''Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock'' is the twelfth 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 rock music, rock guitarist, composer, and songwriter. Early in hi ...

, released on April 1, 2008, through

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 ...

.Lymangrover, Jason
"Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock - Joe Satriani"
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AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

''.

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. Retrieved 2014-03-13. The album reached No. 89 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200"Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock - Joe Satriani , Awards"
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. Retrieved 2014-03-13. 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 advertis ...

''. Retrieved 2014-03-18. as well as reaching the top 100 in four other countries."Joe Satriani - Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (album)"
''finnishcharts.com''. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2014-03-13.

Release and tour

Recording for ''Professor Satchafunkilus'' began in October 2007 Satriani, Joe (2007-10-29)
"New Sessions in Progress"
satriani.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05. and the title was announced on March 13, 2008.Webmaster (2008-03-13)
"New Album and Podcast!"
satriani.com. Retrieved 2014-04-05. Touring began in Europe from April to June with guitarist

Paul Gilbert Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966) is an American hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big (American band), Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X (band), Racer X, with whom he ...

as the opening act, followed by Australia and New Zealand in July, Mexico and South America from late July to August, and concluding in North America from October to November.

Overview

The album's title has two meanings: the first part is a homage to Satriani's nickname of "Satch", while "Musterion" is a Greco–

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

word meaning "hidden thing", "secret", or "mystery". From the date of the album's release until April 11, 2008, Satriani began a special "Guitar Center Sessions" tour, followed by a worldwide tour on April 30. All tracks were composed in 2007, with the exception of "Come on Baby", which, as Satriani explains, was written in 1993 amid a snowstorm during a vacation in

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

. His son ZZ later encouraged him to finish the piece, upon which it became the third song dedicated to his wife Rubina (after "Rubina" from '' Not of This Earth'', and "Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness" from '' The Extremist''). It was later used by Canadian figure skater Vaughn Chipeur for his short program at the 2010 Canadian Figure Skating Championships. "Revelation" was written about the death of fellow guitarist

Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist and songwriter. A seven-time Grammy nominee, he is best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the longest serving guitarist for Deep Purple. Morse also enjoyed a successful ...

's father, as well as being a tribute of sorts to Morse's playing.Bosso, Joe (2008-09-25)
"Joe Satriani: The Human Touch"
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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 ...

''.

NewBay Media NewBay Media, LLC was a magazine and website publisher founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City. NewBay Media served five marketplaces — Music, Pro Audio/AV, Video & Broadcast, Consumer Electronics, and Education. In April 2018, ...

. Retrieved 2014-03-13. As with "One Robot's Dream" from '' Super Colossal'' (2006), Satriani continues with the theme of exploring the humanistic side of robots on "I Just Wanna Rock". On a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

detailing the making of the album, he explained the track to be about a robot's experiences at a rock concert. The final two tracks, "Asik Vaysel" and "Andalusia", were both inspired by the late

Aşık Veysel Aşık is Turkish for Ashik, a traditional musician and troubadour Aşık is a Turkish name. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Aşık Çelebi (1520–1572), Ottoman biographer, poet, and translator * Âşık İbretî (1920–1976 ...

, a critically acclaimed figure of

Turkish folk literature Turkish folk literature is an oral tradition deeply rooted, in its form, in Anatolian traditions. However, in its themes, Turkish folk literature reflects the problems peculiar to a settling (or settled) people who have abandoned the nomadic life ...

. "Andalusia" features a melody (from 1:40 to 1:53) which was previously played by Satriani on his 1993 video ''The Satch Tapes'', during an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

segment. On a podcast prior to the album's release, Satriani explained that a publishing error was the reason why Aşık Veysel's name was misspelled "Asik Vaysel" on the back cover, and that it would be corrected on subsequent pressings."Joe Satriani - Asik veysel Podcast"
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Retrieved 2016-01-12.

Critical reception

Jason Lymangrover at

gave ''Professor Satchafunkilus'' three stars out of five, saying that Satriani "shines in his ability to hold back and write tasteful verse/chorus songs with memorable hooks." The songs on the album were described as "technically impressive numbers that never go overboard with the showboating and rely on a sense of feeling rather than virtuoso technique." One song that was criticized as a low point was "I Just Wanna Rock", but highlights included "Overdriver", "Musterion", "Andalusia", "Asik Vaysel", and the title track.

Track listing

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

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 * Mus ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(tracks 1, 4, 7),

talk box A talk box (also spelled talkbox and talk-box) is an effects unit that allows musicians to modify the sound of a musical instrument by shaping the frequency content of the sound and to apply speech sounds (in the same way as singing) onto the so ...

, hand claps (track 4),

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing,

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 stat ...

Jeff Campitelli Jeff Campitelli (born 29 December 1960) is an American drummer best known for his collaborations with Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. R ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(tracks 2, 4, 9, 10),

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

, shaker,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

(track 3),

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell (instrument), bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. ...

, hand claps (tracks 4, 10) *John Cuniberti – tambourine (tracks 6–8), hand claps (track 4), engineering, mixing, production * Matt Bissonette – bass (tracks 2–6, 8–10) *ZZ Satriani –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

* Eric Caudieux –

digital editing In mass communication, digital media is any communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronic d ...

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating auditory elements of media. It involves specifying, acquiring and creating audio using production techniques and equipment or software. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking ...

*Mike Boden – hand claps (tracks 4, 10), digital editing, engineering assistance *

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman (born 16 December 1943, Minneapolis) is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chr ...

– mastering

Charts

References

External links

In Review: Joe Satriani "Professor Satchafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock"
at Guitar Nine Records {{Authority control Joe Satriani albums 2008 albums Epic Records albums