Steve Vai
The Ultra Zone
The Story
Steve Vai's 1999 offering is "The Ultra Zone", a mixture of vocal and instrumental tracks, with the slight edge in audio time given over to instrumental numbers. Q Magazine has stated, "...Vai's most leftfield to date, as he lets his imagination (and fingers) run free over 13 largely experimental tracks....guitar aficionados will no doubt be marveling at Vai's mastery..." "The Ultra Zone" represents a true sound journey featuring everything from Eastern/Middle Eastern-like vocals ("The Blood & Tears"), Vai vocals ("Voodoo Acid", "The Silent Within"), ripping guitar ("Jibbom", "Oooo", "Asian Sky"), spoken word preludes ("Windows To The Soul", ""The Ultra Zone""), brass (trumpets and trombones in "Lucky Charms"), triple-neck guitar ("Fever Dream") and Asian psuedo-pop ("Asian Sky"). Did we leave anything out...
The Music
| 04:25 | The Blood & Tears | Vocal |
| 04:51 | The Ultra Zone | Instrumental |
| 05:10 | Oooo | Instrumental |
| 05:08 | Frank | Instrumental |
| 03:45 | Jibboom | Instrumental |
| 06:24 | Voodoo Acid | Vocal |
| 06:24 | Windows To The Soul | Instrumental |
| 05:01 | The Silent Within | Vocal |
| 04:56 | I'll Be Around | Vocal |
| 06:43 | Lucky Charms | Instrumental |
| 06:03 | Fever Dream | Instrumental |
| 04:12 | Here I Am | Vocal |
| 05:34 | Asian Sky | Vocal |
The Artists
| Steve Vai | Guitars, Vox, Triple-Neck Guitar, Everything Else Not Mentioned, Production, Engineering, Arrangement |
| John Sergio | Bass on "Frank" |
| Gregg Bissonette | Drums on "Frank" |
| Mike Mangini | Drums on "Jibboom", "Here I Am" and "Windows To The Soul" |
| Philip Bynoe | Bass on "Jibboom", "Windows To The Soul" and "Here I Am" |
| Pia Vai | 'Just go for it' on "Jibboom" |
| Mike Keneally | Keyboards on "Windows To The Soul" |
| Robin DiMaggio | Drums on "Lucky Charms" |
| Brian Beller | Bass on "Lucky Charms" and "Fever Dream" |
| Andy Cleaves | Trumpet on "Lucky Charms" |
| Duane Benjamin | Trombone on "Lucky Charms" |
| Niels Bye Nielsen | Orchestration of Samples in Middle Section of "Lucky Charms" |
| Koshi Inaba | Vocals on "Asian Sky" |
| Tak Matsumoto | Guest Guitarist on "Asian Sky" |
| Marcelo Gomes | Engineering |
| Rina Bucollo | Engineering Assistance |
| Michael Lopez | Engineering Assistance |
| Hooshik | Art Direction |
| Aaron Brown | Front and Back Cover Illustration |
| Neil Zlozower | Photography |
| Pam Dancy | Production Management |
| Gerald F. Rosenblatt | Legal |
| Ruta Sepetys | Management |
| Bernie Grundman | Mastering |
| Recorded at The Mothership.
Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering. |
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