FLEX-ABLE

"Flex-Able" is the debut full-length studio album by US, California based guitarist Steve Vai. The album was released through Urantia Records in January 1984. Vai started his music career working for Frank Zappa, transcriping his songs, but from 1980-1983 he became part of Zappa´s touring band. After he left Zappa in 1983, he became a solo artist and built a studio in a shed in his back garden. The recordings featured on "Flex-Able", were recorded at his home studio. Vai handles synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, and keyboards on the album, but he is helped out by several guest musicians, including a couple of his old colleagues from the Frank Zappa band in Tommy Mars (violin, keyboards, vocals), Bob Harris (trumpet, vocals), and Chad Wackerman (drums).

The material featured on the album was recorded between 1982 and 1984 and the recording sessions spawned 24 tracks. Only 11 tracks are featured on the original version of "Flex-Able", while later reissues feature 4 extra tracks, which are culled from the 1984 "Flex-Able Leftovers" EP. The "Flex-Able Leftovers" EP originally featured 8 tracks, but was re-released in 1998 as a full-length album featuring all 13 tracks, which did not originally appear on "Flex-Able".

Stylistically the Zappa connection is obvious when listening to the music on "Flex-Able", which is a wacky, comedic, and challenging type of rock music, featuring idiosyncratic vocals, quirky lyrics, and all sorts of sonic experiments and adventurous time signatures. This is a far cry from the sound Vai would develop and be known for from the early 90s onwards, although a few tracks do featured some of his crazy signature guitar abuse. "The Attitude Song" is the track which sounds most like the Vai most people know, but a few other tracks also feature his unique guitar playing. Most of the other tracks are quite creative and experimental rock songs, even at times touching avant-garde territory. It´s not all pretty and sometimes it all becomes a bit too silly for its own good, but there´s nothing wrong with the high level musicianship on display.

As the material was recorded on an 8-track recorder, it´s not always professional studio sounding, and there is definitely an air of demo recording to some of the material. Especially the drums feature a powerless and sometimes programmed sound, and I´m pretty sure some tracks were recorded using a drum machine, which is a real shame, as the drum machine sound doesn´t do those tracks any favours.

Wearing your influence (Frank Zappa) on your sleeves as much as Vai does here is maybe just a bit too much, and thankfully Vai would later find his own path, but "Flex-Able" is still a relatively interesting release, and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)