Flex-Able

Flex-Able

Track Listings

1. Little Green Men

2. Viv Woman

3. Lovers Are Crazy

4. Salamanders in the Sun

5. Boy/Girl Song

6. Attitude Song

7. Call It Sleep

8. Junkie

9. Bill's Private Parts

10. Next Stop Earth

11. There's Something Dead in Here

12. So Happy [*]

13. Bledsoe Bluvd [*]

14. Burnin' Down the Mountain [*]

15. Chronic Insomnia [*]

Tracks:

Little Green Men
Viv Woman
Lovers Are Crazy
Salamanders In The Sun
The Boy/Girl Song
The Attitude Song
Call It Sleep
Junkie
Bill's Private Parts
Next Stop Earth
There's Something Dead In Here
Leftovers (Bonus Tracks): So Happy
Leftovers (Bonus Tracks): Bledsoe Bluvd
Leftovers (Bonus Tracks): Burnin' Down The Mountain
Leftovers (Bonus Tracks): Chronic Insomnia

Customer Reviews:

A lovely coaster or frisby!.......2006-07-02

Here's Steve as a young musician (not artist)working it out. He's weird, silly, Zappaish, and very bizarre. It's really a mess, Not interesting, corny, and NOT showing musch genius. I mean he puts everything but the kitchen sink in these demos. But they should have NEVER seen the light of the market place.

Typical Finnish crap.......2004-07-12

The most recent band to come from Finland is Nightwish and what a load of crap they are. Steve Vai is one of the best guitarists since Van Halen. Even Eddie has commented about this guy in the past and thats rare!

Steves a genius!!!.......2004-07-07

LISTEN UP you Finnish idiot!!
Steve Vai is a genius, probably the best instrumental song writer that ever lived!!
You say that Steve can't write anything commercial eh?? Well how come he's written music for films like dudes, Bill and Teds and crossroads, that's what you call commercial!
But you still think Steve cant write anything commercial! ... that's rich coming form a Finish guy, all those Finnish bands such as Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica can never write anything commercial either and neither could you for that matter!!! Every song from every Finnish band sounds exactly the same.
Steve has sold more albums in a week than any Finnish band will in a lifetime!!!!!
HIM is another Finnish band that are the same, and are probably the most boring band ever as far as a live act is concerned. All those Finnish bands are terrible performers live!!!

Who says you need to be commercial to write good music anyway. For the millions of albums he had sold its shows how successful he is without needing help from commercial sources. Steve knows better than to put his music on MTV with all that other trash - that you probably listen to!!

Plus you think the guy is boring...ha ha ha ... you go and see him live and see what a hell of a show he puts on, that's not boring at all. Not many can play guitar with thier tonuge!!
Also.. What gives you the right to criticize this guys songwriting and music.. Calling it boring hippy stuff.
Firstly the guy can play 22 notes a second on guitar according to a guitar magazine, you don't get many (if any) players faster than that!!! Steve is also a Dr of music at Berkeley so ... If you think you can do better, you try writing 10 albums of instrumental genius songs plus!!! .. getting up on stage and entertaining people for 2 and a half hours,.. it isn't easy but you obviously think you are the guy ... so I'm waiting for this Finnish idiots' solo album to come out so I can laugh at it and show him up about how little he knows!!! I bet he can't even play guitar or any musical instrument for that matter!! The ones who criticize real talent never can!!! . You can tell this idiot isn't a music fan at all, as he refers to COMMERCIAL MUSIC!!. He probably likes all those crappy nu metal bands you get on MTV.
He cant even leave his email address so people can show him up on how little he actually knows!! What a coward he is!!

You say Steve cant write anything up to date...
Steve can write anything up to date. In fact he can write and play any style, any key, any time, any place... that's why he keeps constantly changing his ideas and style so he can play up to date tunes and songs. This is the result of millions of hours study and practice he has put in! Something that immature little brats like you will never manage cos your too busy criticizing real talent!

This album (Flexible) was written after he left Zappas band (and is pure genius by the way!) Anyway how is something written in 1984 supposed to be up to date!! Now you do yourself a favor and listen to Alive in an Ultra World where he writes songs about different cultures. That's what you call up to date!! You can't get many musicians that can write and perform a whole album on the road.
I hope you've been taught you a lesson you ignorant Finnish ****! Don't ever criticize people that are better than you again!!
Anyway im shure all you real music fans will agree with me that this album is amazing and if you like quality guitar music then do yourself a favor and buy it!!

PS - Im talkin about the review directly below me. The guy is such a coward hes changes his location on his review all the time. Shows that hes ashamed to be Finnish!!! What A Weak, Pathetic Coward!!

