STILLNESS IN MOTION: VAI LIVE IN L.A.

With 30-some years under his belt since his remarkable debut with Frank Zappa's band, Steve Vai has developed a lot of consistency in his albums and live performances. You know you are going to get guitar pyrotechnics of the highest order, sounds that very few other guitarists can even dream of matching. And on this live album, he does not disappoint.

The problem is that I must compare this album to his previous live releases, "Where The Wild Things Are" and "Where The Other Wild Things Are". The most obvious change in the bands is that the dual violinists on the 2009 albums have been replaced with the extraordinary harpist and keyboard player Deborah Henson-Conant. And while I love her playing on her own albums, The harp, for the most part gets lost under the barrage of Vai's metal fusion. At most times the only way the harp can be heard is through headphones, and even then what she is actually playing is barely, if at all discernable.

Nonetheless, the album is a good set of Vai's music, expertly played.

Highlights are:

Gravity Storm, that uses heaviness and wildly bent guitar and bass that makes you feel like you are getting sucked into the core of a black hole.

John The Revelator a call-and-response gospel song, that even impresses this atheist.

An acoustic set on disk 2, beginning with Rescue Me or Bury Me shows that Vai is just as impressive without his electric tools.

Frank gives Vai a chance to solo in the style of his late mentor. And he does it beautifully.

If any other guitarist had created an album of this quality, I would give it four stars, but since this one is a half-step down from what I think is Vai's best, I must rate it 3.5 (rounded down).