''Flex-Able'' is the debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American virtuoso guitarist

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, 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 Transcription (music), transc ...

. 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 other albums, and is largely influenced by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

; Vai was a member of his backing band from 1980 to 1983. ''Flex-Able'' does not rely as much on massive guitar arrangements and shred moments as the rest of his output from the 1990s onwards, with the exception of ''Leftovers'' which is a compilation of bonus tracks and remasters from his sessions at Stucco Blue. The cover of the May 2009 issue of ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...

'' features a photograph of Vai in a pose similar to the album's cover, including the bending guitar neck.

Track listing (Original LP release)

The album was originally released on vinyl in 1984. All songs written by

Side one

#"Little Green Men" – 5:39 #"Viv Woman" – 3:09 #"Lovers Are Crazy" – 5:39 #"Salamanders in the Sun" – 2:26 #"The Boy/Girl Song" – 4:02

Side two

#" The Attitude Song" – 3:23 #"Call It Sleep" – 5:09 #"Junkie" – 7:23 #"Bill's Private Parts" – 0:16 #"Next Stop Earth" – 0:34 #"There's Something Dead in Here" – 3:46

Track listing (extended edition re-release)

The album was re-released on CD in 1988 by Akashic Records, with four bonus tracks from the '' Flex-Able Leftovers'' EP; and again remastered and reissued by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in 1997, with the same track listing as the Akashic reissue. There is also one

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an reissue on Curcio Records (released in 1992 in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) that features the same cover on the vinyl and just the first eleven tracks.More Informations (Discogs)
/ref> All songs written by

unless otherwise indicated. # "Little Green Men" – 5:39 # "Viv Woman" – 3:09 # "Lovers Are Crazy" – 5:39 # "Salamanders in the Sun" – 2:26 # "The Boy/Girl Song" – 4:02 # "The Attitude Song" – 3:23 # "Call It Sleep" – 5:09 # "Junkie" – 7:23 # "Bill's Private Parts" – 0:16 # "Next Stop Earth" – 0:34 # "There's Something Dead in Here" – 3:46 ;Bonus From '' Flex-Able Leftovers'' EP #

"So Happy" (Steve Vai, Laurel Fishman) – 2:44

# "Bledsoe Bluvd" – 4:22 # "Burnin' Down the Mountain" – 4:22 # "Chronic Insomnia" – 2:05

Trivia

The first song on the album, "Little Green Men", is dedicated to

Nina Hagen Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is ...

Personnel

– electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, bass, percussion, piano, keyboards, sitar, vocals, bells, producer, engineer, drum machine, drum programming, design, and mixing ;Additional Musicians * Scott Collard – synthesizer, keyboards, Fender Rhodes * Larry Crane – lyre, xylophone, bells, vibraphone * Greg Degler – clarinet, flute, saxophone * Joe Despagni – sound effects * Laurel Fishman – vocals * Peggy Foster – bass * Chris Frazier – drums * Stuart Hamm – bass, sound effects, vocals, vocals (background) * Bob Harris – trumpet, vocals (as Irney Rantin) * Suzannah Harris (as Ursula Rayven) – vocals * Billy James – percussion, drums * Paul Lemcke – keyboards * Pia Maiocco – vocals * Tommy Mars – violin, keyboards, vocals * Lill Vai – sound effects * Chad Wackerman – drums * Pete Zeldman – percussion, drums ;Production * Aaron Brown – design, illustrations * John Matousek – mastering * Mark Pinske – assistant * Neil Zlozower – photography

References

{{Authority control Steve Vai albums 1984 debut albums Epic Records albums Progressive rock albums by American artists