Later we got a call from Business Affairs who said not only do they want to change the deal and give me only half of what the contract advance should have been, but they were just going to put this record out and not promote it. Which explains why the electric guitar acrobatics captured on singles like In the Wind and Busted are more pentatonic and blues-based than theLydian dreamscapes heard on modal favourites like The Riddle or the Aeolian thunder explored on greatest hit For the Love of God. This is the sound of Vai at his most direct. Bottom-line: this is an incredibly entertaining and exciting album. Will it razzle-dazzle you? Yes! Will it blow you away?

Cliff Cultreri (who took Flex-Able and sold it years before) informed me that Relativity Records would love to release it. Relativity at the time was a very small independent label, but Cliff, more then anyone else I knew at any label, was and still is a music lover. He loves the guitar, plays the guitar and loved my record. Before that it was shopped around for a deal but there was no interest.There’s a sizable six-year gap between Flex-Able and Passion and Warfare. What was happening to you and how did your attitude shift? shredding). Maybe a little bit of David Lee Roth rubbed off on him during this recording ... actually, that sounds gross,

I believe (and so do many others) that there are those who are in control of these elements and can enter or exit these states of mind at will because they are masters of their mind, but they don’t bother with these mental seductions because even these lofty spheres of awareness are the lower planes of even higher dimensions where these great masters make their conscious abode.Fanelli, Damian. "Steve Vai Announces 'Passion and Warfare' 25th Anniversary World Tour". Guitar World. The independent album sold surprisingly well, and Vai gained a reputation as the thinking man’s guitar hero. It was an impression further solidified by his band, The Classified, a progressive, Zappa-esque unit that appealed to a small group of hipsters in Los Angeles who had little use for the growing Eighties hair metal scene. The only downside was, it seemed like Vai was headed for nothing more than cult status, when suddenly he shifted gears. But hey, as repeated listenings are the answers, I did kinda learned to appreciate it. Stevie is knee deep He was found by another biker. Somehow they made it to a house and he survived, but with 60 per cent of his body severely burned. The stories he told of that experience and the excruciating pain he went through were unbelievable. But he survived it and eventually moved out to California. When our paths crossed, I thought hewas the most interesting, quirky, charming and stinging person I’d evermet!” Graham, Jonathan (May 10, 2019). "Forgotten Guitar: Steve Vai's 1990 Appearance on MTV’s 'Headbangers Ball'". Guitar World. Future US. Retrieved 1 April 2020.