Surfing with the Alien is the second studio album by American rock guitarist Joe Satriani. It was released on October 15, 1987, by Relativity Records. The album is one of Satriani's most successful to date and helped establish his reputation as a respected rock guitarist. Satriani's equipment was limited by the budget, consisting of two Kramer Pacer guitars and an adapted Stratocaster guitar, for which he would change the pickups to get different sounds.
Due to the limited budget, Satriani had to use whatever studio time and rooms were available, and as a result printed his effects to tape while tracking. This proved fortuitous for "Surfing with the Alien", whose solo was recorded with a malfunctioning Eventide H949 as his allotted studio time nearly ended.
Artwork
The cover art of the original release depicts the Marvel Comics character Silver Surfer on the front, with the hand of Galactus on the back cover. The artwork, which was licensed from the publisher, is taken from a panel from Silver Surfer #1 (1982), drawn by John Byrne. Byrne did not receive a royalty for the art's use on the album cover. However, Jim Kozlowski, the production manager for Relativity Records, was a comic book fan and had used the nickname "The Silver Surfer" as a radio DJ name. He suggested using the character for the album cover. Kozlowski presented the album to Marvel and obtained permission to use the character. In 2019 a limited deluxe edition of the album was released featuring a silver guitar headstock in place of the Silver Surfer. The colors of this new artwork are similar to the original.