics, such as "You only live twice" and "licence to thrill". 
Casino Royale 2006
This song was submitted by Sandra, a German singer who covered the song 'Sleep With Me', originally recorded by Edyta Górniak, and re-titled it 'Casino Royale'. It was apparently up against two other offerings by different artists, but it was one of the ones to be rejected, with Chris Connell eventually getting the gig with 'You Know My Name', which is a shame as it definitely has that 'Bond' feel to it. 
Quantum of Solace 2008
For 'Quantum Of Solace' the producers had three great songs to choose from, with this one from Jo Harrop, as well as Eva Almer's 'Forever' and Shirley Bassey's 'No Good About Goodbye', but they decided to go for 'Another Way To Die' by Alicia Keys and Jack White. However, this is a great song with very much of a 'Bond' feel to it, and it even managed to feature the unusual title in the lyrics.
Skyfall 2012
When Muse recorded 'Supremacy' for their 'The 2nd Law' album, drummer Dominic Howard told The Sun that their track should lead the way for a new Bond flick, as it had a little bit of a Bond vibe – with a crazy 'Live And Let Die' part in the middle. In his view it should be used for the next James Bond film, even hinting that it had been submitted to the filmmakers. However, according to the producers, Adele had always been their first choice, and they've denied that Muse’s 'Supremacy' was ever in contention for the coveted spot.
SPECTRE 2015
Radiohead have said that they were asked to record a Bond theme for SPECTRE and it just didn't work out, as it's likely that it didn't quite capture the theme the studio wanted for the film. Sam Mendes attempted to use the song elsewhere in the film, but decided it would be too distracting, saying it was "an utter nightmare ... we had this beautiful song and we weren't able to use it. But it's somehow cooler for Radiohead to have written a song that wasn't used." 

 
Track listing
 
01 Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Dionne Warwick (Thunderball 1965)
02 You Only Live Twice - Lorraine Chandler (You Only Live Twice 1967)
03 The Man With The Golden Gun - Alice Cooper (The Man With The Golden Gun 1974)
04 For Your Eyes Only - Blondie (For Your Eyes Only 1981)
05 Never Say Never Again - Phyllis Hyman (Never Say Never Again 1983)
06 Where Has Everybody Gone - The Pretenders (The Living Daylights 1987)
07 The Golden Eye - Ace Of Bass (GoldenEye 1995)
08 Surrender - k.d. lang (Tomorrow Never Dies 1997)
09 Shadows Of The Big Man - Chris Rea (Tomorrow Never Dies 1997)
10 The World Is Not Enough - Straw (The World Is Not Enough 1999)
11 Beyond The Ice - Red Flag (Die Another Day 2002)
12 Casino Royale - Sandra (Casino Royale 2006)
13 Quantum Of Solace - Jo Harrop (Quantum Of Solace 2008)
14 Supremacy - Muse (Skyfall 2012)
15 SPECTRE - Radiohead (SPECTRE 2015)
 
This post is really just a sampler of Mike's full collection, which runs to 59 tracks, and covers many more songs from these and other films, as well as some from the related video games. His full album is also in the folder, under his title of 'James Band's Greatest Misses, Rarities...And Moore', so after the taster, dive in for the main course.

Soulseek hint   shaken aiwe

Steve Hunter - ...and on guitar (2001)

