| Steve Morse | Website: | |||||
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Genre(s): | Progressive | ||||
| Instrument(s): | Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar | |||||
| Trademark(s): | World class guitarist, progressive compositions, pioneered the guitar-centic progressive genre. | |||||
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Steve Morse returns once again in Split Decision with his three piece ensemble including Dave LaRue and Van Romaine, giving us more of the guitar wizardry and diverse style that we have come to expect from him. The effort is comprised of clean, rich tonal texturing, complex melodies and thoughtful compositions in the flavor of eclectic progressive rock that Steve Morse helped to pioneer. The purely instrumental compositions consist of well-balanced dynamics, melodies, harmonies, and sparsely occurring faster sections. One of the aspects of Steve Morse's compositional style that strikes me in a good way, is that he has reached a level of maturity in his composition that he does not need to prove his technical capabilities with a lot of unnecessarily fast and overwhelming guitar technicianry. Morse instead focuses on striving for melodic invention and compositional vision, which are much more difficult objectives to tackle and make the music enjoyable to listen to. But, don't take me the wrong way, Steve Morse is still a guitar wizard with all the technical proficiency we have come to expect from him on Split Decision. However, there is more stress put on compositional content and stylistic diversity, which suits me just fine.
As far as standouts go on Split Decision, there are too many good instrumentals here to narrow the field. The diversity in style across this effort will surely lend different compositions as favorites to different listeners based on their personal preferences. However, the tracks that appealed to me most were "Busybodies" with its classical overtones, "Great Mountain Spirits" with its supernatural feel, "Moment's Comfort" with its rich, inventive, relaxing melodies, as well as all of the remaining tracks on the second half of the CD.
If you like virtuoso guitar work in the context of uninvasive compositional content, then Split Decision will find a good home in your collection. I am especially impressed with Steve Morse's compositional maturity on the latter half of Split Decision. These slower compositions have an epic feel of greatness to them that reach deep into the soul where Morse pulled them from. Their compositional content ensure that they will stand the test of time and outlive any near-sighted musical trends.
Steve Morse: Structural Damage
1995, Magna Carta
CyberHome: www.SteveMorse.com
Structural Damage joins Steve Morse once again with Dave LaRue and Van Romaine in Morse's 1995 release. The Steve Morse Band compiles some complex, guitar-centric compositions that are characterized by explorative melodies, chordal harmonization, and time signatures. Structural Damage consists of the signature Steve Morse sound that is a fusion of progressive melodies, driving rhythms, and speedy string slinging. Morse demonstrates more technical domination of the fretboard while venturing off the beaten path with progressive chordal arrangements and harmonies. Once again, Morse covers many different styles and genres in his compositions, as we have now come to expect from him.
The compositions that struck my fancy from Structural Damage were "Smokey Mtn. Drive" with its bluegrass roots, "Slice Of Time" with its Bach-ian classical overtones, and "Foriegn Exchange" with its rich-textured acoustic chordal harmonies.
Though Structural Damage is impressive in its progressive and explorative content, it seems to me that much of the material is technical in nature and may not be easily accessible to a wide listening audience. But, I am sure that to an educated, guitar-oriented audience, this music will satisfy the expectations that this audience has for Steve Morse.
| 1) Sacred Ground |
| 2) Good To Go |
| 3) Dreamland |
| 4) Barbary Coast |
| 5) Smokey Mt. Drive |
| 6) Slice Of Time |
| 7) Native Dance |
| 8) Just Out Of Reach |
| 9) Rally Cry |
| 10) Foreign Exchange |
| 11) Structural Damage |
1992, Magna Carta
CyberHome: www.SteveMorse.com
Steve Morse offers us an eclectic collection of guitar instrumentals that span a gambit of genres and run a gauntlet of technicianry on his 1992 release Coast To Coast. Morse's playing is nothing short of spectacular as he demonstrates his proficiency across the many styles that his arsenal encompasses. Morse demonstrates tonal mastery with the tones he couples to his playing that articulate the precision in his playing. Morse's virtuoso guitar work and the backup instrumentation is tactfully balanced resulting in a coherent format for Morse's impressive chops.
There are a number of tracks of interest on Coast To Coast. The album opens with the blazing and clean pattern lead work on "User Friendly". "Collateral Damage" follows with more speedy fretboard work that is balanced with some of Steve's trademark progressive melodies. "Runaway Train" is a sizzling, finger-picking extravaganza that demonstrates Morse's grasp on the Chet Atkins country-picking variety of instrumental guitar playing. This track has some impressive finger work that follows some attention-keeping changes that take many unexpected directions into unusual harmonization for this genre of music, but not so unusual for Morse. "Long Lost" has some epic-feeling melodies that the guitar work centers around, another good cut. Morse lets the tiger out of the cage on "The Oz" that features a catchy theme and another blistering, clean lead that will dishearten the most eager wanna-be guitar slingers. Coast To Coast closes with a classically influenced composition "Flat Baroque" that demonstrates Morse's depth in composition with his ability to fuse different genres and breadth that coherently spans multiple genres simultaneously.
In summary, there is good reason that Steve Morse gets the constant critical acclaim that he does. Coast To Coast is yet another solid footstep in the Steve Morse journey that has established his legacy. No progressive collection would be complete without it.
| 1) User Friendly |
| 2) Collateral Damage |
| 3) Get It In Writing |
| 4) Morning Rush Hour |
| 5) Runaway Train |
| 6) Long Lost |
| 7) The Z |
| 8) Over Easy |
| 9) Cabin Fever |
| 10) Flat Baroque |
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