Total trash.......2004-07-06

This album is boring hippy crap.
Steve Vai can't write anything commercial at all, even up to date.

Pure Genius.......2004-01-06

You don't get many albums like this nowadays cause you haven't go that many gifted guitar players out there. This is pure genius and anybody who says otherwise obviously does not understand the parameters of the instrument.

Average customer rating:

Forced, over-intelligent pointless music
(A MORE DETAILED REVIEW)
Warped and Hilarious.
DON'T BUY IT!
Classic Work

Flex-Able Leftovers
Steve Vai
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Flex-Able
Fire Garden
The Ultra Zone
Sex & Religion
Alien Love Secrets

ASIN: B00000DHS3
Release Date: 1998-12-08

Tracks:

#?@! Yourself
So Happy
Bledsoe Bluvd
Natural Born Boy
Details At 10
Massacre
Burnin' Down The Mountain
Little Pieces Of Seaweed
San Sebastian
The Beast Of Love
You Didn't Break It
The X-Equalibrium Dance
Chronic Insomnia

Customer Reviews:

Forced, over-intelligent pointless music.......2005-03-12

I havent heard Steve Vais more rock oriented stuff so I can only speak about this record.

The overall feeling is: forced. Vai is technically skilled and surely very musical ear. But when it comes to creativity.. he fails short. Its obvius how he, through the songs, with all his strength and skilles, try to be another Frank Zappa. Unfortunately the compositions are walking on stiff legs and sounds way to overworked and pointless at the same time, not fluent and natural like Zappas.

Tiresome attempts to be "weird" like "so happy" and "little pieces of seewead" stands beside forgottable instrumentals like "Bledsoe blud" and "San sebastian". !"#¤ Yourself was really funny the first 20 times i heard it now I dont like it anymore.
Is "details at 10" supposed to be funny? It aint.

The most speaking song is the last one, Cronic insomnia: You almost hear Vai screaming out his frustration he can never be a true genius. Steve Vai is to Zappa on "Flexable" what Salieri is to Mozart in "Amadeus"!

(A MORE DETAILED REVIEW).......2001-12-05

It's a real shame that so many people don't appreciate GOOD music
when they hear it, and have the sort of attitude like, " (I) don't like it, so that means it (*&%#)". Well, whatever. I'm not gonna go off like other people, telling you that you SHOULD like this record. I mean, it's perfectly alright if don't you dig this, but it ISN'T alright if you start badmouthing the quality and musical merit of it. The material on this album is actually really good, and really CREATIVE. The reason i would more respect for than say, "Alien Love Secrets", is that it showcases Mr. Vai's talents in more areas than just on the guitar (although some of the more inspired guitar i have ever heard from shows up on a couple of tracks on this disc). Perhaps a track-by-track overview of the album would help give a better impression of what one can expect to hear:

1.#$%@ Yourself - funky, and freakin' hilarious. This is one of the album's vocal-led tracks, containing some very, very humourous lyrics. Personally, this is one of my least favourates on the album, because while the lyrics WILL have you on the ground in hysterics, the words just aren't backed up by all that great of music. But, if you hang on till the end, theres quite a nice extended gtr. solo that should fulfill those wanting to hear some grade A shredding. This track is the reason for the "explicit lyrics" labeling.

2. So Happy - This one also falls under the freakin' hilarious category. Here's roughly the story of what this track is all about: basically, Steve got this chick to go off on an improvised rant about how happy she is, and then transcribed the pitch of her voice and doubled it on guitar. This is the kind of thing that doesn't lend itself very well to repeated listening, but each time you listen, and suddenly hear that guitar come in, you can't help but marvel at how cool of an idea it was.

3. Bledsoe Bluvd. - instrumental. No, not a guitar instrumental, but this is a rather nice track, showcasing Steve's talents as an all around composer.

4.Natural Born Boy - Instrumental. Yes, a guitar instrumental, containing one of the coolest riffs ever. I KNOW you'll like at LEAST this one.

5.Details At 10 - a vocal-led track that would probably also fall under the freakin' hilarious category. You'll like it.

6. Massacre - Another one of the coolest riffs ever, over which Vai messes around with what sounds like a Digetec Whammy pedal. Underlined by technoy drum machine beat (don't let throw you off).

7. Burnin' Down the Mountain - acoustic instrumental. Apperently this was just improvised while sitting on the roof of the studio with a few other people who were there for the album sessions. It's got kind of a nice little melody, but it's a very personal track, for Steve, and the others who made it; it really should've been left off the album.

8. Little Pieces of Seaweed - Holy *&%#! Where to start... I personally love this track, cuz i'm just really into the weird and quirky, but it's understandable if you aren't able to fully understand this; it IS quite a bit to take in at once. Everyone HAS to hear this track at least ONCE. Thats all i'll say.

