String wonder Steve Vai was born in 1960 in Long Island, New York, USA. In high school he took guitar lessons from Joe Satriani, who attended the same school for some time. Even before his twenty-first birthday he was asked by Frank Zappa to play in his band. In the following years he played in hard rock bands such as Alcatrazz and Whitesnake and worked with ex-Van Halen singer David Lee Roth. He
… also made a number of solo albums, of which Flex-Able (1984) and Passion And Warfare (1990) are probably the best. Coincidentally, most of the material on The Elusive Light And Sound Vol.1 is also from that period. This special compilation contains all the songs that Vai wrote between 1986 and 1994 for film, television and theater. We hear fragments from Dudes, Encino Man, PCU and Crossroads (the fantastic guitar duel with Ry Cooder!). It is a smart career move by Vai, who has often been criticized for being very good technically but putting too little feeling into his game. The tracks on this album prove that as a composer of film music he really knows how to create a certain atmosphere. (MvP)more