Stephen John Hunter was born on 14 June 1948, and his first introduction to music was as a young child listening to country and western music on a Zenith console radio. When he was eight years old, he began taking guitar lessons on a Lap steel guitar after seeing Jerry Byrd play lap steel and hearing what could be done on the instrument, but inspired by the music of Chet Atkins, The Ventures and Duane Eddy, he eventually switched to standard guitar. He continued playing guitar throughout high school as a member of a group called The Weejuns, which took their name from G.H. Bass & Co.'s perennially-popular penny loafers, and he later joined The Light Brigade, a rock and soul group that played in the Decatur area. In 1967 Hunter was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War, and there he trained as an x-ray technician, ultimately serving at an air evacuation hospital in Okinawa, Japan where Vietnam combat casualties were being treated. He considered becoming a doctor but he enjoyed music so much he knew he would follow a career in music, which he did when he returned to Decatur after leaving the Army, building up a reputation as an outstanding guitar player. In 1971 his friend John Sauter called to tell him that he was playing with Mitch Ryder in Detroit and that Ryder was auditioning for guitar players, so he suggested that Hunter come to Detroit and try out. He packed up his guitar and made the eight-hour drive to Detroit, and after passing the audition he became part of Mitch Ryder's new band Detroit, where he met and formed a long-time professional association with producer Bob Ezrin. Detroit released one self-titled album on Paramount Records, but did have a hit single with Hunter's arrangement of Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll', and Reed was so impressed that he recruited Hunter to join his band, playing on 1973's 'Berlin'. In the 1970's he appeared on five Alice Cooper albums, all of which were produced by Ezrin, starting with the band's most successful album 'Billion Dollar Babies'. When Alice Cooper became a solo artist, Hunter followed and appeared on 1975's 'Welcome To My Nightmare', and can be seen in the film 'Welcome To My Nightmare', enacting the celebrated guitar face-off between him and Dick Wagner that formed part of Cooper's 1975 live show. In 1974 he played the uncredited opening-half solo on Aerosmith's 'Train Kept A Rollin' from 'Get Your Wings', after producer Jack Douglas popped his head out of Studio C and asked if Hunter felt like playing on the recording. Later that year Hunter played guitar on former Cream bassist Jack Bruce's solo album 'Out Of The Storm', and in 1977 he worked with Peter Gabriel on his first solo album, playing the intro to the classic single 'Solsbury Hill'. Other artists Hunter has worked with include David Lee Roth, Julian Lennon, Dr. John, Tracy Chapman and more recently Glen Campbell and 2Cellos. It was while recording Roth's 'A Little Ain't Enough' that Hunter met Jason Becker, and they've remained close friends ever since. He auditioned for and got the job of playing guitar on the soundtrack of the 1979 Bette Midler film 'The Rose', composing the instrumental 'Camelia', which is featured in the film. Hunter's first solo album, 1977's critically acclaimed 'Swept Away', reunited him with producer Bob Ezrin, and he's released a number of further solo albums since, but this collection showcases his guitar-work on other artist's albums, from the famous - Reed, Gabriel, Aerosmith - to the not so well-known but equally as interesting, like The H Factor, Jesse Camp, Angelo, and The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Detroit' by Detroit With Mitch Ryder 1972)
02 Sad Song (from 'Berlin' by Lou Reed 1973)
03 If We Only Had The Time (from 'Flo & Eddie' by Flo & Eddie 1973)
04 Timeslip (from 'Out Of The Storm' by Jack Bruce 1974)
05 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Get Your Wings' by Aerosmith 1974)
06 Some Folks (from 'Welcome To My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper 1975)
07 Back By The River (from 'Hollywood Be Thy Name' by Dr. John 1975)
08 Solsbury Hill (from 'Peter Gabriel' by Peter Gabriel 1977)      
09 Spaceman (from 'Randy Richards' by Randy Richards 1978)

Disc Two
01 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (from 'Midnight Prowl' by Angelo 1978) 
02 Small Town Boy (from 'Richard Wagner' by Richard Wagner 1978)
03 Danger Up Ahead (from 'Don't Look Back' by Natalie Cole 1980)
04 Whatever Will Be (from 'Wake 'Em Up In Tokyo' by Karla DeVito 1986)
05 Urban Strut (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
06 The Hurt Stays Home (from 'The H Factor' by The H Factor 1989) 
07 Saltwater (from 'Help Yourself' by Julian Lennon' 1991)
08 A Little Luck (from 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' by David Lee Roth 1994)
09 Meet Me In The Morning (from 'Perspective' by Jason Becker 1995)
10 Break It (from 'Jesse & The 8th Street Kidz' by Jesse Camp 1999)
11 Blade (from 'Walk Alone' by Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash 2001)

Thanks to Duane for the suggestion. 

