Crystal Planet

Crystal Planet is the seventh studio album by the guitarist Joe Satriani, released on March 3, 1998, by Epic Records.^[2] 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^[3] and remained on that chart for eight weeks,^[4] as well as reaching the top 100 in five other countries.^[5] "Ceremony" was released as a single, reaching No. 28 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart^[3] and featuring Satriani's first recorded use of a seven-string guitar, namely the Ibanez Universe. "A Train of Angels" was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards,^[6] Satriani's ninth such nomination.

Crystal Planet
Studio album by Joe Satriani
Released	March 3, 1998 (1998-03-03)
Studio	The Plant Studios (Sausalito) The Site H.O.S. Recording Hyde Street (San Francisco) Fantasy (Berkeley)
Genre	Instrumental rock
Length	67:37
Label	Epic
Producer	Joe Satriani Eric Valentine Mike Fraser John Cuniberti
Joe Satriani chronology
G3: Live in Concert (1997) Crystal Planet (1998) Engines of Creation (2000)
Singles from Crystal Planet
"Ceremony" Released: 1998[1]

Reissues

Crystal Planet has been reissued twice. The first was on June 16, 2008, as part of the Original Album Classics box set,^[7] and most recently 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.^[8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic awarded Crystal Planet four stars out five, calling it "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".^[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Up in the Sky"	4:09
2.	"House Full of Bullets"	5:33
3.	"Crystal Planet"	4:34
4.	"Love Thing"	3:50
5.	"Trundrumbalind"	5:13
6.	"Lights of Heaven"	4:23
7.	"Raspberry Jam Delta-v"	5:21
8.	"Ceremony"	4:53
9.	"With Jupiter in Mind"	5:46
10.	"Secret Prayer"	4:27
11.	"A Train of Angels" (J. Satriani, Z.Z. Satriani)	3:42
12.	"A Piece of Liquid" (J. Satriani, Z.Z. Satriani)	3:04
13.	"Psycho Monkey" (J. Satriani, Z.Z. Satriani)	4:36
14.	"Time"	5:05
15.	"Z.Z.'s Song"	3:01
Total length:		67:37

All music is composed by Joe Satriani, except where noted

Personnel

• Joe Satriani – guitar, guitar synthesizer, keyboard (tracks 5, 7, 13, 14), bass (tracks 2, 13, 14), harmonica, clapping (track 7), mixing (tracks 14, 15), producer (tracks 13–15)
• Eric Caudieux – keyboard (tracks 3, 7, 9, 12), programming, orchestration, editing
• Eric Valentine – keyboard (track 14), drums (tracks 13, 14), percussion (tracks 13, 14), bass (track 14), engineering (tracks 13, 14), mixing (track 14), production (tracks 13, 14)
• Jeff Campitelli – drums (tracks 1–12), percussion (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8–12), clapping (track 7)
• Elk Thunder – percussion (track 8)
• Rhoades Howe – percussion (track 14), engineering assistance (tracks 13, 14)
• Stuart Hamm – bass (tracks 1, 3–12)
• Mike Manning – clapping (track 7)
• Mike Fraser – clapping (track 7), engineering (tracks 1–13), mixing (tracks 1–13), production (tracks 1–13)
• John Cuniberti – engineering (tracks 14, 15), mixing (tracks 15), production (tracks 14, 15)
• Kent Matcke – engineering assistance (tracks 1–10, 12)
• Kevin Scott – engineering assistance (tracks 1–12), mixing assistance (track 14)
• Stephen Hart – engineering assistance (track 15)
• Judy Kirschner – engineering assistance
• Zac Allentuck – mixing assistance (tracks 1–10, 12, 13)
• George Marino – mastering

Chart performance

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1998	French albums chart	10[5]
	Finnish albums chart	35[5]
	Swiss albums chart	40[5]
	Billboard 200	50[3]
	Dutch albums chart	54[5]
	German albums chart	73[5]

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States	—	202,416[9]

Awards

Event	Title	Award	Result
1999 Grammys	"A Train of Angels"	Best Rock Instrumental Performance	Nominated[6]

References

1. "Joe Satriani – Ceremony". Discogs. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Crystal Planet - Joe Satriani". AllMusic. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
3. "Crystal Planet - Joe Satriani". AllMusic. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
4. "Joe Satriani - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
5. "Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet (album)". Finnishcharts. Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
6. "41st Grammy Awards - 1999". Rock On The Net. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
7. "Original Album Classics - Joe Satriani". AllMusic. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
8. Bosso, Joe (April 8, 2014). "Joe Satriani talks The Complete Studio Recordings album by album | Surfing With The Alien (1987)". MusicRadar. Future plc. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
9. "Sludge Scan For December 1999". Metal Sludge. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2015.

External links

• Crystal Planet at satriani.com
• Joe Satriani "Crystal Planet" album review at Guitar Nine