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Overview

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{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Alien Love Secrets
| type = ep
| artist = [[Steve Vai]]
| cover = SteveVaiAlienLoveSecrets.jpg
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|1995|3|21}}<ref name=allmusic>[[Stephen Thomas Erlewine|Erlewine, Stephen Thomas]]. [http://www.allmusic.com/album/alien-love-secrets-mw0000171998 "Alien Love Secrets - Steve Vai"]. ''[[AllMusic]]''. [[All Media Network]]. Retrieved 2014-12-10.</ref>
| recorded = The Mothership Studio in [[Hollywood Hills]]
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = [[Instrumental rock]]
| length = {{Duration|m=33|s=26}}<ref>''Alien Love Secrets'' (CD release "Rel 478586 2").</ref>
| label = [[Relativity Records|Relativity]]
| producer = Steve Vai
| prev_title = [[Sex & Religion]]
| prev_year = 1993
| next_title = [[Fire Garden]]
| next_year = 1996
}}

'''''Alien Love Secrets''''' is an EP by guitarist [[Steve Vai]], released on March 21, 1995, through [[Relativity Records]]. The EP reached No. 125 on the U.S. [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]<ref name=allmusicawards>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/alien-love-secrets-mw0000171998/awards "Alien Love Secrets - Steve Vai | Awards"]. ''[[AllMusic]]''. [[All Media Network]]. Retrieved 2014-12-10.</ref> and remained on that chart for two weeks,<ref name=billboard>[{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=steve vai|chart=all}} "Steve Vai - Chart history"]. ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''. Retrieved 2014-04-01.</ref> as well as reaching No. 72 on the [[MegaCharts|Dutch albums chart]].<ref name=finnishcharts>[http://finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Steve+Vai&titel=Alien+Love+Secrets&cat=a "Steve Vai - Alien Love Secrets (album)"]. ''finnishcharts.com''. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2014-12-10.</ref>

==Overview==
''Alien Love Secrets'' was written and recorded in less than six weeks as a stripped-down guitar, bass and drums record with minimal keyboards, similar to how Vai recorded his 1984 debut album, ''[[Flex-Able]]''. According to Vai, he had wished to maintain a steady output of material following his 1993 album ''[[Sex & Religion]]'', but the recording process for the 70+ minutes of his subsequent 1996 album ''[[Fire Garden]]'' was taking too long. The EP was therefore purposely released in anticipation of ''Fire Garden''.<ref name=vaiofficial>[[Steve Vai|Vai, Steve]]. [http://www.vai.com/album-alien-love-secrets/ "Alien Love Secrets (1995)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225033127/http://www.vai.com/album-alien-love-secrets/ |date=2015-12-25 }}. vai.com. Retrieved 2014-12-10.</ref> Stylistically ''Alien Love Secrets'' marks a return to the more familiar [[instrumental rock]] of Vai's 1990 album ''[[Passion and Warfare]]'', following the highly mixed reception to ''Sex & Religion''.<ref name=allmusic/>

The name is similar to ''Martian Love Secrets'', the working title for the 1979 live alum, [[Sheik Yerbouti|''Sheik Yerbouti'']] by [[Frank Zappa]], who Vai played with in the early 1980s. Whether this was intentional or not is unconfirmed.

Notable tracks include "Bad Horsie", which was derived from a [[ostinato|riff]] played by Vai during the final scenes of the 1986 film ''[[Crossroads (1986 film)|Crossroads]]''; "Juice" was featured on the soundtrack of the 1996 [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]] video game ''[[Formula 1 (video game)|Formula 1]]''; "Ya-Yo Gakk" is a [[call and response (music)|call and response]] interplay with vocal recordings of Vai's young son Julian; "Tender Surrender", one of Vai's most popular songs, bases itself around a familiar sound, structure and [[tempo]] as [[Jimi Hendrix]]'s "Villanova Junction" from his 1969 performance at ''[[Woodstock]]'', although written in a different [[key (music)|key]]; and "The Boy from Seattle", which is a tribute to Hendrix written by Vai.

==Critical reception==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name=allmusic/>
}}

[[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] at [[AllMusic]] gave ''Alien Love Secrets'' three stars out of five, calling it a "moodier, more atmospheric collection" than ''Passion and Warfare''. He also praised his "fluid technique, which manages to never become completely mechanical."<ref name=allmusic/>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| all_music = Steve Vai
| title1 = Bad Horsie
| length1 = 5:51
| title2 = Juice
| length2 = 3:44
| title3 = Die to Live
| length3 = 3:53
| title4 = The Boy from Seattle
| length4 = 5:03
| title5 = Ya-Yo Gakk
| length5 = 2:52
| title6 = Kill the Guy with the Ball"
*<small>"b] The God Eaters</small>
| length6 = 7:02
| title7 = Tender Surrender
| length7 = 5:01
| total_length = 33:26
}}

==Personnel==

*[[Steve Vai]] – [[guitar]], [[keyboard instrument|keyboard]], [[Eventide, Inc|Eventide H3000]] [[pitch shift#Pitch shifter and harmonizer|harmonizer]], [[drum kit|drum]] [[programming (music)|programming]], [[bassline|bass]], [[audio engineer|engineering]], [[record producer|production]]
*[[Tommy Mars]] – [[organ (music)|organ]] (track 7)
*[[Deen Castronovo]] – drums (tracks 3, 4, 6, 7)
*Julian Vai – [[babbling|baby vocals]] (track 5)
*Sergio Buss – engineering assistance
*[[Bernie Grundman]] – [[mastering engineer|mastering]]
*Pam Daney – production assistance

==Chart performance==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Chart !! Position
|-
|rowspan="2"|1995
|[[MegaCharts|Dutch albums chart]]
|align="center"|72<ref name=finnishcharts/>
|-
|[[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]]
|align="center"|125<ref name=allmusicawards/>
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.guitar9.com/alienlovesecrets.html Guitar Nine Records - In Review: Steve Vai "Alien Love Secrets"] at Guitar Nine Records

{{Steve Vai}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Steve Vai albums]]
[[Category:1995 EPs]]
[[Category:Relativity Records EPs]]

Alien Love Secrets - Revision history

imported>Femboy Gardevoir: /* Overview */