steve vai passion and warfare album cover

This material was played live at many successful gigs but never recorded at all, so these recordings for the most part were written in the 80s and finally recorded in the second decade of the 21st century. Many of these tracks emerged under the intent of being released in a period band called The Classified, a vocal jazz rock group that featured Sue Mathis on keyboards and vocals, Tommy Mars also on keyboards and vocals, Stu Hamm on bass and Chris Frazier on drums. Some of the tracks were destined for P&W but didn’t make the editing cut and thus sat in the vaults for two decades plus. At the age of 55, STEVE VAI finally found the time and the excuse to finally complete these tracks and release them as bonus material. The material on MODERN PRIMITIVE was started when he was between 23-26 but were never finished. VAI wrote “Flex-Able” between the ages of 20-23 and PASSION AND WARFARE between the ages of 27-29. The title MODERN PRIMITIVE refers to the fact that these tracks were started but never finished. While MODERN PRIMITIVE is indeed technically a bonus album for P&W’s 25th Anniversary release, it can also be thought of as an album in its own right since had destiny not intervened, this material very well could’ve been VAI’s second album. This review will only cover the MODERN PRIMITIVE album since PASSION AND WARFARE will be covered in its own review however i will cover the four bonus tracks attached to the end of P&W.

The unreleased album’s worth of material covers those mystery years between his first two albums when he scrapped solo albums in order to work with David Lee Roth and Alcatraz.Ī double album indeed as the double CD release contains two cardboard sleeves attached and in yin yang fashion with each side acting as an independent album albeit in Siamese twin fashion. While VAI has always been generous in the addition of bonus tracks when he re-releases an older album, this one was the greatest gift of all as it came out as basically a double album called MODERN PRIMITIVE / PASSION AND WARFARE (25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION). This evolution makes more sense with the release of the 25th Anniversary Edition of Passion And Warfare which hit the market in 2016. For true STEVE VAI fans who have kept up with his output since the beginning, one of the most amazing transmogrifications in music history occurred between his debut album “Flex-Able” and his second “Passion And Warfare.” So much so that for much of the time both albums seem to have been recorded by completely different artists, however that’s somewhat of an exaggeration since both albums contain more than enough of the trademark VAI-isms that transcend compositional style as well as exhibiting his Zappa roots however the debut was more experimental whereas the sophomore release showcased a much more developed technical shredding style.

Steve vai passion and warfare album cover