Yes! I very often think that I'm the only person on the goddamned planet who thought Engines of Creation kicked fucking ass! I thought it was great that he expanded his horizons and tried something NEW, instead of making yet another guitar rock album. There's lots of people out there that could take a lesson from that.
But thats not to say that his newest, Strange Beautiful Music isn't FANTASTIC as well, because it absolutely is. I just saw Satriani and Dream Theater the other night in Concord, and they were both excellent.