Joe Satriani is my new favorite guitar virtuoso! But what about Eric Johnson? Well... He's still good, too. It's just that the DVD-A of Johnson's "Ah Via Musicom" was such a major disappointment that I can't help but to feel giddy after listening to the SACD of Satriani's "Strange Beautiful Music". Recording quality is very good. And the surround mix works wonders with this instrumental music. It is both discrete and ambient. Kudos to John Cuniberti and Leff Lefferts for an excellent mix! Musically, some of the songs are progressive. Yet some others have a harder edge. Then, again, the song "Sleep Walk" has a 1950s dreamy vibe to it. So there's quite a variety---just so long as you like guitars.
Note: The SACD of "Strange Beautiful Music" is a single-layer disc only. So there is no regular CD compatibility.
