Fire Garden

This is the fourth studio album, released by Epic on 17 September 1996 as EK 67776, eighteen tracks. Sony Records issued the Japanese edition on 19 September as SRCS 8137, with nineteen: it adds The Murder. As Vai explains in the liner notes, the album is a concept record divided into two phases. Phase 1 runs from the first track to the ninth and is entirely instrumental, apart from Devin Townsend's backwards vocals on Whookam and some singing towards the end of Fire Garden Suite. Phase 2 is the remainder, with Vai singing on every song except the instrumental Warm Regards. It was meant to be a double album. During mastering, though, Vai heard about the new 80-minute CD format - the standard had been 74 - which meant both sides could fit onto a single disc. Dyin' Day was co-written with Ozzy Osbourne during the writing sessions for Osbourne's 1995 album Ozzmosis; another song from those sessions, My Little Man, went onto Ozzmosis with Vai credited as co-writer. The album reached number 106 on the Billboard 200. The running order here is the import CD's as printed.