''Super Colossal'' is the eleventh studio album by guitarist

Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...

, released on March 14, 2006, through

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

.Theakston, Rob
"Super Colossal - Joe Satriani"
''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

''.

All Media Network RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publi ...

. Retrieved 2014-03-14. The album reached No. 86 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200"Super Colossal - Joe Satriani , Awards"
''

''.

. Retrieved 2014-03-14. and remained on that chart for two weeks, "Joe Satriani - Chart History" ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''. Retrieved 2014-03-18. as well as reaching the top 100 in three other countries."Joe Satriani - Super Colossal (album)"
''finnishcharts.com''. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2014-03-14. ''Super Colossal'' was nominated for

Best Rock Instrumental Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance was an honor presented to recording artists for quality instrumental rock performances at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Award ...

at the

2007 Grammy Awards The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the Staples Ce ...

,"49th Grammy Awards - 2007"
Rock On The Net. Retrieved 2014-03-20. Satriani's thirteenth such nomination.

Release and touring

Recording for ''Super Colossal'' began around September 2005Webmaster (2005-09-23)
"joe music in NASCAR 06"
satriani.com. Retrieved 2014-04-04. and the title was announced on February 2, 2006.Webmaster (2006-02-02)
"Super Colossal & studio photos"
satriani.com. Retrieved 2014-04-04. Touring began in North America from March to May 2006, followed by Europe from June to July."2006 super colossal shows"
satriani.com. Retrieved 2014-04-04.

Overview

Satriani provides detailed explanations of the story behind each track in the album's liner notes. "Crowd Chant" was originally going to be named "Party on the Enterprise" with

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

sounds of the ''

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

'' spacecraft from the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' series. However, prior to the album's release, Satriani explained on a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

that he was unable to acquire the legal rights to use the samples, choosing instead to replace them with his own sounds and rename the track. "Crowd Chant"'s ending theme was inspired by composer

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

's " Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50". "Crowd Chant" is used by various

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

teams after touchdowns. It is also a popular goal song for

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

teams, most notably the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

and the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

. It was later featured on the soundtrack to the 2009 video game ''

NHL 2K10 ''NHL 2K10'' is an ice hockey sports video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports, part of the ''NHL 2K'' series. It was released on September 15, 2009 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. Randy Hahn and Dre ...

'', while a cover version appears in ''

Madden NFL 11 ''Madden NFL 11'' is an American football video game based on the National Football League, published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 22nd annual installment in the bestselling ''Madden NFL'' video game franchise. It was releas ...

''."EA Delivers Ultimate Gameday Experience With Madden NFL 11 Soundtrack"

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

. Retrieved 2014-03-14. The

MLB Network The MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Com ...

TV series ''

Quick Pitch This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. ...

'' used the song as its opening theme but replaced it with

Fitz and the Tantrums Fitz and the Tantrums are an American indie pop and neo soul band from Los Angeles, California, that formed in 2008. The band consists of Michael Fitzpatrick (lead vocals), Noelle Scaggs (co-lead vocals and percussion), James King (saxophone, ...

's song "

HandClap A clap is the percussive sound made by striking together two flat surfaces, as in the body parts of humans or animals. Humans clap with the palms of their hands, often quickly and repeatedly to express appreciation or approval (see applause), b ...

" in 2017.

Critical reception

Rob Theakston at

gave ''Super Colossal'' 3.5 stars out of 5, saying that Satriani "doesn't pull any new tricks out of his bag, but lets his fingers do the talking throughout most of the record." The title track was described as "big and booming", with an instantly recognizable tone and delivery. "It's So Good" was likened to ''

Flying in a Blue Dream ''Flying in a Blue Dream'' is the third studio album by guitarist Joe Satriani, released on October 30, 1989 through Relativity Records. It is one of Satriani's most popular albums and his second highest-charting release to date, reaching No. 23 o ...

'' (1989) and

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

's 1990 album ''

Passion and Warfare ''Passion and Warfare'' is the second studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on May 22, 1990 through Relativity and Epic Records. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA. Background ''Passion and Warfare'' was written based on a series of ...

'', while the final track, "Crowd Chant", was criticized as being "painfully out of place" despite its catchiness.

Track listing

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Jeff Campitelli Jeff Campitelli (born 29 December 1960) is a drummer who has worked with Joe Satriani on many of his albums as well as live performances. Before Satriani's breakthrough in instrumental music he played with Joe Satriani in a band called The Sq ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(except tracks 6–9),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(except tracks 6–9) * Simon Phillips – drums (tracks 6–9), engineering *

Eric Caudieux Eric Caudieux is a French sound engineer and producer. An accomplished player of the keyboards and rhythm guitar, he is best known for his work with Joe Satriani, appearing on many of his albums and as a member of his backing group when he is on tou ...

–

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

* Mike Fraser – engineering, mixing, production *Rob Stefanson – engineering assistance *Stephan Nordin – engineering assistance *George Marino – mastering

Chart performance

Awards

References

External links

Super Colossal
at satriani.com

at Guitar Nine Records {{Authority control Joe Satriani albums 2006 albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Mike Fraser Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance