Surfing With The Alien (studio album)
by Joe Satriani
eBay
Condition: Brand New
eBay
Condition: Brand New
Joe Satriani bestography
Surfing With The Alien is ranked as the best album by Joe Satriani.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
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Surfing With The Alien track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Surfing With The Alien rankings
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Surfing With The Alien ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 138 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 12/06/2025 23:36 | mrmcrook | 988 | 77/100 |
| ! | 10/31/2025 23:27 | Proto | 3,735 | 33/100 |
| ! | 07/26/2025 04:35 |  zags7000 | 20,396 | 64/100 |
| ! | 04/26/2025 08:23 | SeventhOne | 162 | 67/100 |
| ! | 02/07/2025 07:49 | juanr1096 | 6,065 | 78/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 12% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 74.5/100, a mean average of 73.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 74.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.1.
Surfing With The Alien favourites
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Surfing With The Alien comments
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I'm initially a bit dubious of instrumental albums. But this didn't take long to fully warm to. One of the best solo shredder albums with good rhythms and variety to keep it interesting
spigelwii 01/15/2025 15:46 | #307017
The hardest thing about growing up is that you just don't like artists like Satriani as much as you did when you were an impressionable teenager. Don't get me wrong, I love it when people shred the absolute FUCK out of the guitar like Satriani does here. He's got killer tone and is likely the best of this era of shred-happy guitarists, both in technical proficiency but also in his understanding of how the shredding should best serve the song.
The songs, however, ARE a little bit one-dimensional (I would allow two-dimensional). Ultimately, they're means to an end. It's a little like junk food. It's fun to indulge, but you're not going to eat an entire bag of potato chips and feel great about yourself afterwards, no matter how much dopamine you pulled from that bag in the moment. Good album, but...I think I no longer would count it as a favorite of mine.
Fischman 01/02/2019 03:07 | #228522
Not just a walking shredder, but also a solid composer capable of creating meaningful melody. This album sits atop the more one dimensional examples of the shred generation.
To me this is brilliant but i love to listen to extended guitar solos and jamming. Satriani has an amazing command of the guitar he always sounds so in control like a jedi master with his craft. Special album from a special player. Possibly the greatest technical guitar player ever.
RoundTheBend 04/29/2016 23:54 | #164856
Obviously lacks songwriting. A one off song is probably tolerable of someone wanking on the guitar like this, but a whole album is torture.
Yes great guitar tone and technique, but that's like only 20-30% of what makes a good album... so that means he's 20-30% awesome in my book.
junodog4 07/19/2013 17:44 | #81950
My brother in-law was a Joe Satch fan-boy. He loved all the 'guitar gods' (Steve Vai, Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather). He tried so hard to get me to appreciate this album. Don't get me wrong - amazing technical skill. But I don't see the emotion, the storytelling, the atmosphere. I just hear doodling. Some might call it wanking.
Was there a lawsuit with the album cover? I'll be listening to this album soon.
Jasonconfused 11/20/2012 22:05 | #55533
Oh yea! Satriani baby! Such a diverse player. Doesn't get as much credit as he deserves. At least not from the shred/virtuoso fanboys.
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