Steve Morse

Throughout Steve Morse’s memorable career he has written music that draws on hard rock, country, British fusion and baroque classical. Angelfire, the debut album from his latest project of the same name, finds Morse applying his gifts to yet another genre: acoustic vocal music.

Being soloist and band member, Steve Morse released so many albums. His works range from progressive rock Dixie Dregs, guitar shredder in his solo albums, up to as part of Deep Purple. With such range of musics, one still can easily distinguished Steve Morse licks, the bluesy chromatic passage that attached to his style. Surprisingly, in this new album, The Sessions, Steve Morse works with many other singers and sing some cover tunes. This album is not Steve Morse's typical instrumental guitar album. Well, a bit disappointing for guitar fans, but the album provide excellent standard hard rock album, that very bluesy, very American in vibes.

Essential: a masterpiece of Progressive-Rock music
Since I am not selfish, I want to share this "High tension wires" LP from virtuoso guitarist Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, The Dregs). If I could describe this work comes to me only one word: delicious.

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.

It may be an all-acoustic affair (with the exception of electric bass), but School of the Arts bristles with fusion energy. That will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with even a few of the names on this project spearheaded by pianist T Lavitz, who first came to attention in 1979 when he joined The Dixie Dregs, guitarist Steve Morse's country-tinged progressive fusion group that released a string of outstanding albums between 1975 and 1982, and still reconvenes on rare occasion to this day.

On the continuation of 2003's Testimony Neal Morse further explores his spirituality and pushes his musical abilities to the hilt with the enigmatically titled ?. This 12-song offering surrounds itself thematically around the Tabernacle, the biblical dwelling place of God. Drawing from references of mythology, Christianity, archeology, and history, Morse weaves a captivating narrative that is complemented by a solid stable of some of prog rock's elite. Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater, Steve Hackett, and fellow Spock's Beard alumnus and sibling Alan Morse all make guest appearances and contribute outstanding performances to a score that is complex in technicality and a rich tapestry of cultural vocabulary. It's a refreshing release in a CCM genre filled with formulaic, pedestrian music and trite songwriting.