Steve Vai - ...and on guitar (2003)

Steven Siro Vai was born on 06 June 1960 in Carle Place, New York, and his first experience of music started at an early age, when at the age of six he was first introduced to the guitar, seeing an older child playing in his grade school auditorium, and knowing instinctively that he was going to play the guitar someday. At the age of twelve he decided to start playing the instrument, and in 1973 he began taking guitar lessons from fellow New York native Joe Satriani, and playing in local bands like The Ohio Express, Circus, and Rayge throughout his high school years. In 1978, to further pursue his interest in music composition and theory, Vai attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and after receiving both a notated transcription of Frank Zappa's 'The Black Page', and a recording of Vai's college band Morning Thunder, Zappa was impressed enough to put Vai on salary as a transcriptionist to transcribe his work. After leaving Berklee College of Music and moving to California, Vai auditioned for and became a full-time member of Zappa's band, going on his first tour with Zappa in late 1980. After leaving Zappa's employ in 1983, Vai bought a house in Sylmar, Los Angeles and built his first professional studio, where he wrote and recorded a large amount of music that was not originally intended for release. Out of this material, he compiled his first studio album 'Flex-Able', which he released on his own Akashic Records label. At the same time as the album came out, he'd come to public attention when his composition 'The Attitude Song' was published in Guitar Player magazine, showcasing a number of specialized techniques, such as two-handed tapping, whammy bar acrobatics, sweep picking, alternate picking, multi-part harmonies, and odd phrasing. In between his solo work, and appearing in the film 'Crossroads' in 1986 as the Devil's guitar player Jack Butler, where he wrote and performed nearly all the guitar parts in the duel scene, he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as the lead guitarist of Alcatrazz, recording the album 'Disturbing The Peace' with them in 1985. Later that year he joined David Lee Roth's post-Van Halen band as lead guitarist, and their 1986 debut album 'Eat 'Em And Smile' was both a critical and commercial success, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 albums chart and selling over two million copies. Roth's subsequent album 'Skyscraper' was released in 1988 and was another commercial success, but Vai left the band after the Skyscraper Tour to work on the JEM guitar that he'd designed, which incorporated a series of groundbreaking designs that have since become staples throughout the guitar industry, and he releasing the Ibanez JEM 777 guitar in 1987. 

From 1985 to 1990 he recorded the 'Passion And Warfare' album at his home studio, and in those five years he also appeared on a number of other artist's albums as a guest guitarist, always adding something a bit out of the ordinary to the recordings. One of these sessions was to record the guitar parts for Whitesnake's 'Slip of The Tongue' album, where he replaced the injured Adrian Vandenberg, and after the album came out to critical acclaim, Vai joined the band on their thirteen-month world tour. In May 1990 he released his second album 'Passion And Warfare' through Relativity Records, winning him a number of awards such as Guitar World and Guitar Player's 'Best Album' and 'Best Rock Guitarist' awards. Vai's next project was to form his own band with Devin Townsend on vocals, T. M. Stevens on bass, and Terry Bozzio on drums and release the 'Sex & Religion' album, and in 1994 he began working with Ozzy Osbourne, writing and recording the 'Ozzmosis' album, before internal conflicts led to the whole album being re-written and recorded with Zakk Wylde on guitar instead. 2001 saw the limited release of 'The Secret Jewel Box', a conceptual ten-CD box set containing unique material from various eras of Vai's career, and he continues to releases albums, either solo or with the band G3, including fellow guitar maestros Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson, as well as playing live for a few years on the Zappa Plays Zappa tour as a special guest, but this collection showcases his guest appearances from his early days as one of the new kids on the block, showing the old guys how it should be done.   

