Shapeshifting is the seventeenth studio album by guitarist Joe Satriani. I've been a fan since I first started to learn guitar back in 1989 or so. Therefore Surfing with the Alien was a fresh new album and became one of the most important album of my life. All of that to say that I have a long history with Satriani's music and I own all of his albums. The only problem with that is that while biased and familiar with every album, I can also get too critical.
The last two albums Shockwave Supernova (2015) and What Happens Next (2018) were very good. The latter was a back to basics rock album featuring Glenn Hughes on bass and Chad Smith on the drums. Shapeshifting is different beast. The album is fun, light mood and displaying a soft rock / pop vibe. It's only 46 minutes long with 13 relatively short tracks. This time around Joe chose to work with experienced and talented session musicians who are mostly linked to pop music. Chris Chaney on bass (who had previously worked with Joe and is a member of Jane's Addiction) and Kenny Aronoff on the drums. There is also the addition of Eric Caudieux on keyboards and Lisa Coleman (piano on "Waiting").
As suggested by the album title, each song on Shapeshifting brings a different music style. But it's not a chaotic album, Joe's melodies and harmonies and a great rhythmic session created a cohesive feeling. Actually, Chris and Kenny had a material impact in the album's sound. So much so that the opening title track starts with a drum fill and a bass riff. This song and the album overall feature a very engaging groove from Chris and Kenny. It also means that Joe didn't lay too many layers of guitars giving the bass and drums a huge space to shine. Notice that in the title track the rhythm guitar only starts halfway through the solo. This leads us to enjoy a very refined bass sound full of cool bass lines.
There are two big highlights for me in this album. "Big Distortion", yes, it’s big and if it had vocals it would be an AOR song. The other one is "Nineteen Eighty", a self explanatory song title, even though the main riff reminds us of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" which is actually from 1990. But it has that Surfing With the Alien vibe I can't get enough from. For that reason and for being full of energy it’s my favorite track on the album. Good choice for a video single. There are a lot of ballads in the album. The short bluesy one "All for Love" is nice but leave me with the feeling that we heard that many times before. Another ballad is "Teardrops" but here I do appreciate the homage to the self titled album, not sure if intentional but it does bring me back. The piano is a nice touch in "Waiting".
There are also some interesting curved balls. "Ali Farka, Dick Dale, an Alien and Me" is a callback to the early 2000's Engines of Creation era. A lot of samples and an overall spacial sound are extensively used. Not my favorite Satriani era though. Another interesting song is "Here the Blue River" in which we do hear something different, as it is a reggae tune. Also the final track is somewhat different as we don't hear Joe's playing acoustic guitars too often, nice final touch.
As I said, I could get a bit too critical and I can't help myself being a bit disappointed. I don't know but I was expecting even more variability from an album name Shapeshifting. A more progressive track? Maybe one with singing? or with the harmonica? Perhaps a cover song? While I have enjoyed the latest albums, I think it's time for Joe to spice things up, experiment more and do something boundary pushing, way more different than the last three records. With that said, when I put the album in isolation without comparing to the previous releases, it is a good album. It's fun to listen, brings up some memories and there are a few tunes here that will greatly enhance the live set-list.
SCORE: 78/100
Genre: Instrumental Rock
Released by Sony Music on April 10th, 2020
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Rating System
96 - 100 Perfect
88 - 95 Excellent
84 - 87 Great
80 - 83 Very Good
75 - 79 Good
69 - 74 Mixed
58 - 68 Bad
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