The Story of Light (Steve Vai album)

The Story of Light is the second installment of the Real Illusions trilogy, a "multi-layered melange based on the amplified mental exaggerations of a truth-seeking madman who sees the world through his own distorted perceptions",[7] according to the booklet introduction. In an interview with ClassicRock Revisisted, Vai explained:

When I started Real Illusions, which was my last studio record, I wanted to do a concept record, but I didn't want to do it in the conventional way. I wondered what I could do in order to make it different. I wanted it to span a long period of time, as it is probably going to be one of my life's greatest works. I wanted to break it up into little pieces and put it out, not in a linear way. If you listen to Real Illusions, then you will just hear a studio album, as you will not be able to put all of the pieces together. If you read the liner notes, then you can start to put little pieces together. The idea is the same with The Story of Light. It is like Real Illusions, as it is a studio album. That said, the songs are all based on characters in the story, but they are not in the right order. The third part of the trilogy, which I will do sometime in the future, will be similar.[8]

According to Vai, "Captain Drake Mason... at one point writes a book. He presents his book, which is titled Under It All, to the town. The first chapter is called "The Story of Light". On the record, the lyrics are printed in English, but I didn't want to present them that way because it is too obvious. I wanted to do them in another language to add mystique. I went through all of these languages in my head trying to find the right one. Every language has a dynamic to it. Italian sounds like music, and French is effeminate, so it sounds beautiful, in a way. German has a lot of rough edges and comes off very masculine. All of those had too much of a tilt. Russian is such a beautiful language because it has just the right amount of rough edges and just the right amount of romance. Still, there is an authority to it. That is why I decided to do it in Russian."[8]

All music is composed by Steve Vai, except where noted.

• Steve Vai – guitar (all tracks) and vocals (tracks 8, 11), keyboards
• Philip Bynoe – bass
• Jeremy Colson – drums
• Deborah Henson-Conant – harp (track 7)
• Beverly McClellan – vocals (track 3 and 4)
• Aimee Mann – vocals (track 11)
• Bernie Grundman – mastering
• Dave Rosenthal – piano (track 1)
• Julia Rainy May Vai – Russian narration (track 1)
• Bob Carpenter – Hammond B3 (tracks 3, 4, 12)
• Mike Keneally – keyboards (track 8)
• Dave Weiner – rhythm guitar (track 8)[9]