Not of This Earth (Joe Satriani album)

Not of This Earth
Studio album by Joe Satriani
Released	1986
Recorded	Early 1985 at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, California
Genre	Instrumental rock
Length	38:42
Label	Relativity
Producer	Joe Satriani, John Cuniberti
Joe Satriani chronology
The Joe Satriani EP (1984) Not of This Earth (1986) Surfing with the Alien (1987)
Reissue cover

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Not of This Earth is the first studio album by guitarist Joe Satriani, released in 1986 through Relativity Records.

Background

Electronic drums are used throughout the album, instead of the usual acoustic drums. The title track utilizes a unique compositional technique described by Satriani as pitch axis theory, which consists of shifting modes underneath a pedal tone (in this case, E). "The Enigmatic" uses the enigmatic scale.^[2] "Rubina" is one of two tracks named after his wife, with the other being "Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness" on The Extremist (1992). "The Headless Horseman" is a piece performed entirely using a two-handed tapping technique, and was revisited in the form of "Headless" on Flying in a Blue Dream (1989).

The original cover art used for the first pressing of the album was lost early on, having since been replaced with an alternative cover; the latter has been used for all CD releases. Also of note is the guitar (an Ibanez 540P) with which Satriani is pictured on the cover: it was never actually used by him, and was instead "a promo shot that got too much press".^[3]

Not of This Earth has been reissued several times. It was originally released on CD for the first time in 1988, and reissued nine years later through Epic Records, along with his entire discography. The Relativity Records release is now out of print. Another pressing was made onto blue vinyl, which was most likely limited to a thousand copies. The most recent release of the album is included within the Joe Satriani Original Album Classics box set, released again through Epic in 2008.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Joe Satriani. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Not of This Earth"	4:04
2.	"The Snake"	4:43
3.	"Rubina"	5:56
4.	"Memories"	4:06
5.	"Brother John"	2:10
6.	"The Enigmatic"	3:26
7.	"Driving at Night"	3:33
8.	"Hordes of Locusts"	4:59
9.	"New Day"	3:52
10.	"The Headless Horseman"	1:53

Personnel

• Joe Satriani – electric guitar, keyboard, percussion, bass guitar, production
• John Cuniberti – vocals, percussion, engineering, co-production
• Jeff Campitelli – drums, percussion, DX, whistle
• Bernie Grundman – mastering

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Fischer, Peter (2000). Rock Guitar Secrets, p.162. ISBN 3-927190-62-4. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
3. ^ Chat Transcript: 12/5/00. musictoyz.com. Retrieved 2008-04-17.