Steve Morse
Ex-Dixie Dreggs, current Deep
Purple guitarist solo material.
Steve Morse Band - Southern Steel (MCA) 1991
1. "Cut to the Chase"
(3:51)
2. "Simple Simon" (3:47)
3. "Vista Grande" (5:02)
4. "Sleaze Factor" (3:37)
5. "Battle Lines" (4:05)
6. "Southern Steel" (3:54)
7. "Wolf Song" (3:20)
8. "Weekend Overdrive" (4:04)
9. "Arena Rock" (3:59)
10. "Point Counterpoint" (2:12)
I must admit first off that I am not the biggest fan of instrumental guitar albums and am VERY picky about the albums I like and listen to. I prefer good songs to albums that are full of riffs in which to solo over. Because of that I held onto this CD for months before finally adding it to my site. I just didn't give this one the time of day. However after seeing Morse strut his stuff with Deep Purple on their "Bananas" tour, I had to pull this one out. Morse delivers a tight, uptempo instrumental rock album with plenty of variation. I can't say that I wouldn't mind had there been some vocals on this CD, but overall, an enjoyable CD.
Steve Morse Band - Major Impacts 2 (Magna Carta) 2004
1. "Wooden Music" (4:56)
2. "Where are you?" (3:24)
3. "Errol Smith " (4:37)
4. "Cool Wind, Green Hills" (3:54)
5. "Organically Grown" (3:47)
6. "12 strings on Carnaby St." (4:38)
7. "Zig Zags" (4:28)
8. "Abracadab" (4:12)
9. "Tri County Barn Dance" (3:51)
10. "Air on a 6 String" (2:20)
11. "Motor City Spirit" (3:00)
12. "Ghost of the Bayou" (3:05)
13. "Leonard's Best" (4:17)
Steve Morse brings some of his biggest musical nfluences into this shred fest. However, while I use the word "shred" there is plenty of melody in these songs. None of the songs on this CD are 100mph fret board burning, ego mania. Rather, Steve Morse and his band play with feeling, including equal amounts of keyboard, drums and guitar. "Major Impacts" is also a tribute disc of sorts. While there aren't any cover songs on this CD, each song on this disc is "impacted" by one of Steve's favorite bands. For instance "Abracadab" has a certain 1980's Genesis flare to it. In the album sleeve Steve goes into some details as to how Genesis influences him. Likewise artists like The Who, ELP, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bach, The Yardbirds, Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top, etc. are all given props both musically and through Steve's thoughts included on the liner notes. This is sort of an interesting way for Steve to give a nod to his favorite artists without actually doing a CD full of covers.