9. San Sebastian - Elevator music-y instrumental that again, showcases his Zappa-like compositional talents.

10. Beast of Love - vocal track. Rather mundane I think. it doesn't really go anywhere.

11. You Didn't Break It - cheesy pop song ( like the "Boy/Girl Song" on Flex-Able). You won't be blown away by anything, but it IS a pretty catchy tune.

12. The X-Equilibrium Dance - Instrumental that sorta goes all over the place. Doesn't really have what one would call a melody. Still kind of an interesting track, though.

13. Chronic Insomnia - Not a track your going to listen to more than once, it's just a recording of Steve doing a bunch crazy whammy bar dives that was put into reverse. Kinda cool to see what sounds it's possible to make on a guitar, but there isn't any kind of MELODY here for you to keep coming back to.

Whew! Now that you have read THAT, i'm sure you'll have a better idea of whether this record is right for YOU or not.
Thanks,
the Duke of Dunbar

Warped and Hilarious........2001-10-19

Ok. I admit that this 'work' is completely silly. And I also admit that I, like others out there, have been listenning to the tape [recorded from vinyl] of 'leftovers' for at least 12 years. I am 30 years old, and there is something about this album that keeps me interested. The mere ABSURDITY of the ideas, music, and words is completely and utterly amusing. I have had tons of fun listenning to this album with friends in the past, and even some recently. People with a sense of humor, similar to the humor in this album, usually find something interesting to repeat, or poke fun at [on this album]. I must admit that my 5 star rating (for this album) is due to about five tracks that I LOVE! There are also many tracks on this album that I don't like at all. But those five, or so, tracks that I DO love -- are worth about 10 stars each, for me.

Message for Vai:
I am still waiting to see some CLASSIC Vai guitar on some form of CD compillation. Here's what I'm talking about:
- 1 or 2 songs from the group WESTERN VACATION, featuring Vai on guitar.
- Parts, or the whole of the group ALCATRAZZ (there is some INCREDIBLE guitar work on this album!)
- Amazing Grace, from the soundtrack "Dudes"
- All of the VAI parts from the movie CROSSROADS.
- Some LIVE highlites from the David Lee Roth period. You know, at least 3 or 4 great performances from Vai when he was touring with Roth.
- That's it.

Live on!
Good stuff!

Respectfully,
-Jeff K.

P.S. If Kenny Stewart is reading this: Peace, bro. You are the best :)

DON'T BUY IT!.......2000-05-19

This album symbolizes what I believe to be a wasted effort to pump some life into an album that wasn't good to begin with. Steve needs to invest some time in coming up with single guitar rock songs, not silly sounding fairy rock that nobody with any kind of taste would listen to. Alien Love Secrets is in my opinion the greatest rock instrumental album of all time. It was a simple three piece band playing with a minimum of guitar overdubs. This represents the best of Steve's talents in my opinion. As far as Flex-Able Leftovers is concerned, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY! Go out and buy a twelve pack instead.

Classic Work.......1999-11-02

After listening to a cassette version of Leftovers copied from vinyl for over 13 years, I must say that I am delighted to finally own a digital version of this hilarious work. I still laugh at this EVERY time and I am now 30 years old. I only hope that Mr. Vai still cherishes this as much as I. God Bless...

Average customer rating:

A weird introduction to Steve's world
A Really Good CD

Flex-Able
Steve Vai
Manufacturer: Favored Nations Entertainment
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

Shred | Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Alien Love Secrets

ASIN: B0000001EE
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Little Green Men
Viv Woman
Lovers Are Crazy
Salamanders in the Sun
Boy/Girl Song
Attitude Song
Call It Sleep
Junkie
Bill's Private Parts
Next Stop Earth
There's Something Dead in Here
So Happy [*]
Bledsoe Bluvd [*]
Burnin' Down the Mountain [*]
Chronic Insomnia [*]

Customer Reviews:

