Sony
2004
G3 Live: Rockin' In The Free World
About This Album
In an essay on "The Guitar's Use in Pop Music," Frank Zappa once made reference to latter-day guitarists and their penchant for "clouds of educated gnat-notes." (He also referred to their "pathetic lick-spewage and freeze-dried stereotypifications.") The point he was hammering home like so many nails at a crucifixion was that pop/rock guitar playing/soloing had lost its character and no longer reflected the personality of the individual player. Form and feel had been sacrificed for blazing speed and spiritless riffage. One must assume that G3 Live: Rockin' in the Free World -- from star guitarists Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Yngwie Malmsteen -- is, by and large, the kind of axemanship that Zappa was decrying: machine-like technicians lacking a sense of musical lyricism. While that appraisal does lend some valuable insight into this album, it would also be too harsh to apply it rigorously here. To begin with, this primarily instrumental two-disc set -- recorded at the Uptown Theatre in Kansas City on October 21, 2003 -- is entertaining. And there's no doubt that this trio of guitar slingers really can play -- it's just that they do so, particularly in terms of their soloing, within rather narrow stylistic parameters (for the most part).
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,10 and 11)

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Disc 2 (try track 2)

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