Surfing With The Alien

Surfing with the Alien is the second album by instrumental rock solo artist Joe Satriani, released in 1987. Surfing with the Alien contributed greatly to establishing Satriani’s reputation as a respected rock guitarist. In terms of critics and listener polls, Surfing with the Alien is Joe Satriani’s most successful and most critically acclaimed album.

The album contains fast and complex songs such as “Surfing with the Alien” and “Satch Boogie” in addition to the stranger-sounding “Crushing Day” and “Lords of Karma”, in contrast to slower, melodic songs like “Always with Me, Always with You” and “Echo” which provide a change of pace. Also notable is “Midnight”, which utilizes the technique of two-hand tapping at great speed, resulting in a Latin-American effect. There are also Nashville tuned guitars (on “Echo”) and key changes (on “Always with Me, Always with You” and “Echo”) to vary the album. It is his most critically acclaimed album so far, and contains both his signature songs, “Satch Boogie” and “Surfing with the Alien”. Oddly, it was not included in the Joe Satriani Original Album Classics box set.

The album cover depicts the Marvel Comics character the Silver Surfer on the front and the hand of Galactus on the back. The image is from Silver Surfer #1 (1982). The artist, John Byrne, has noted that the image was used without Marvel’s permission and that he has never received payment for its use.