A weird introduction to Steve's world.......2003-02-03

Steve Vai owes so much to Frank Zappa, as Mike Keneally (another great guitarist/composer/instrumetist). If you pay attention to VAi's licks, there is a similarity between his and the late Frank ones. Melodies, rythm patterns, lyrics, weirdness, mood...lately, our man has improved a lot in those terms, and he had established a personal signature on his sound. Now he is a lot more than a Zappa alumni.
But, folks, this is 1984. There is no "Passion and warfare", no Whitesnake or DLR "arena rock" experience, no big deals but a tremendous amount of raw energy and inspiration.
He recruited some personel related with Zappa (Bob&Suzanah Harris, Tommy Mars,Chad Wackerman et al) and some of his best friends (the great Stu Hamm, Randy Coven,Billy James)and made a sort of a home movie or a low budget film in musical form.
AS he reminds in the liner notes, the actual sound is not the best around, but there is a lot of fun on it. Don't approach to this record with his post-Passion&Warfare flashy playing in mind. You will be dissapointed for sure.
Instead of that, try to listen and give time to this record. It is not an easy thing, but surely you will end up loving this record(as I did)
The beginnig is one of the most amusing pieces of music ever written (in my opinion):"Little green men". A munchkin "Walk on the wild side", in this piece we can find something that many people don't seem to know:Steve has a great sense of humor. The last rap of the song, accompanied background by the music of "Close encounters of third kind"cracks me up everytime I listen to it. You will never forget it!
Instrumental-guitar lovers: pay attention to "Viv woman" (a fantastic song beautifully played), "the attitude song", covered as well on the weak "G-3" record, a song that allows him to jam intensely live, "Call it sleep" and the greatest of them all: "Bledsoe blvd".This last song is like a picture of the inmediate future for Steve. An brief introduction to "Passion&Warfare" sound. A little "heavy" piece for an eclectic record as this. Orginally graced at the "Flex-able leftovers E.P".
If you like plain pop-rock, just listen to "Boy/girl song", "Junkie" (a nice ballad lacked of "something" that don't allow it to achieve a better status)or "Lovers are crazy", a song that was made with Bob&Suzannah Harris in mind.
Finally, if you are a Zappa fan, or just someone who likes avantgarde or experimental forms of music, try "Next stop Earth" (a part of a weird Space-opera that Steve planned to develope -something like an alien dialog-¿?),"There is something dead in here", "Chronic insomnia" (all instrumentals) and the most "risky"piece: "So happy", an improvisated speech by a friend of his and some of the weirdest music of all time at the background. He can even "double" the voice with the guitar, a tecnique that Vai would use a lot on Roth's tours.
The whole record is raw tecnically speaking, but it has a lot of good interpretations, solos, amusing moments and some memorable tunes. Some people overlook this Cd because is something like an "outside" record of Steve, but is enjoyable and unforgettable. It is actually one of my favorite records of him. I bought it when P&W was put out, because I was "hungry" of Vai's material, and I was a bit dissapointed, because I was a heavy/hard rock/guitar hardcore fan...but the test of time proved good to it and that is a reality.
Zappa fans will love it for sure. Thanks for your time.

A Really Good CD.......2000-03-22

This CD is REALLY good. I got in on a band trip to Indianapolis and on the way home i listened to it and it was so good i couldnt put it down. i listened to it about the whole way home (6 hours). It really shows Steve Vai's talent as a musician. Theres not a lot of shredding..but a lot of cool Zappa influnced stuff ("Little Green Men") I really suggest this to anyone who is open minded and likes Frank Zappa. Its really good.

Average customer rating:

A time capsule and homage to a legend
Leftovers for a reason

Flex-Able Leftovers
Steve Vai
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

Shred | Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Hard Rock | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000I2MR
Release Date: 1999-01-18

Tracks:

#?@! Yourself
So Happy
Bledsoe Bluvd
Natural Born Boy
Details at 10
Massacre
Burnin' Down the Mountain
Little Pieces of Seaweed
San Sebastian
Beast of Love
You Didn't Break It
TH X-Equalibrium Dance
Chronic Insomnia

Album Details

Includes Rarities & Unreleased Tracks.

Customer Reviews:

A time capsule and homage to a legend.......2005-11-25

In spite of what other reviewers think, an artists album should not sound like his other albums, the artist would then be AC/DC! And to counter the review it is in the style of Vai. Give a listen to his other solo albums and you will find 1 track on each that contains the utterly brilliant silliness of The Mothers of Invention. The works on this album, while agreed not as "commercially" popular as his mainstays, are works of shear genius. It's raw and rough around the edges, yet whimsical and seductive, created with his natural prodigial passion and his recent "fine-tuning" by Frank Zappa. Listen to Zappa's "Sofa" and "Theme from Sinister Footwear" and you'll know what I mean. I would recommend this to almost anyone. If you don't like guitar instrumentals, crude comedy and vulger language then stay away, otherwise buy and enjoy

Leftovers for a reason.......2000-07-25

The first thing I have to say is: Don't buy this album unless you are a huge Vai fan and already have all the other albums.

Flex-Able leftovers is an album that contains songs that didn't fit in the original recording. Vai's playing is as great as usual, but the songs are quite weak, with the exceptions of "Natural Born Boy" and "You didn't break it". The problem with this album is that most songs sound very strange and it's not what you expect from a Vai album.