Track listing

01 London 1941 (from 'At The Door' by Heresy 1985)
02 Full Moon (from 'The Epidemics' by The Epidemics 1986)
03 There's Still Hope (from 'The Great Nostalgia' by Bob Harris 1986)
04 Home (from 'Album' by Public Image Ltd 1986) 
05 Funk Me Tender (from 'Funk Me Tender' by Randy Coven 1986)
06 Noah's Ark (from 'Submarine' by Greg Bissonette 1986)
07 Western Vacation (from 'Western Vacation' by Western Vacation 1986)
08 Sweet Lady Luck (out-take from 'Slip Of The Tongue' by Whitesnake 1989)
09 Supergirl (from 'The Best Of Dreams' by Rebecca 1990)
10 Feed My Frankenstein (from 'Hey Stoopid' by Alice Cooper 1991)
11 Speed (from 'Free World' by Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle 1997)
12 Room Full Of You (from 'Vertigo' by Billie Myers 2000)
13 Shapes Of Things (from 'Birdland' by The Yardbirds 2003)

Joe Satriani - ...and on guitar (2020)

Joseph Satriani was born in Westbury on 15 July 15 1956 and raised in Carle Place, and he started playing guitar at 14, after being inspired by hearing of the death of Jimi Hendrix, and later taking lessons from jazz musicians Lennie Tristano and Billy Bauer. He enrolled in Five Towns College and also began teaching guitar, taking his first notable student in Steve Vai, a musician who would soon be credited with "stunt guitar" on Frank Zappa records. Satriani headed out to Berkeley, California in 1978, supporting himself through teaching, and beginning to gig with local bands, and over the next few years he racked up what would prove to be an impressive roster of pupils, including Kirk Hammett (who would join Metallica), jazz fusion guitarist Charlie Hunter, Larry LaLonde (later of Primus), Kevin Cadogan (who joined Third Eye Blind), and David Bryson (Counting Crows). During this period he started to be noticed as a musician himself, landing his first notable steady gig in The Squares, and then joining the Greg Kihn Band in 1986, just as the hits started to dry up for the power popper. Satriani has said that as Kihn was desperate for a replacement guitarist, he was paid far too much money, and he used that, along with his credit cards, to finance his full-length debut album 'Not Of This Earth', released on the Relativity label in 1986. At the same time, his student Steve Vai was hired by David Lee Roth, pushing him into the national spotlight, and Vai often tipped his hat to his old guitar tutor. This helped set the stage for the 1987 release of 'Surfing With The Alien', which received rave reviews from guitar publications, and it rocketed Satriani to mainstream stardom almost overnight, eventually being certified platinum, which was an almost unheard-of feat for an instrumental album. 

As a result of this notoriety, he was offered the chance to play with Mick Jagger on his solo tour of Japan in 1988, which he readily accepted, and he was also asked to guest on 'Blue Öyster Cult's latest recording. The following year saw the release of his next album 'Flying In A Blue Dream', which included a couple of cuts where he sang lead vocals, possibly at the request of his label, but it did help propel the album into the upper reaches of the charts. Before he started work on his next album, he played on four tracks with Alice Cooper, and appeared with Spinal Tap on the 'Break Like The Wind' album. 1992's 'The Extremist' was his highest-ever chart position on Billboard, and a year later he joined Deep Purple, taking over the lead guitar slot from the absent Ritchie Blackmore on a Japanese tour, after which he was offered a full-time position, but he turned it down and the gig went to Steve Morse. The next big event in his career arrived in 1996 when he teamed up with Steve Vai and Eric Johnson for G3, a tour designed to showcase the three guitar virtuosos, and it was captured on the 1997 live CD/DVD set 'G3: Live In Concert'. More solo albums followed, with 2003/2004 being particularly productive, not only for him personally, but he also guested on tracks from the reformed Yardbirds, Stanley Clarke, and Jordan Rudess. Satriani's next project was the supergroup Chickenfoot, with ex-Van Halen rockers Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, plus Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and they released their self-titled debut in 2009, while at the same time he was keeping his solo career afloat with 'Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards' appearing in 2010. A year later Chickenfoot released their second album 'Chickenfoot III', while an overview of his work was issued as 'The Complete Studio Recordings' box set in 2014, followed by yet another new release with 'Shockwave Supernova' in 2015. A couple times a year Satriani joined other artists in the studio to add his blistering guitar runs to songs by artists such as Frost*, Don Felder, Todd Rundgren, and just last year on the latest release by Ayreon. This collection shows the huge variety of artists that have benefited from Satriani's fiery guitar-work over the years, and if you aren't already a fan then I hope in inspires you to check out his many solo releases.  

