Steve Vai
played with a wide variety of acts during the '80s --
Frank Zappa
,
David Lee Roth
John Lydon
's
PIL
, and
Whitesnake
, among others -- as he became one of
rock
's most sought-after hired guns. In addition,
Vai
launched his own solo career, which come the '90s would be his sole career focus. The 2003 double-disc set
Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology
is comprised almost entirely of
's solo work (save for a
song,
"Kitten's Got Claws,"
and one by the obscure outfit
Alcatrazz
"Lighter Shade of Green"
). While most "guitar shredders" got a bad rap come the '90s,
was always an exception to the rule -- there's no secret that
was one of the most technically accomplished guitarists in all of
, but he always knew to put songwriting before soloing (something that most of the other guitarists of the era failed to do), and inject his wacky sense of humor into his playing. If you're unfamiliar with
's work, go straight to the tracks from his first two solo releases, 1984's
Flex-Able
and 1990's
Passion and Warfare
, especially such ditties as
"The Attitude Song,"
"For the Love of God,"
"The Animal,"
and the very
Zappa-ish
"Salamanders in the Sun."
One complaint about
Infinite Steve Vai
is that the latter-day tracks far outweigh his superior earlier material -- tracks such as
"Bad Horsie"
and
"Frank"
are worthy, but there are several tracks that unquestionably should have been included (
"Call It Sleep,"
"Erotic Nightmares,"
"Sisters,"
's sole solo
MTV
hit,
"The Audience Is Listening"
), while another criticism is that no
Roth
Zappa
, or
tracks are featured. Still,
by and large serves as both a solid career overview and introduction to this one-of-a-kind guitarist. ~ Greg Prato