Venus Isle

Venus Isle is the third 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, the highest position in Johnson's career, 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 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."

Personnel

 * Eric Johnson – lead vocals (tracks 1–3, 5, 9), guitar (all tracks), guitar synthesizer, synthesizer (track 2), piano, electric sitar, arrangement, engineering, production
 * Amit Chatterjee – vocals (tracks 1, 3)
 * Christopher Cross – vocals (tracks 3, 5)
 * Jimmie Vaughan – additional guitar solos (track 4)
 * Steve Barber – synthesizer (tracks 1–5, 8–10), Hammond B3, arrangement
 * Tommy Taylor – drums (tracks 1–7, 9–11), percussion (tracks 3, 11), arrangement
 * Bill Maddox – drums (track 8), engineering
 * James Fenner – percussion (tracks 2, 5, 6)
 * Chris Searles – percussion (tracks 3, 5)
 * Kyle Brock – bass (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5–7, 10), arrangement
 * Roscoe Beck – bass (tracks 3, 9, 10, 11), engineering
 * Chris Maresh – bass (track 8)
 * Richard Kilmer – strings (track 5)
 * Bruce Williams – strings (track 5)
 * Jennifer Bourianoff – strings (track 5)
 * Anthony Stogner – strings (track 5)
 * Scott McIntosh – trumpet
 * Vince Mariani – arrangement
 * Richard Mullen – engineering, mixing, production
 * John Fannin – engineering
 * Ethridge Hill – engineering
 * Malcolm Harper – engineering
 * John Aguto – engineering
 * Jeff Poe – engineering
 * Stuart Sullivan – engineering
 * Mark Hallman – engineering
 * John Moran – engineering
 * James Hoover – engineering
 * Jeff DeMorris – mixing assistance
 * Jim Champagne – mixing assistance
 * Brad Haehnel – mixing assistance
 * Allen Sides – mixing assistance
 * Bernie Grundman – mastering
 * Jimmy McKeever – mastering assistance