Passion and Warfare

Passion and Warfare
Studio album by Steve Vai
Released	July, 1990
Recorded	1989 & 1990
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal, instrumental rock
Length	52:43
Label	Relativity / Epic
Producer	Steve Vai
Steve Vai chronology
Flex-Able Leftovers (1984) Passion and Warfare (1990) Sex & Religion (1993)

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Allmusic

Passion and Warfare is a 1990 instrumental album from guitarist Steve Vai. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA. It was written based on a series of dream sequences that Vai had when he was younger, and in the guitar music book of the album, Vai sums it up as 'Jimi Hendrix meets Jesus Christ at a party that Ben Hur threw for Mel Blanc'. It was all recorded in 'The Mothership' studio at his home in the Hollywood Hills, a 1,600-square-foot (150 m²) building where his guitar parts for Whitesnake's album Slip of the Tongue were also recorded. (Whitesnake singer David Coverdale has small talking parts on Passion and Warfare.) Vai has many strange recording techniques, and for one of Passion and Warfare's tracks, "For the Love of God", he fasted for ten days and recorded this song on the fourth day of the fast. The track Blue Powder was actually recorded in 1986 as a showcase track for Carvin amplification and given away with Guitar Player magazine in flexi-disc format. The song Blue Powder was recorded using Carvin's X-100B amplifier. Steve was introduced to Carvin Amplification by his mentor Frank Zappa who used the X-100B. The drum performance was subsequently re-recorded for the album.

The gear used to record this album was: Ibanez JEM and Universe guitars, Charvel Greenie Meanie, Marshall JCM900 amplifiers, Carvin X-100B amplifier, Boss DS-1 pedals, ADA-MP-1 preamp, Eventide H3000 harmonizer, Lexicon etc.

The song "For the Love of God" is available for download on Guitar Hero 3, and was voted the 29th best solo of all time by a readers' poll in Guitar World.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

All songs written by Steve Vai.

1. "Liberty" – 2:02
2. "Erotic Nightmares" – 4:13
3. "The Animal" – 3:55
4. "Answers" – 2:41
5. "The Riddle" – 6:22
6. "Ballerina 12/24" – 1:45
7. "For the Love of God" – 6:02
8. "The Audience Is Listening" – 5:30
9. "I Would Love To" – 3:40
10. "Blue Powder" – 4:44
11. "Greasy Kid's Stuff" – 2:57
12. "Alien Water Kiss" – 1:10
13. "Sisters" – 4:07
14. "Love Secrets" – 3:35

Personnel

• Steve Vai - guitars (all tracks), keyboards (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 11), bass (tracks 8, 9, 11)
• Stuart Hamm - bass (tracks 2 - 5, 7, 10, 13)
• Chris Frazier - drums (tracks 1 - 5, 8, 10, 11, 13)
• Tris Imboden - drums (tracks 7, 9)
• David Rosenthal - keyboards (tracks 2, 9, 13), backing vocals
• Bob Harris - keyboards (track 10), backing vocals
• Pia Maiocco (credited as Pia Vai) - keyboards on one chord (track 4)

An Eventide H3000 Harmonizer was used on tracks 6 and 12.

Additional musicians

• Nancy Fagen - vocals & hysteria (track 8)
• Jamie Firlotte - boy vocals (track 8)
• David Coverdale - backing vocals
• Rudy Sarzo - backing vocals
• Adrian Vandenberg - backing vocals
• Pascal Fillet - backing vocals
• Laurel Fishman - backing vocals
• Lillian Vai - backing vocals
• Pam Vai - backing vocals
• Joel Kaith - backing vocals
• Corky Tanassy - backing vocals
• Jamie Kornberg - backing vocals
• Lauren Kornberg - backing vocals
• Corinne Larue - backing vocals
• Famin' - backing vocals
• Darla Albright - backing vocals
• Laura Gross - backing vocals
• Rupert Henry - backing vocals
• Suzanna Harris - backing vocals
• Julian Angel Vai - backing vocals