Steve Vai releases New Modern Primitive album on 7 July
Virtuoso guitarist and visionary composer Steve
Vai will release “Modern Primitive on 7 July 2017 through Favored
Nations Entertainment, the indie label founded by Vai in 1999. Originally
included as a companion disk to Vai’s 25th anniversary release of his seminal “Passion
and Warfare” CD, “Modern Primitive” will be released by itself as
the 7th instalment of the Steve Vai “Secret Jewel Box,” an ambitious 10
CD box set that was originally released in December 2001. This stand-alone
release of “Modern Primitive” will be a limited edition album and has
been modified specifically for Vai’s Secret Jewel Box, making this an
instant collector’s item for Vai fans around the globe.
Modern Primitive is comprised of material that was written and partially recorded
with Vai’s band “The Classified” back in the early 80’s. “The Classified”
consisted of Tommy Mars on Keyboards, Chris Frazier on drums, Stu Hamm on bass
and Sue Mathis on vocals and keyboards that he formed after his first solo
record Flex-Able (1983) and prior to the writing and recording of the music on
Vai’s renowned, Passion and Warfare (1990). Vai completed the recording in
2016, 30 years after its inception. The album represents that missing link that
exposes the colossal growth period between Flex-Able and Passion and Warfare.
“The music on Modern Primitive was written and
recorded with virtually no expectations for its future,” Vai said. “As a
result, there was an opening up to a powerful and personal creativity that
allowed me to find the most stimulation music I could conjure. So far it’s my favourite
album that I ever made.”
Vai’s “Secret Jewel Box Set,” a deluxe
10”x6”x6” gloss black box, lined with red velvet, features compartments for a
total of 10 CDs, 3 guitar picks, and a 100-page booklet. Hidden in a flap on
the underside of the box in an exclusive CD interview with Steve specifically
about the project. Much of the recordings contained in “The Secret Jewel Box”
are comprised of various material from dozens of different records
including guest appearances, film soundtracks, bonus tracks, a piano reduction
CD, and a full CD comprised of choice tracks that Vai contributed to while
working with Frank Zappa in the early 80’s. All of the rare and essential Vai
recordings that do not appear on his solo records are collected here, with many
surprises for even the most hardcore collector. A limited run of 7,000 units of
the box set was manufactured and sold out.
Favored Nations’ Modern Primitive is
available for pre-order on Amazon.com
NH