Well... Let's hear some opinions on The Story Of Light cd.

[Jenn Pix]

What kind of stuff?

Talking about the creative process and inspirations for each song. How different pieces came together, a little bit of the story line of the album, how some of the collaborations came to be... all that kind of stuff.
I love peeking into that process and hearing those little stories. I am endlessly fascinated by that kind of thing. (maybe coz I'm a creative kind of mind, myself...) It's interesting to see the way another brain is thinking...

There's also a segment that shows all the stuff in the Harmony Hut, and a photo shoot thing with Zakk Wylde. Pretty cool stuff, fun to watch.

[lastmohican]

WOW. Sounds great. Thanks Jenn.

[sap]

Steve's lick on Racing the World at 1:56 is sick.

[Pape]

Its great, but I got the platinum package and only got 1 pic. Bitter. But the CD is phenomenal! Then again, I may be a fan boy that hasn't found anything I Dislike yet... Maybe...

[anuj]

Lovin' it ..

[ocxcxd]

Well, I've decided to write a review on this. Track by track.

The Story Of Light - I like this one very much, these fat chords are just sparkling and clean. The Russian that's spoken in there confuses a bit, because of the language. (I understand that a bit because Slovene and Russian language are in the same family.) I found this song being sort of like a mixture between Under It All and The Blood And Tears.

Velorum - (It's odd because one day I was going to sleep, and right in that state when you're between sleep state and consciousness, the melody came to me. It was VEEEERY similar to this one. Luckily enough I remembered it and recorded it. But that's another story....) Nice one too, the intro is heavy and rough, and then sheds into the nice soft melody. Nice, warm and bright melody and some synth shredding at the end.

John The Revelator - I don't like gospel music (for now) and similar... Steve made that song very powerful, and then Beverly kicks in. Really love the sound of his Ibanez Strat, it's really in the sweet spot.

Book Of The Seven Seals - Same as for John The Revelator.

Creamsicle Sunset - Really nice "belly" sound . I could really see that Sunset that he saw in Hawaii.

Gravity Storm - Heavy one, really powerful. A lot of bends in it and the Whammy stuff.

Mullach a' tSí - DHC in there His sound on this one reminds me of the song that he did with Sharon Isbin. If you've ever listened to that song (Mullach a' tSí) in the original version, you'll see that he's following the vocal melody.

The Moon And I - Already heard, but this version I found more clear and with more highs.

Weeping China Doll - This one is a peak of the new album. It really touches me, and has a special melody. Wide and fat sound here.

Racing The World - Steve says it's nothing special. But it's a fun one and full of energy for me.

No More Amsterdam - I like the lyrics and both vocals on this one. I see some similarities with I'm Your Secrets.

Sunshine Electric Raindrops - I imagine this one as colorful raindrops, that are projecting their energy and light all over the world. Similar to the Frank.

[bkornaker1977]

I think hes finally got his Legacy amp dialed in now.

Ultra Zone was ultra muddy. Real Reflections was better...... but still flabby muddy legacy. This Album with his recent recordings (Story of Light, Velorium, Gravity Storm) show his Legacy is nice and tight now, much brighter and more crunchy like his older Albums (ALS and FireGarden).

His tone reminds me of ALS and Firegarden again. Much better.

His rhythm guitar tone in "Story of Light (Track 1)" reminds me of EVH from the Balance album. Its tight yet Brown....has alot of chime, clarity and midrange chirp.....but is still smooth and plump. My favorite tone of the album.

[kyle am I]

my favorite tone has definatley got to be weeping china doll. the seven string adds some finesse, but the tone with the wah and the whammy just melts together so well.

[Prezidentman]

I'll reserve my ultimate opinion of the album since I've only heard it all the way through once so far but I think it's really a courageous album that does push the boundaries quite a bit and I do think it's a good record...

I'll just share a few of my impressions/opinions of the album after the initial listen:

(I know that some of you will probably disagree because after so much time since the last record we all probably expected and wanted different things from this album)

1) The production on this album is an improvement over RI
2) Steve's tone on the album is superior to most of his tone on RI
3) Weeping Chine Doll and The Moon and I features some of Steve's best playing since...perhaps ever
4) Steve's abilities in creating new sounds on the guitar have evolved even further
5) The 7th song found here is great but can't match "FTLOG", "Touching Tongues", "Windows to the Soul" or "Tender Surrender"
6) The Vaitrack "Without Me" was almost too good to not also be on this album, not all the songs on this album
are better IMO
7) Still wish he'd strip back for another album like Alien Love Secrets or at least make an album that
will contain a majority of songs with that "simpler" less is more approach
8 ) Few passages in some of the heavy songs on the new album I felt are almost too "busy" and tend to overwhelm/lose the listener (perhaps just me)
9) After 7+ years there could have been more tracks on the album, esp. considering "The Moon and I" had already been released before and there is an existing Japanese bonus track
10) I'm slightly missing strong memorable melodies on this record (e.g. "Dying Day", "Die to Live", "Whispering..", "Liberty", "Blood and Tears" etc.)

