Customer Reviews
Joe's best - By: Alister King, 07 Feb 2008 
It's well known that Satch taught Steve Vai. It's less well documented that it took the teacher longer to become a musician than the pupil. Steve arrived on his 2nd album. It took Joe three.
But boy was it worth the wait. Directly comparable with Passion & Warfare for its perfect balance of composition & technique, this is guitar playing to be reckoned with. On his 1st 2 records (with some notable exceptions) you get the impression Joe is trying to show off his talents at the expense of the tunes. On "Dream" Joe not only manages to produce stunning guitar tracks, he makes great music too. There is a vast range of tracks & he masters so many different styles, the album, stands up to repeated listening. He's come close again since, but never bettered this classic work.
Stand out tracks: Flyingin a blue dream, Mystical potato head groove thing, One big rush, Big bad moon, Back to Shalla bal, Forgotten (pts 1 & 2).
BEST OF MANY - By: James J. Porter, 29 Aug 2007 
He's made a lot of cds over the years & I have them all, but for me this still remains the best. So why only 4 stars? This album is so long that you could take out the very few weak spots & what you have left is enough to still have a good length cd worthy of 5 stars. However the rating is for the whole cd &in my view drops a point. There are more vocals on here than what has now become the norm, but they are good. 'Big Bad Moon' & 'Ride' are especially brilliant. The instrumentals, by far the bulk of the album, are almost without exception hard rock & heavy metal. So,again, more than 2/3 of this long cd presents Joes best work so far & given what he has produced elsewhere that is really saying something.
One Big Rush... - By: Lee Jackson, 28 Aug 2007 I remember listening to Surfing With The Alien for first time ever when it was released as a trackin the "The Best Air Guitar Album In The World...Ever". I was simply speechless by the fast paced rhythms & solos that were being produced from this guy & his guitar...it was amazing.
Flyingin a Blue Dream was my sixth Satch album I had purchased after hearing some of the tracks on "The Electric Joe Satriani compilation" & some nagging from my art teacher about how good it was.
The album opens up with the wonderful title track & is followed by a mix of chilled out tunes, fast solos & some vocal work from Satch himself, which was noticeably not a featurein the previous albums.
I've heard a little negativity towards Satriani's vocals but to be honest, they are not that bad & they fitin rather well, not to mentionin songs like Big Bad Moon the guitar work seems to reinforce the strength of the songs.
Overall, Flying In A Blue Dream is one of, if not, the finest albumin the Satriani discography, showing just what this guitarist is capable of.
Classic, excellent & inspirational. Five Stars
Personal favourites on this album are...
Flying In A Blue Dream
I Believe
One Big Rush
Big Bad Moon
The Forgotten (Part 2)
Amazing - By: Jeff Twat, 28 Jun 2007 I recently purchased four Satriani albums ('Surfing With The Alien', 'Flying In A Blue Dream', 'Crystal Planet' & 'Is There Love In Space'.) I would say that this & 'SWTA' are the best of the four. Joe Satriani is one of the most talented, influential & unique guitaristsin the world, & this album is perhaps the best proof why.
The opening title-track is a mystical experiencein itself - a great chord progression overdubbed with an amazing guitar solo. 'The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing' is another amazing song; heavier, bluesier & with a great riff & solo. The tapping is amazing. Other highlights include the beatiful 'Day At The Beach (New Rays From An Ancient Sun', the hard-rocking 'Back To Shalla-Bal' & the surprisingly normal rock song 'Ride'. Joe Satriani may be one of the most technically gifted guitarists ever, but he knows how to mix technique & music properly, like Eric Johnson, rather than just mindlessly shredding, llike Yngwie Malmsteen. Of course, you will find tapping (includingin his own unique way where he taps two different melodies at once e.g. 'Day at the Beach') shredding, string-skipping etc, but it's not all the time & as fast as possible.
I would also recommend;
'Surfing With The Alien' - Joe Satriani
'Passion & Warfare' - Steve Vai
'Population Override' - Buckethead
'Ah Via Musicom' - Eric Johnson
'Crystal Planet' - Joe Satriani
Probably Satriani's best. - By: P. Woods, 10 Apr 2006 I have not listened to 'Strange beautiful music' 'Time machine' & 'Not of this Earth', but I have heard all of Satch's other albums, & for me this is probably the greatest album he has ever done. If you've heard 'Surfing with the alien', this album will be no different, but Satch has many more different, interesting songs here. Straight-ahead shred-rock (Back to shalla-bal, One big rush), some funk (Bells of lal part 2, Strange), a bit of folk/country (The feeling, Phone call) & a bit of 80s metal (Big bad moon). Don't worry, Satch still delivers the crazy guitaring with fantastic solos. The solosin all of his songs are brilliant, with fast out-of-control ones, to melodic slow solos. He also includes his famous double handed tapping tecniquein the beautiful 'Day at the beach' & the not-so-good 'Headless'.
But also, Satch does a bit of singing now. Some may not like the idea of that & I wasn't sure if i'd like it at first, but I found some of the vocal tracks to be just as enjoyable, from the punky 'Can't slow down' to the ballad of 'I believe' they are all great, but one of my favourites is the mid-tempo rocker 'Ride'. He also singsin 'Phone call', 'Big bad moon' & 'Strange'. Satch's voice isn't as bad as everyone says, his voice is suited to the songs (maybe with the exception of 'I believe'). You can still sing the songs, no matter who sings them.
So, if you want to listen to Joe Satriani, i'd try 'Surfing with the alien' first, but this is also a good album to try as well & my favourite of Satriani. It just has a wide variety of songs & it's a great 70-minute listen.
