Strange Beautiful Music

Strange Beautiful Music is the ninth studio album by guitarist Joe Satriani, released on June 25, 2002, through Epic Records;^[2] a Super Audio CD edition was released on September 10.^[3] The album reached No. 140 on the United States Billboard 200^[4] and remained on that chart for a week,^[5] as well as reaching the top 100 in four other countries.^[6]

Strange Beautiful Music
Studio album by Joe Satriani
Released	June 25, 2002 (2002-06-25)
Recorded	Early 2002
Studio	The Plant in Sausalito, California; Studio 21 in San Francisco
Genre	Instrumental rock
Length	60:22
Label	Epic
Producer	Joe Satriani, Eric Caudieux, John Cuniberti
Joe Satriani chronology
Live in San Francisco (2001) Strange Beautiful Music (2002) The Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology (2003)
Singles from Strange Beautiful Music
"Starry Night" Released: June 10, 2002

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

"Starry Night" was released as a single on June 10^[7] and received a nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2003 Grammy Awards,^[8] Satriani's twelfth such nomination.

The title Strange Beautiful Music is also the name of Satriani's publishing company, as well as a lyric from "Third Stone from the Sun", a song by Jimi Hendrix, whom Satriani has cited as his main inspiration to start playing the guitar in his youth.^[9]

Release and tour

Recording for Strange Beautiful Music began in January 2002 and the title was announced on March 25.^[7] Worldwide touring began in Europe in July, followed by North America from August to September, East Asia in October, additional dates in North America from November through to February 2003, Central America in March, and concluding in South America in April.^[10]

Track listing

All music is composed by Joe Satriani, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Oriental Melody"	3:56
2.	"Belly Dancer"	5:02
3.	"Starry Night"	3:55
4.	"Chords of Life"	4:13
5.	"Mind Storm"	4:12
6.	"Sleep Walk" (Santo Farina, Johnny Farina)	2:46
7.	"New Last Jam"	4:19
8.	"Mountain Song"	3:31
9.	"What Breaks a Heart"	5:20
10.	"Seven String"	4:02
11.	"Hill Groove"	4:10
12.	"The Journey"	4:09
13.	"The Traveler"	5:39
14.	"You Saved My Life"	5:02
Total length:		60:22

Bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
15.	"The Eight Steps"	5:44
16.	"Slick"	3:41

Personnel

• Joe Satriani – guitar, banjo, keyboard (tracks 11, 14), sitar, autoharp (track 2), bass, engineering, mixing, production
• Robert Fripp – Frippertronics (track 6)
• Eric Caudieux – keyboard (track 4), digital editing, production
• Jeff Campitelli – drums, percussion (track 14)
• Gregg Bissonette – drums (track 2)
• John Cuniberti – percussion (tracks 1, 2, 5, 10, 11), engineering, mixing, production
• Matt Bissonette – bass
• Pia Vai – harp (track 4)
• Justin Phelps – engineering assistance, digital editing
• Bernie Grundman – mastering

Charts

Chart (2002)	Peak position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[11]	84
French Albums (SNEP)[12]	38
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13]	92
Italian Albums (FIMI)[14]	33
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15]	78
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[16]	14
US Billboard 200[17]	140

Awards

Event	Title	Award	Result
2003 Grammys	"Starry Night"	Best Rock Instrumental Performance	Nominated[8]