Alien Love Secrets is an EP by guitarist Steve Vai, released on March 21, 1995, through Relativity Records. The EP reached No. 125 on the U.S. Billboard 200[3] and remained on that chart for two weeks,[4] as well as reaching No. 72 on the Dutch albums chart.[5]

Alien Love Secrets
EP by
ReleasedMarch 21, 1995 (1995-03-21)[1]
RecordedThe Mothership Studio in Hollywood Hills
GenreInstrumental rock
Length33:26[2]
LabelRelativity
ProducerSteve Vai
Steve Vai chronology
Sex & Religion
(1993)
Alien Love Secrets
(1995)
Fire Garden
(1996)

Overview

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Alien Love Secrets was written and recorded in less than six weeks as a stripped-down guitar, bass and drums record with minimal keyboards. According to Vai, he had wished to maintain a steady output of material following his 1993 album Sex & Religion, but the recording process for the 70+ minutes of his subsequent 1996 album Fire Garden was taking too long. The EP was therefore purposely released in anticipation of Fire Garden.[6] Stylistically Alien Love Secrets marks a return to the more familiar instrumental rock of Vai's 1990 album Passion and Warfare, following the highly mixed reception to Sex & Religion.[1]

Notable tracks include "Bad Horsie", which was derived from a riff played by Vai during the final scenes of the 1986 film Crossroads; "Juice" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1996 PlayStation video game Formula 1; "Ya-Yo Gakk" is a call and response interplay with vocal recordings of Vai's young son Julian; "Tender Surrender", one of Vai's most popular songs, bases itself around a familiar sound, structure and tempo as Jimi Hendrix's "Villanova Junction" from his 1969 performance at Woodstock, although written in a different key; and "The Boy from Seattle", which is a tribute to Hendrix written by Vai.

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [1]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic gave Alien Love Secrets three stars out of five, calling it a "moodier, more atmospheric collection" than Passion and Warfare. He also praised his "fluid technique, which manages to never become completely mechanical."[1]

Track listing

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All music is composed by Steve Vai

No.TitleLength
1."Bad Horsie"5:51
2."Juice"3:44
3."Die to Live"3:53
4."The Boy from Seattle"5:03
5."Ya-Yo Gakk"2:52
6."Kill the Guy with the Ball"
  • "b] The God Eaters"
7:02
7."Tender Surrender"5:01
Total length:33:26

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Year Chart Position
1995 Dutch albums chart 72[5]
Billboard 200 125[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Alien Love Secrets - Steve Vai". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
  2. ^ Alien Love Secrets (CD release "Rel 478586 2").
  3. ^ a b "Alien Love Secrets - Steve Vai | Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
  4. ^ "Steve Vai - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  5. ^ a b "Steve Vai - Alien Love Secrets (album)". finnishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
  6. ^ Vai, Steve. "Alien Love Secrets (1995)" Archived 2015-12-25 at the Wayback Machine. vai.com. Retrieved 2014-12-10.
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