Joe Satriani

2008 five CD box. The Original Album Classics series, courtesy of Sony/BMG, packages together five classic albums from one of the most popular artists on the label's roster, housing them in an attractive slipcase. This set from the guitar hero features the albums Not Of This Earth (1986), Flying In A Blue Dream (1987), Extremist (1992), Joe Satriani (1995) and Crystal Planet (1998)…

Five albums from Joe Satriani – picked seemingly at random but not unappealingly – are collected on this budget-priced 2013 box set. The albums here – Surfing with the Alien, Engines of Creation, Strange Beautiful Music, Is There Love in Space?, Super Colossal – arguably showcase Satriani at his best, even if they don't focus on any particular time…

The first time I ever heard Joe Satriani's brilliant Ibanez tone was via an Armed Forces Network television commercial, while I was stationed withthe Navy, in Japan, back in 1987. About every hour, each day, this AFN stationwould play a short "Here's what's happening in your community" type of announcement, which just so happened to use Satriani's "Always With Me, Always With You", as the background music throughout the announcement. It took me about a month to finally track down who the hell it was who was playing this awesome tune, and I immediately went out and picked up Surfing With The Alien, his great album that this song is from.

Few "guitar shredders" of the late '80s were able to cross over into the upper reaches of the pop charts, but Joe Satriani proved to be an exception to the rule. And with over eight full-length studio albums in the shops by late 2003, Satch was ripe for a "best-of" collection – resulting in the release of the double-disc overview Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology…

Along with teaching some of the top rock guitar players of the '80s and '90s, Joe Satriani is one of the most technically accomplished and widely respected guitarists to emerge in recent times. Born on July 15, 1956, in Westbury, New York, and raised in the nearby town of Carle Place, Satriani inspired by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix picked up the guitar at the age of 14 (although he was initially more interested in the drums). Quickly learning the instrument, Satriani began teaching guitar to others and found a kindred spirit in one of his students, Steve Vai. By the late '70s, however, Satriani had relocated to Berkeley, California.

Drawn from a concert recorded May 3, 2006, at the Grove in Anaheim, CA, Joe Satriani's Satriani Live! comes as both a double-CD and a simultaneously (and separately) released DVD. The audio version presents more than two hours of typical Satriani guitar work…