''The 7th Song, Enchanting Guitar Melodies (Archives Vol. 1)'' is a 2000
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...
Steve Vai. It is his first compilation album, but unlike a standard "greatest hits" or "best of" album, all of the songs on it (save for the three new tracks and the hidden track) can be found on one of Vai's previous albums as the 7th track. The 7th track on each of his albums is meant to be the most emotional and well articulated piece on the album. "Christmas Time is Here", while not previously released on a Vai album, can nonetheless be found as the 7th track on the 1996 Christmas compilation, Merry Axemas.
The new songs on this album are "Melissa's Garden" (which does occupy the 7th track), "The Wall of Light", and "Boston Rain Melody". The track for "Boston Rain Melody" continues on to contain the unlisted song "Warm Regards", the instrumental finale to Vai's 1996 album, ''
Fire Garden
''Fire Garden'' is the fourth studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on September 17, 1996, through Epic Records. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas"Fire Garden - Steve Vai" ''AllMusic''. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-12-10. The album reached N ...
.'' It is believed that Vai originally planned for the song to be the seventh track of the second disc, but when he discovered 80 minute CDs, he restructured the album to fit on one disc.
Track listing
All songs written by Steve Vai except "Christmas Time is Here" by
Vince Guaraldi
Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...
and
Lee Mendelson
Leland Maurice Mendelson (March 24, 1933 – December 25, 2019) was an American animation producer and the executive producer of the many ''Peanuts'' animated specials.
Biography
Mendelson was born in San Francisco and grew up in San Mateo gra ...
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For the Love of God
''For the Love of God'' is a sculpture by artist Damien Hirst produced in 2007. It consists of a platinum cast of an 18th-century human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead tha ...
" – 6:09 (from "
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 ...
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#"Touching Tongues" – 5:32 (from " Sex and Religion")
#"Windows to the Soul" – 6:25 (from "
The Ultra Zone
''The Ultra Zone'' is the sixth studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on September 7, 1999 through Epic Records.
''The Ultra Zone'' is structurally similar to Vai's previous album, ''Fire Garden'', in that the first half of the album con ...
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#"Burnin' Down the Mountain" – 4:19 (from "
Flex-Able Leftovers
''Flex-Able Leftovers'' was a limited edition 10" vinyl EP by American composer and guitarist, Steve Vai. It was leftover material from the recordings done during the "Flex-Able" days (1982 to 1984) and originally released in 1984 (see 1984 in mu ...
")
#"Tender Surrender" – 5:10 (from "
Alien Love Secrets
''Alien Love Secrets'' is an EP by guitarist Steve Vai, released on March 21, 1995, through Relativity Records. The EP reached No. 125 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200
#"Hand on Heart" – 5:26 (from "
Fire Garden
''Fire Garden'' is the fourth studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on September 17, 1996, through Epic Records. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas"Fire Garden - Steve Vai" ''AllMusic''. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-12-10. The album reached N ...
Flex-Able
''Flex-Able'' is the debut studio album by American virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai. This was his first as a solo artist, and was created in Stucco Blue, a shed converted into a studio in Vai's old back garden. It is very different from many of his ...