Venus Isle

Venus Isle is the fourth studio album by guitarist Eric Johnson, released on September 3, 1996 through Capitol Records. The album reached No. 51 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and remained on that chart for six weeks. "Pavilion" was released as a single and reached No. 33 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, while its B-side "S.R.V." is a tribute to guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and features his elder brother Jimmie Vaughan as a guest soloist. "Camel's Night Out" is featured as downloadable content for the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour (2008) and can also be exported to Guitar Hero 5 (2009).

The album's original title was to be Travel One Hope, but this was changed at the last minute by Capitol for "being too oblique." Advance promotional CDs of Travel One Hope have since become a collector's item.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic gave Venus Isle three stars out of five, describing Johnson as a "consummate guitarist" and "a joy to hear him play". However, he criticized the album for not breaking any new ground following the six-year gap from its 1990 predecessor Ah Via Musicom, remarking that it "reveals no new insights about the guitarist, it only offers a new spin on the territory Ah! Via Musicom covered."