Steve Vai - The Story Of Light (2012) [Repost]

The Story of Light is the eighth studio album by American guitarist and songwriter, Steve Vai, which was released on August 14, 2012 on Favored Nations. This is Vai's first full length studio album since 2005's "Real Illusions: Reflections". On May 23, 2012, the album was made available for pre-order through Vai's official website with an instant download of "Gravity Storm". The track "John the Revelator" contains a sample of Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator". "The Moon and I" was initially released as a VaiTunes digital only single in 2010. However, due to the personal nature of the song, Steve decided to remix the song and include it on the album. The album debuted on Billboard 200 at No. 78.

The Story Of Light is a revealing twelve-song set from legendary guitarist and visionary composer Steve Vai. His sixteenth solo effort is a conceptual and cosmic narrative that builds on his acclaimed 2005 work, Real Illusions: Reflections. While largely instrumental, the album features guest vocalists: singer-songwriter Aimee Mann and Beverly McClellan, a season one finalist on The Voice. The three-time GRAMMY® winner delivers his sensational guitar licks and mind-bending solos, proving why he is one of music’s greatest guitarists.

Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai's music has its roots in some unknown interstellar worlds. From his earliest mid-'80s solo output, Vai's largely instrumental tricked-out guitar compositions found some strange middle ground between heavy metal bliss and space-traveling experimentalism. Released in 2005, Real Illusions: Reflection found Vai shifting from his alien undercurrents to a more spiritual vibe, with themes of new age discovery and introspection filling the album. The Story of Light, Vai's eighth studio album of solo work, continues down the spiritual path, infusing his monolithic metal fusion playing with inward reflections, as well as expanding on the "rock fable" begun on the last album. His signature heavily processed tone and liquid playing characterize barnburning runs like the funky "Velorum" and the roadhouse stomp of "Gravity Storm," while softer tracks like "Creamsicle Sunset" and "The Moon and I" wander longingly through various time signatures and modes, the later dabbling with Middle Eastern scales. The most winning moments on The Story of Light are the unexpected ones, as with "No More Amsterdam," a zigzagging ballad about the ennui of world travel that finds Vai duetting with singer/songwriter institution Aimee Mann, who also wrote the song's lyrics. Most uncommon to the guitarist's catalog thus far is his two-part cover of bluesman Blind Willie Johnson's "John the Revelator." This surprising cut is sung largely by Beverly McClellan from television's The Voice, backed by a full gospel choir with samples of Johnson's original recording of the song sampled in intermittently. The effect, much like the entire album, is epic, but not the type of epic we've come to expect from one of the longer-running guitar gods of his era. While always prolific, uncompromising, and inarguably shredding, it's refreshing to see that Vai is still deeply interested in expanding his sound. Even at a well-established level and decades into his craft, Vai takes some surprising risks on The Story of Light, and the album almost always benefits from them.

01 - The Story Of Light
02 - Velorum
03 - John The Revalator
04 - Book Of The Seven Seals
05 - Creamsicle Sunset
06 - Gravity Storm
07 - Mullach a'tsi
08 - The Moon and I**
09 - Weeping China Doll
10 - Racing The World
11 - No More Amsterdam
12 - Sunshine Electric Raindrops

Produced by Steve Vai

Line-up
Steve Vai (Joe Satriani, Frank Zappa, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, Meat Loaf, Zappa plays Zappa, Devin Townsend, Billy Sheehan, G3, Iwrestledabearonce) - guitar and vocals (tracks 8, 11)
Philip Bynoe - bass
Jeremy Colson - drums
Deborah Henson-Conant - harp (track 7)
Beverly McClellan - vocals (track 3 and 4)
Aimee Mann - vocals (track 11)
Bernie Grundman - mastering
Dave Rosenthal - piano (track 1)
Julia Rainy May Vai - Russian narration (track 1)
Bob Carpenter - Hammond B3 (tracks 3, 4, 12)
Mike Keneally - keyboards (track 8)
Dave Weiner - rhythm guitar (track 8)

Notes
The Story of Light is business as usual for Vai, a man who fights to avoid repeating himself and always tries to find new territory on an instrument that he has described as being "infinite" in its creative potential.