Flex-Able is an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

. This was his first as a solo artist, and was created in Stucco Blue, a shed converted into a studio in Vai's old back garden. It is very different from many of his other albums, and is largely influenced by Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

. Flex-Able is not as based around massive guitar arrangements and shred

Shred guitar

Shred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar...

 moments as the rest of his output from the 1990s onwards, with the exception of 'Leftovers' which is a compilation of bonus tracks and remasters from his sessions at 'Stucco Blue'.

The cover of the May 2009 issue of Guitar World

Guitar World

Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...

features a photograph of Vai in a pose similar to the album's cover, including the broken guitar neck.

Track listing (Original LP release)

The album was originally released on vinyl in 1984.

All songs written by Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

.

Side one

1. "Little Green Men" – 5:39
2. "Viv Woman" – 3:09
3. "Lovers Are Crazy" – 5:39
4. "Salamanders in the Sun" – 2:26
5. "The Boy-Girl Song" – 4:02

Side two

1. "The Attitude Song
   The Attitude Song
   The Attitude Song is the sixth song of guitarist Steve Vai's debut solo album Flex-Able which was released in 1984. One of Vai's most live performed songs, it appears on the G3: Live in Concert DVD, on the Live at Astoria DVD , and in orchestral form with the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra on...
   
   " – 3:23
2. "Call It Sleep" – 5:09
3. "Junkie" – 7:23
4. "Bill's Private Parts" – 0:16
5. "Next Stop Earth" – 0:34
6. "There's Something Dead in Here" – 3:46

Track listing (Extend Re-Release)

The album was re-released on CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 in 1988 by Akashic Records, with four bonus tracks from the Flex-Able Leftovers

Flex-Able Leftovers

Flex-Able Leftovers was a limited edition 10" vinyl EP by American composer and guitarist, Steve Vai. It was leftover material from the recordings done during the "Flex-Able"days and originally released in 1984 ....

EP; and again remastered and reissued by Epic Records

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 in 1997, with the same track listing as the Akashic reissue. There is also one Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an reissue on Curcio Records (released in 1992 in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

) that features the same cover on the vinyl and just the first eleven tracks.

More Informations (Discogs)


All songs written by Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

.

• 1. "Little Green Men" – 5:39
• 2. "Viv Woman" – 3:09
• 3. "Lovers Are Crazy" – 5:39
• 4. "Salamanders in the Sun" – 2:26
• 5. "The Boy-Girl Song" – 4:02
• 6. "The Attitude Song" – 3:23
• 7. "Call It Sleep" – 5:09
• 8. "Junkie" – 7:23
• 9. "Bill's Private Parts" – 0:16
• 10. "Next Stop Earth" – 0:34
• 11. "There's Something Dead in Here" – 3:46

Bonus From Flex-Ables Leftovers

Flex-Able Leftovers

Flex-Able Leftovers was a limited edition 10" vinyl EP by American composer and guitarist, Steve Vai. It was leftover material from the recordings done during the "Flex-Able"days and originally released in 1984 ....

EP

• 12. "So Happy" – 2:44
• 13. "Bledsoe Bluvd" – 4:22
• 14. "Burnin' Down the Mountain" – 4:22
• 15. "Chronic Insomnia" – 2:05

Personnel

Musicians:

• Scott Collard – synthesizer, keyboards, Fender Rhodes
• Larry Crane – lyre, xylophone, bells, vibraphone
• Greg Degler – clarinet, flute, saxophone
• Joe Despagni – sound Effects
• Laurel Fishman – vocals
• Peggy Foster – bass
• Chris Frazier – drums
• Stuart Hamm
  Stuart Hamm
  Stuart "Stu" Hamm is an American bass guitar player, known for his session and live work with numerous artists as well for his unconventional playing style and solo recordings.-Beginning career:...
  
   – bass, Sound Effects, Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
• Bob Harris – trumpet, vocals
• Suzannah Harris – vocals
• Billy James – percussion, drums
• Paul Lemcke – keyboards
• Pia Maiocco
  Pia Maiocco
  Pia Maiocco is an American former bass guitarist and backing vocals for the heavy metal band Vixen.She is married to the guitarist Steve Vai, whom she met while they both attended the Berklee College of Music. She appears on his album Flex-Able...
  
   – vocals
• Tommy Mars
  Tommy Mars
  Tommy Mars is a keyboard player, best known for his work with Frank Zappa.Born in Connecticut, U.S.A., 26 October 1951 Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars graduated in 1972 from the Hartt College of Music in...
  
   – violin, keyboards, vocals
• Ursula Rayven – vocals
• Lill Vai – sound effects
• Steve Vai
  Steve Vai
  Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
  
   – synthesizer, bass, guitar, percussion, piano, electric guitar, keyboards, * sitar, vocals, bells, producer, engineer, drum machine, drum programming, design, mixing
• Chad Wackerman
  Chad Wackerman
  Chad Wackerman is a jazz, jazz fusion and rock drummer; arguably best known in the United States for his work as a drummer and percussionist in Frank Zappa's band...
  
   – drums
• Pete Zeldman – percussion, drums

Production:

• William Becton – composer
• Aaron Brown – design, illustrations
• John Matousek – mastering
• Mark Pinske – assistant
• Neil Zlozower – photography