Surfing With The Alien (studio album) by Joe Satriani

Surfing With The Alien by Joe Satriani
Year: 1987
Overall rank: 3,745th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 136 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (53rd)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (567th)
Award Best albums of all time (3,745th)
Product Details
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Joe Satriani 'Surfing With The Alien' Vinyl - NEW
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AUTOGRAPHED Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien (CD, 2007, NM)
Condition: Like New


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Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien (CD, 1993, VG)
Condition: Like New


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Joe Satriani bestography

Surfing With The Alien is ranked as the best album by Joe Satriani.

Joe Satriani album bestography « Higher ranked (-) This album (3,745th) Lower ranked (6,220th) »
No album foundSurfing With The AlienThe Extremist

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Surfing With The Alien track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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2.
Rating: 77 (18 votes)Comments: 1
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3.
Rating: 78 (17 votes)Comments: 1
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5.
Rating: 79 (20 votes)Comments: 1
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7.
Rating: 77 (18 votes)Comments: 1
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8.
Rating: 77 (17 votes)Comments: 1
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9.
Rating: 79 (16 votes)Comments: 1
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10.
Rating: 79 (18 votes)Comments: 1
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Surfing With The Alien rankings

Surfing With The Alien collection

Surfing With The Alien ratings

Average Rating: 
75/100 (from 136 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
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 136 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 Report rating
04/26/2025 08:23 SeventhOne  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 16267/100
 
80/100
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02/07/2025 07:49 juanr1096  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 5,86678/100
 
85/100
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01/15/2025 16:07 spigelwii  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 53085/100
 
75/100
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01/10/2025 19:58 Sentido  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 31484/100
 
80/100
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10/23/2024 08:46 robertoveltri  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 66380/100

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 15.2.

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Surfing With The Alien favourites

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Surfing With The Alien comments

Showing all 7 comments |
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/15/2025 15:46
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 01/02/2019 03:07
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 06/27/2017 16:58
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 04/29/2016 23:54
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
50/100
From 07/19/2013 17:44
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 01/12/2013 17:11
Was there a lawsuit with the album cover? I'll be listening to this album soon.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 11/20/2012 22:05
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.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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Best Albums of 1987
1. The Joshua Tree by U2
2. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
3. Sign "O" The Times by Prince
4. Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths
5. You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur
6. Document by R.E.M.
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18. Diesel And Dust by Midnight Oil
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20. Faith by George Michael
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