MASTERPIECE BY WHICH ALL OTHERS ARE JUDGED
Simply put, the best instrumental rock guitar album of all time. There's nobody better than Steve.

pretty good
steve vai knows how to use a guitar and can do some pretty fancy things with one... but listening to the album i couldn't help but think to myself 'if only he could channel that awesomeness into a great song'. don't get me wrong, i enjoy this album and think it's great stuff, but it's more a showcase of what he can do on a guitar and not so much an attempt at amazing song writing. you could say that the album lacks soul. so while i will enjoy it when i listen to it, i have to be in the mood for it because it's not a song i'm listening to, it's technique.

something that kind of bugged me a bit in this album was the talking aspects of the songs. like, the most prominent example, in the song the audience is listening, the supposed premise is that an elementary school aged vai is going to play a composition for his class and his teacher is glowing with praise, but as he starts to play she says it's too loud and wild and bad mouths it... throughout the whole song. trying a bit too hard to capture that something else.

i think the deal with this guy is that he was a student of joe satriani, or they had some sort of relationship like that... and i'm sorry to say but he has a ways to go in comparison.

A few great songs - but most are pointless wanking
"For the Love of God" is a nice piece of music. But most of this album is rubbish. Sorry, it's true. Generic rhythm tracks overlaid with endless, childish "dweedly dweedly dweedly". It's great musicianship, and there are some good ideas here which might have gone towards making better songs, but overall it's terrible music. Just because you *can* play it doesn't mean you should. As another reviewer wrote, this is why shred is dead. If you like this sort of thing, check out John Petrucci's solo album instead... it is light years ahead of this in compositional maturity.

Dreamlike, artistic, and top-notch musicianship...yep, we got something here!
It took me a little while to "get" this album. There's something so surreal about "Passion and Warfare" that you just can't ignore it. The way it combines incredible instrumental work with the fact that the song were inspired by actual dreams of Steve Vai's is amazing. There is also an element of Frank Zappa's music in here. The connection Steve had to Zappa must have left an influence on the him and especially this album. Kind of reminds me of how I am with my guitar teacher: creative, artistically inclined and certainly out of the ordinary.
The short description of this album would be that it's one of the greatest guitar-focused albums of all time that features cool basswork and powerful drumming. Instead, I'll give a more detailed review so people can better grasp this album.
"Liberty" is appropriately named, as it gives the album a majestic opener. "Erotic Nightmares" provides fascinating guitar soloing. "The Animal" combines a funk-metal guitar riff with some outsanding shredding in the mixolydian scale (technical talk that some people might not understand, but that's OK). "For The Love of God" is an extremely beautiful guitar solo in B minor, one of the best solos of all time. I mean, I could just feel the passion behind each and every note of this six-minute power ballad. It's one of those songs that puts you in a very unusual, but still very comfortable mood.
"The Audience Is Listening" is a rare treat. The song througout is very funny, literally almost like a musical comedy. The thrashy wah-riff combined with the hard-funk bassline adds for some great pieces remembered. Then of course are some more intensely beautiful guitar melodies in B minor which add a very lush and even sensuous tone to the song. The song ends in commotion, the way a rock performance at someone's school might. "Greasy Kid's Stuff" has an intro where Steve mentions the technical stuff behind the equipment and such, but the rest of the provides an energetic rocker that's very enjoyable, with the ending quote being, "And that's not just greasy kid's stuff!".
"Answers" is another short piece that's still extremely loveable. That funky, surreal guitar riff combined with more, melodic soloing just makes for another, awesome song. "Ballerina" and "Alien Water Kiss" are both short songs with great melodies on a clean guitar tone that add a cool variety to the album.
Overall, this is an amazing effort by Steve Vai. The whole atmosphere of it is truly unique and very "out there", if you will, but that's just what I love about it. What some people may describe as eccentric is pure pleasure for me. Additionally, it's presented in such a way that even if you're not a musician, you can still appreciate the album. Because of the epic tone that is often featured here (alongside some very funny moments), this is one of those albums that I wait until night time to listen to, but that's all right - that just makes the album feel more special to me.
All right, so by now, you probably understand that I hold this album in high regards. If you are inspired to get it, please, definitely do! It's beautiful, powerful and different, and will certainly add variety to your collection. And as Steve said in "The Audience Is Listening": "I am the passion...I am the warfare". (just wanted to recall that moment!). Anyway, thanks for the time, and peace.

God of guitars!!
This is absolutely fantastic,guitars and more guitars.Recently went and saw him.The guy loves his fans and I have the same for him-in a straight
way that is'.It's too bad he'does'nt write better compositions,there's
more flash and some times missing some good chemistry.But steve is still
the greatist and hopefully we'll see him in G3 once again!