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Mozart 25
Are you passionate about classical music? You can listen to Mozart Symphony 25 online.
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Steve Morse Part 1
(06 May 02)
The music of The Dixie Dregs
"The Great Spectacular" (1975) This is a collection of demos and rough versions of songs they recorded at the UoM. The record was printed in a limited quantity and today is a collectors item. A slightly remastered version on CD is available again, although Steve is not really happy with the sound-quality of it. Most of the songs were re-recorded later for the following Dregs-Studioalbums ("Kathreen", a short song with remarkable country solos by Morse was not re-recorded and can only be found here, while the acoustic ditty "TO Witcher" later was redone for the Kansas-album "In The Spirit Of Things", when Steve was part of that band). I still think that this record is quite interesting though, the low-budget production adds a certain flair to the songs, and especially the early version of "What If..." sounds quite mysterious on this album...
"Freefall" (1977) Their first official release. The band was still kinda looking for their sound, so itīs a wild mix of fusion and progrock with many other elements. The album features the beautiful acoustic pieces "Northern Lights" and "Sleep" though, and the song "Holiday" later was redone in the early 90īs for the "Bring Em Back Alive"-tour. The album also features the classic "Cruise Control", which is some kind of a Dregs-trademark songs and has been covered by Dream Theater on their “Change Of Seasons”- album.
"What If..." (1978) This is considered the best Dregs-album, and it sure is a progrock-classic. It was produced by Ken Scott, and shows not only the technical abilities of the guys, but also displays the amazing songwriting- and arranging talent of Morse and the others. Many of the songs on here are still being played by both the Dregs and the SMB. The album includes the amazing epic "Odyssey", the mysterious "What If", the funky "Ice Cakes", the classical violin / guitar duet "Little Kids" and the wonderful, lush "Night Meets Light". If you have never heard the Dregs, try to get this one !
"Night Of The Living Dregs" (1979) This one consists of 4 studio recordings and 4 liveperformances from the Montreux Jazz Festival. One of the latter is the stunning Country-jam "The Bash", which still is part of the Dregs-setlist and features some extremely scary leads and unisono-passages by Morse and violinist Allen Sloane. Also great: the atmospheric "Long Slow Distance", the very "prog-rock-ish" "Leprechaun Promenade", the quite aggressive "Punk Sandwich"... This album got them their first Grammy-nomination (Morse and the Dregs were nominated quite a few times over the years, they never won one though...)
"Dregs Of The Earth"- This one introduces keyboard-prodigy T.Lavitz as a new member. The album might be the most versatile they ever did, and it features such classics as "The Hereafter" and "Pride Of The Farm"
"Unsung Heroes" This one is right up there with "What If...", and it features an awesome remake of "Cruise Control". This one has Morse written all over it. Check out the wonderful "Day 444", which IMHO is one of the best songs on the album
"Industry Standard" The last album from that first Dregs-era. The new violinist is the legendary Marc OīConnor (who also played some guitar live), and he lets the virtuosity-meter rise even more. The Dregs also wrote two vocal tracks for this one (surely caused by the pressure from the record company), and preformed those songs live with a playback. This album also features the Steve Morse-Steve Howe duet "Up In The Air"
Shortly after the release of "Industry Standard", the band split up. In 1988 they reunited,went on tour, recorded two remakes of old Dregs-songs. In 1992 the Dregs went on tour again (with Dave LaRue on bass) and recorded a live-album ("Bring Em Back Alive", which features the amazing Zeppelin-cover "Kashmir"), and in 1994 they released "Full Circle", their first studio recording in more than a decade. On "Full Circle", you can hear the influence of Steveīs work with the Steve Morse band, the album rocks a bit more and features shorter songs. The violinist on this one is John Goodman (formerly a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and The Flock), bassist is Dave LaRue (of the Steve Morse Band). In 1999, they met up once again to tour again and record a new livealbum, "California Screaming", and since then they have played several short tournees (including a few shows as the support act for Dream Theater in early 2000)
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