Track listing   

Disc One
01 Love And Rock And Roll (from 'Love And Rock And Roll' by Greg Kihn 1986)
02 Montery (from 'Aquamarine' by Danny Gottlieb 1987)
03 The Siege And Investiture Of Baron Von Frankenstein's Castle At Weisseria 

                                                                                (from 'Imaginos' by Blue Öyster Cult 1988)
04 Flow My Tears (from 'Radio Free Albemuth' by Stuart Hamm 1988)
05 Burning Our Bed (from 'Hey Stoopid' by Alice Cooper 1991)
06 Break Like the Wind (from 'Break Like The Wind' by Spinal Tap 1992) 
07 Ellipsis (from 'All Sides Now' by Pat Martino 1997)
08 Labios De Fuego (from 'Soy' by Alejandra Guzmán 2001)
09 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Birdland' by The Yardbirds 2003)

Disc Two
01 Hair (from '1,2, To The Bass' by Stanley Clarke 2003)
02 Screaming Head (from 'Rhythm Of Time' by Jordan Rudess 2004)
03 Hang Me Out To Dry (from 'Gillan's Inn' by Ian Gillan 2006)
04 River Of Longing (from 'Collection' by Jason Becker 2008)
05 Nail Grinder (from 'Clean' by Martone 2008)
06 Hold On To The Vision (from the soundtrack of the 1986 film 'No Retreat No Surrender' 2010)
07 Falling Awake (from 'What Lies Beneath' by Tarja 2010)
08 Gaia Tribe (from 'Elemental Journey' by Sonny Landreth 2012)

Disc Three
01 Closer To The Sun (from 'Falling Satellites' by Frost* 2016)
02 This Is Not A Drill (from 'White Knight' by Todd Rundgren 2017)
03 The Healer (from 'Borrego' by Marco Minnemann 2017)
04 When Did Men Rock (from 'Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing)' by Derek Smalls 2018)
05 Power Drunk Majesty (Part II) (from 'Volume II: Power Drunk Majesty' by 

                                                                                                              Metal Allegiance 2018)

06 Rock You (from 'American Rock 'n' Roll' by Don Felder 2019)
07 Tears From A Glass Eye (from 'Old Lions Still Roar' by Phil Campbell 2019)
08 Get Out! Now! (from 'Transitus' bu Ayreon' 2020)

Alice Cooper - Ripping The Sawdust From My Teddybear (1986)

With the release of the 'Love It To Death' album in 1971, Alice Cooper had reinvented themselves as a shocking glam-rock band, with a stage show that was to become notorious in its ghoulishness. Hooking up with young producer Bob Ezrin, they released the single 'I'm Eighteen' in late 1970, which became a surprise Top 40 hit, and this lead to  Warner Bros  thinking that the band could be a viable commercial act, and so they invested heavily in that third Alice Cooper album. It was initially released on Frank Zappa's Straight Records, but was reissued on the Warner label following its buyout of the imprint from Zappa, giving the band even greater exposure. Under Ezrin's direction, their music moved from psychedelic rock to a tighter, guitar-driven hard rock sound, and much of the lyrical content continued to explore decadence, perversion and psychosis. Hit single followed hit single, with 'School's Out', 'Hello Hooray', and 'Elected' all hitting the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic, and while they were at the peak of their powers, readers of the New Musical Express in the UK were treated to a cover-mounted flexi-disc featuring the otherwise unreleased 'Slick Black Limousine'. This was the first of many exclusive tracks which started to grace soundtrack and tribute albums in the 70's and 80's, both as the band Alice Cooper, and then from 1975 onwards when the group broke up, as Alice Cooper the solo artist. I've gathered the best of these, and added a rare demo from the 'Killer' era, as well as a couple more demos from 1973 and 1981, a 1982 stand-alone single, a 1980 b-side, and of course that NME flexi, to make up an album of rare and hard to find songs covering the whole of the band's career. 

