Crystal Planet


Crystal Planet is the seventh studio album by the American guitarist Joe Satriani, released on March 3, 1998, by Epic Records. It was his first album to be released on Epic, whereas his previous six albums were released by Relativity Records. Crystal Planet reached No. 50 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for eight weeks, as well as reaching the top 100 in five other countries. "Ceremony" was released as a single, reaching No. 28 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and featuring Satriani's first recorded use of a seven-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe. "A Train of Angels" was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards, Satriani's ninth nomination.

Reissues

Crystal Planet has been reissued twice. The first was on June 16, 2008, as part of the Original Album Classics box set, and then again as part of The Complete Studio Recordings, released on April 22, 2014, by Legacy Recordings; this is a box set compilation containing remastered editions of every Satriani studio album from 1986 to 2013.

Critical reception

at AllMusic called Crystal Planet "an instrumental record with a difference" and Satriani's "finest all-instrumental effort since Surfing With the Alien". He praised Satriani for "taking more chances than ever" and further developing his technique, saying that it reaches "new, uncharted waters".

Track listing

Personnel

  • Joe Satriani – guitar, guitar synthesizer, keyboard, bass, harmonica, clapping, mixing, producer
  • Eric Caudieux – keyboard, programming, orchestration, editing
  • Eric Valentine – keyboard, drums, percussion, bass, engineering, mixing, production
  • Jeff Campitelli – drums, percussion, clapping
  • Elk Thunder – percussion
  • Rhoades Howe – percussion, engineering assistance
  • Stuart Hamm – bass
  • Mike Manning – clapping
  • Mike Fraser – clapping, engineering, mixing, production
  • John Cuniberti – engineering, mixing, production
  • Kent Matcke – engineering assistance
  • Kevin Scott – engineering assistance, mixing assistance
  • Stephen Hart – engineering assistance
  • Judy Kirschner – engineering assistance
  • Zac Allentuck – mixing assistance
  • George Marino – mastering

    Charts

Sales

Awards