Steve Morse The Introduction

The solo debut of instrumental fusion rock from the former guitarist with The Dregs/Dixie Dregs, Introduction features an excellent mix of styles and top-notch playing. Guitarist Albert Lee guests on this effort. Highlights include the hyperdrive "Cruise Missile," "General Lee," and the anthemic title track.

As with the other entries in the Magna Carta Prime Cuts series, the Steve Morse edition collects several standout recordings that the guitarist played on for the label. While this ten-track release (the last track being a video interview) should in no way, shape, or form be considered a Morse overview – not a single track from his Dixie Dregs or Deep Purple eras is included (as well as nada from most of his solo recordings) – Prime Cuts does serve as a kind of "unconventional taster" of Morse's playing. For example, you get a simply shredding rendition of Rush's never-ending instrumental "La Villa Strangiato," as well as some nifty acoustic guitar diddling on Yes' "The Clap." And while they may not be the best-known solo cuts from his career, tracks such as "Heightened Awareness" and "Busybodies" are indeed worthy showcases of Morse's vast guitar talents.

Steve Morse's almost mythical musical capabilities need no introduction. Marrying blazing chops to a singular sense of hook writing creativity, his distinctive brand of rootsy American virtuosity has inspired generations of players to think outside of the pentatonic box. Morse is renowned for reeling off what he calls "un-guitaristic" lines of seemingly impossible complexity. These keyboard- and fiddle-inspired trademark phrases often consist of no more than a single note on any given string. This kind of one-note-per-string arpeggio picking is typically regarded as the domain of fingerpickers, not flatpickers. Yet the effortlessness with which Morse nails these gymnastic routines is the obvious clue that something mechanically magical is happening under the hood.

LYNYRD SKYNYRD Sounds Of The South/MCA Years 1973-1988 (Limited edition 2007 promotional Japanese box set) contains Lynyrd Skynyrd's original MCA albums digitally remastered and expanded and housed in miniature LP sleeves [One More For The Road is a double CD], all of whichare promo-stamped. Five of the albums include bonus tracks and each includes replica liner notes or picture inserts. Not least there are two booklets: an extensive 80-page booklet with English lyrics and specific notes onthe bonus tracks + a 28-page booklet about the boxand album reissues themselves.

Who would guess that such a good live album could come out so late in their career..

Legendary hard rockers Deep Purple have an enduring reputation as one of the most rounded bands currently playing. The 12 CD set Deep Purple Collectors Edition: The Bootleg Series 1984-2000 suffers from poor sound quality in places (in particular the first concert); however, it covers six concerts and two line-ups, mostly with reasonable quality and several from tours not otherwise documented (in particular the 1984 Mark II Reformed line-up), making it a must-have for truly dedicated fans of the reformed Purple. Taken from six different bootlegs, the album features virtually all the band's biggest hits numerous times.

Albert Lee occupies an odd niche in music – British by birth and upbringing, he spent the mid-'60s as a top R&B guitarist, but in the 1970s became one of the top rockabilly guitarists in the world, and no slouch in country music either. In England he's a been household name, and in Nashville and Los Angeles he's been one of the most in-demand session guitarists there is; but outside of professional music circles in America, he's one of those vaguely recognizable names, and occasionally misidentified with his similar-sounding contemporary, ex-Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee (with whom he did share a berth once, in Jerry Lee Lewis's band on the latter's London Sessions album) – but where Alvin was a hero of Woodstock and a flashy guitarist, in the manner of British blues extroverts Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, Albert is much more likely to be found playing in the background, behind the Everly Brothers or alongside Eric Clapton.