Any Steve Morse / Dixie Dregs / SMB / Flying Colors fans here?

[mgeoffriau]

Reading through some of these threads and seeing a fair number of instrumental / fusion / progressive rock fans here. My favorite is Steve Morse. Not a big Deep Purple fan, but almost anything else of his I love -- Dregs, SMB, solo, or the Flying Colors album from last year.

Anyone else?

 

[mgeoffriau]

I guess not!

 

[KEW]

I am a fan of Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs!
Unfortunately my favorite Dregs album was the very first. Once he signed with a real label, they became overproduced, IMHO. Still great music, but the record they made as a university project in Fla. beat all of the later ones for me!

 

[mgeoffriau]

You know, I don't think I've ever listened to The Great Spectacular. I own nearly every other Dregs album and since it's mostly the same songs, I never sought it out once it was re-released. Is it really that much better? In what way are the later albums overproduced?

I do have a thing for those oddball Morse albums -- the side projects or in-betweens like The Introduction or High Tension Wires.

 

[KEW]

Do you have a link to the re-release? My old LP is no longer in the best of shape and I would love to get a CD!
By over produced, the first album was simply bass, drums, guitar, violin, and keyboards with little embellishment and hardly any notes being sustained for very long in this quick & tight music.

Here is Holiday from the first album:

Dixie Dregs - 02. Holiday (1975) - YouTube

It is also possible that my personal experience has more to do with this than actual quality of the production. I grew up in Aiken SC and Steve Morse grew up in Augusta Ga (20 minutes away). Even though their band was a project for college (University of Miami), they would routinely play concerts at Augusta College and a hole-in-the-wall joint called "The Warehouse" in Aiken. I saw them many times and remember when they showed up at a concert selling their first album. They managed great live SQ, maintaining the crisp tight sound necessary to make their music work. In any case, this is the sound I knew them for and I may be biased towards it (as familiar and good times), for it was certainly amazing to have such tremendous talent locally available at such small venues!

The sound is comparatively empty, but each note is more distinct.
What do you think?

 

[mgeoffriau]

Do you have a link to the re-release? My old LP is no longer in the best of shape and I would love to get a CD!

I wish I could! I can only find references to a re-release. I vaguely recall hearing news at the time that it would be available, but I don't ever remember actually seeing it for sale. Amazon doesn't list it. It does exist, though. Rarer than the proverbial hen's tooth, I'm guessing.

By over produced, the first album was simply bass, drums, guitar, violin, and keyboards with little embellishment and hardly any notes being sustained for very long in this quick & tight music.

Here is Holiday from the first album:

Dixie Dregs - 02. Holiday (1975) - YouTube

It is also possible that my personal experience has more to do with this than actual quality of the production. I grew up in Aiken SC and Steve Morse grew up in Augusta Ga (20 minutes away). Even though their band was a project for college (University of Miami), they would routinely play concerts at Augusta College and a hole-in-the-wall joint called "The Warehouse" in Aiken. I saw them many times and remember when they showed up at a concert selling their first album. They managed great live SQ, maintaining the crisp tight sound necessary to make their music work. In any case, this is the sound I knew them for and I may be biased towards it (as familiar and good times), for it was certainly amazing to have such tremendous talent locally available at such small venues!

The sound is comparatively empty, but each note is more distinct.
What do you think?

Interesting. That must have been quite the experience -- the Dregs really were unique. The groups they tend to be mentioned with (King Crimson, Mahavishnu, etc.) are only similar in concept...not really similar in the music style itself.

I was fortunate to see the Dregs play the House of Blues in New Orleans back in 2001 or 2002 -- they did a nice mix of older and newer Dregs material. I'm not a big fan of Jerry Goodman (I find his tone a bit unpleasant and distracting) but it was perfect when they did a lengthy Mahavishnu cover in the middle of the set.

 

[KEW]

I'm not a big fan of Jerry Goodman (I find his tone a bit unpleasant and distracting).

Yeah, he is the reason I don't enjoy Mahavishnu Orchestra. I have mixed experiences with violin and it is all about tone!

Sloan, the original violinist for the Dregs is a Dr. in Augusta. My brother helps him with IT problems from time to time.
He absolutely loved Steve Morse's music.