Track listing

01 Slick Black Limousine (NME freebie 1973)
02 Call It Evil (demo 1971)
03 Respect For The Sleepers (demo 1973)
04 I'm Flash (from 'Flash Fearless' 1975)
05 Space Pirates (from 'Flash Fearless' 1975)
06 No Time For Tears (from the 'Sextette' soundtrack 1977)
07 Because (from the 'Sgt Pepper' tribute album 1978)
08 No Tricks (b-side of 'How You Gonna See Me Now' 1978)
09 Road Rats (from the 'Roadie' soundtrack 1980)
10 Look At You Over There, Ripping The Sawdust From My Teddybear (demo 1981)
11 For Britain Only (single 1982)
12 Identity Crisis (from the 'Monster Dog' soundtrack 1984)
13 See Me In The Mirror (from the 'Monster Dog' soundtrack 1984)
14 Hard Rock Summer (from the 'Friday The 13th Part VI - Jason Lives' soundtrack 1986)
15 He's Back (demo for the 'Friday The 13th Part VI - Jason Lives' soundtrack 1986)

Alice Cooper - Nobody Likes Us (1970)

The Earwigs formed in Phoenix in 1964 with three of the eventual five Alice Cooper members (Vince Furnier, Dennis Dunaway and Glen Buxton), who were classmates in high school. They were joined shortly afterwards by John Tatum on rhythm guitar and John Speer on drums, and changed their name to The Spiders, with Michael Bruce replacing Tatum in 1966, and Neal Smith replacing Speer the following year. The band relocated to Los Angeles in early 1967, and changed their name again, this time to The Nazz. During their time as The Spiders and The Nazz the band released a number of singles on local labels such as Santa Cruz Records and Very Records. In 1968, the band learned that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, and found themselves in need of another name. The legend is that the name 'Alice Cooper' came from a session with a Ouija board and was the name of a 17th century witch. However, Furnier described the incident with the Ouija board as "just pure urban legend...but it was a great story." In fact the name was chosen simply as a gimmick, because it sounded innocuous and wholesome, in humorous contrast to the band's image and music.
After a 1968 gig at the Cheetah club in Venice, California, where most of the club's patrons left after hearing the band play just ten minutes, they were approached by music manager Shep Gordon, who saw the band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction. He arranged an audition for the band with Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock" for an audition, but the band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of music at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough for him to sign them to a three-album deal, and the first three Alice Cooper albums were released on Zappa's Straight label. This album looks back at the early days of Alice Cooper, with their two singles as The Spiders, the sole outing from The Nazz, plus a rare demo from them, the studio version of 'Levity Ball', which appeared on their 1969 'Pretties For You' album in a live rendition, and some choice tracks from their first two albums for Zappa, including a freaked-out version of their 1967 Nazz single. This takes us up to 1970, when they reinvented themselves as the shock-rock glam-racket band that we know and love today. 

Track listing

01 Don't Blow Your Mind (The Spiders single 1966)
02 No Price Tags (b-side of 'Don't Blow Your Mind)
03 Hitch Hike (The Spiders single 1965)
04 Why Don't You Love Me (b-side of 'Hitch Hike')
05 Lay Down And Die, Goodbye (The Nazz single 1967)
06 Wonder Who's Loving Her Now (b-side of 'Lay Down And Die, Goodbye)
07 Nobody Likes Me (The Nazz demo 1968)
08 Levity Ball (studio version 1968)
09 Living (from 'Pretties For You 1969)
10 Fields Of Regret (from 'Pretties For You' 1969)
11 Return Of The Spiders (from 'Easy Action' 1970)
12 Lay Down And Die, Goodbye (from 'Easy Action' 1970)