Pop Music Review : A Clash of the Old and New Satriani

These are days of transition for guitarist Joe Satriani. He remains the master of instrumental razzmatazz, while his fast-maturing sense of song craft leaves most of his fellow virtuosos far behind. His newest work indicates a continuing choice of beauty over rock-god flash.

But it was a sometimes awkward balance for Satriani on Tuesday at the House of Blues, where the elegant, blues-based restraint of the music from his new “Joe Satriani” album clashed with the pyrotechnics expected by his hard-core guitar-head fans. Even some of the tightest arrangements from the new album were somehow lost in the showier live setting.

Not that his performance was designed for simple ego gratification. During some of the lengthier jam sessions, Satriani and his band (which included master bassist Stu Hamm) regularly passed through astonishing passages of blues, funk and rock that were technically brilliant and, most important, rang emotionally true.

Ever since 1987’s “Surfing With the Alien” album alerted the masses to Satriani’s skills, he’s been more successful than most rock-guitar instrumentalists in finding relevance in the pop world. And his new album demonstrates that he has everything he needs to further translate that talent into meaningful music for the ‘90s.

But during two hours at the House of Blues, Satriani also demonstrated a need to break away from those who exult over every chord change and solo, and to continue his more challenging, meaningful work making songs with a beginning, middle and end.