10 Best Instrumental Rock Music Albums Of All Time
4. Surfing With The Alien - Joe Satriani
There can't be many guitarists more celebrated than Joe Satriani (born 1956, USA). Satriani served as a guitar instructor to, among others, Steve Vai (see elsewhere on this list) before embarking on a staggeringly successful solo career, which has earned him fifteen Grammy nominations and sales in the millions.
Surfing With The Alien (1987) is Satriani's second studio album, and one of his most fondly remembered. Recorded on a shoe-string budget of just $13,000, the album sported an eye-catching cover, which consisted of a panel from Marvel's Silver Surfer comic book.
The aforementioned budgetary restraints, in fact, contributed to the record's distinctive sound – a mix of live playing and programmed beats. To save money, the majority of the rhythms were generated using drum machines, with added live percussion overdubs.
Only one of Satriani's remarkable guitar solos was worked out beforehand, the rest being improvised on the spot. Brash, bold, heavy and relentlessly playful, Surfing With The Alien is firmly fixed in its time. You couldn't mistake this for any other decade than the '80s, but that is precisely what makes this record work so well. It's an absolute blast from start to finish.