Satriani's debut album, “Not of this Earth” from 1986, had some commercial success which would only give us a hint of what was to come. The album contained a few instrumental tracks, a preamble to his sophomore effort to be released a year later. Satriani plays all the instruments except the drums for which he gets help from three musicians: John Cuniberti (also producer for the album), Jeff Campitelli and Bongo Bob Smith. This line-up will change though in the support world tour that followed.

The album kicks off fast and furious with the title track which is then followed by two of his most played songs: “Ice 9” and “Crushing Day”. The 4th track is the delicate “Always with me, Always with You”, proof that Satriani's repertoire includes more than just rapid chords and powerful chops. Up next is “Satch Boogie”, another Satriani “standard” if you want, a track that will constantly appear on virtually every Satriani live recording.

The rest of the album is made up of very interesting trucks, the highlights being the short, but dramatic, almost morbid “Hill of the Skull”, the intense “Lords of Karma” and the classical-influenced “Midnight”.

With this album Satriani takes his style and song-writing ability to the next level. But that level is just a step on the stairway to greatness achieved by this talented musician and his remarkable recordings.

To celebrate 20 years since this groundbreaking album was released, in 2007 Epic has decided to repackage the album in a Legacy Edition that also includes a DVD. The DVD contains Satriani's previously unreleased concert from the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1988 and, as bonus features, two video clips and an interview with Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist for Spinal Tap. The appearance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival was made while Satriani was touring in support of this album, just released the year before. The musicians that are playing alongside are the great bassist Stu Hamm and Jonathan Mover on drums. The repertoire from this show is centered around tracks from “Surfing with...”, but also included several tracks from Satriani's debut, “Not of this Earth”. The inclusion of the DVD is worth alone the price of this nice package. Replaying “Surfing with the Alien” sure brought back memories from days when the solo electric guitar got a new, exciting life.