Rating so far 8/10

[molgolsonden]

I think hes finally got his Legacy amp dialed in now.

Ultra Zone was ultra muddy. Real Reflections was better...... but still flabby muddy legacy. This Album with his recent recordings (Story of Light, Velorium, Gravity Storm) show his Legacy is nice and tight now, much brighter and more crunchy like his older Albums (ALS and FireGarden).

His tone reminds me of ALS and Firegarden again. Much better.

His rhythm guitar tone in "Story of Light (Track 1)" reminds me of EVH from the Balance album. Its tight yet Brown....has alot of chime, clarity and midrange chirp.....but is still smooth and plump. My favorite tone of the album.

Funny you mentioned EVH. I think Sunshine Electric Raindrops has a VH tone and feel to it.

[LightWithoutHeat777]

Love the album from start to finish. Start it off with The Story of Light, which picks right back off where RI left us! Ending with Sunshine Electirc Raindrops, a very happy way to end the album. Weeping China Doll, No More Amsterdam, Velorum, & Mullach a' tSí are my favorites. Love every bit of it! 9/10 rating for me. Only problem is that there aren't more songs!! Haha

[Kamenrider Ryuuki]

just downloaded the mp3's...been waiting for the limited edition cd's though...

what i can decipher from these songs made by Vai himself, the excellency of the songs are way up there...

you cant find another Passion and Warfare or maybe Alien Love Secrets in there...for a die hard fan of old steve vai i think you need to digest the cd again and again to get the beauty and maybe the meaning of it...all...

melodically, Vai is still surprisingly vocal (errrr!!!) in expressing his thoughts about anything.

This is the most long awaited continuation from his previous cd...

he is trying to say something and lets hope we can get his message.

[Willem]

I won't go into a song by song review but rather just express some thoughts after having listened through the album about 30 times now. The Story of light is a great piece of music but I don't feel the Russian talking over the top adds anything, if anything it serves to be a distraction. For me, Velorum is the star of the album, its an incredible display of compositional and technical skill, some of the best work he's ever done. Book of Seven Seals feels oddly out of place, it's the one song I now routinely skip. Creamsicle sunset is a beautiful track that, in the end, seems to have a lot of wasted potential and for me, never really goes anywhere interesting. Mullach, while beautiful, is just to repetitive for me and much like creamsicle never seems to live up to its potential (being someone who loved "Whispering a Prayer"). Racing the world has to be my second favourite track on the album, though I should say, I enjoyed the version on youtube better, it just seemed to have more moves on it, more interesting playing.

Finally though, I am incredibly disappointed with how flat the album sounds, something that was already a problem on RI but seems to have gotten worse in this album. While the production of the album is on the whole, excellent, it just sounds two dimensional in terms of volume.

[Prezidentman]

Creamsicle sunset is a beautiful track that, in the end, seems to have a lot of wasted potential and for me, never really goes anywhere interesting. Mullach, while beautiful, is just to repetitive for me and much like creamsicle never seems to live up to its potential (being someone who loved "Whispering a Prayer")

I agree with this esp. in the case of "Creamsicle sunset". It's a beautiful, beautiful motive but I'm just a bit unsure if this was all that could be done with it. I've already mentioned that while "Mullach" is great it's not up there with the rest of 7th songs, I feel. But I guess we might just be a bit too critical instead of just enjoying the music.

[RAI]

First impression:
I think it will take me a while to actually "like" this album.
It just seems really flat, and lacking of passion.

I don't know where Steve is coming from, but I'm not impressed with a new album that contains basically two covers, a collaboration with rock/pop singers, and a previously released track.
Not very inspired. At no point did I ever go "Wow!"....
The production is stellar, but everything is missing "the punch". The heavy stuff feels light like a feather, and the emotional stuff feels disconnected.

7 years of waiting, and I was hoping for more.