If you are a fan of rock, the name Steve Morse should be well known. Playing for years with Dixie Dregs as well as the likes of prog rock act Kansas, he has won best guitarist in Guitar Player magazine five times in a row, a pretty heady achievement. Despite that, he may well be best known to metal fans as being guitarist for Deep Purple for the last 15 years, playing on a host of live and studio albums, and probably putting in more hours live on stage with them then his predecessor and band founder Richie Blackmore. All pretty impressive credentials to bring to the latest offering, and 12th album from his self named band.
An album of instrumental guitar rock, ‘Out Standing In Their Field’ allows Steve Morse, and his fellow instrumentalists, bassist Dave Larue and drummer Van Romaine, to indulge themselves in long meandering tracks where they fuse rock, country, jazz, prog, and even classical elements, unrestrained by the necessity to produce a radio friendly three minute single.
Opener, ‘Name Dropping’ starts with a nice heavy rock riff, before wandering into a proggy plucked section, and long sustain driven solo, all over a solid rhythm provided by bass and drums with a metronome like precision. ‘Here And Now And Then’, with its gentle, lilting jazzy work could have easily escaped from Frank Zappa’s instrumental catalogue, whilst ‘John Deere Letter’ is loaded with a country steel guitar vibe.
It may be a cliché, but this album does play host to an eclectic mix of styles; what it also plays host to is three top instrumentalists at the top of their game. Bonus final track, an extended live version of ‘Rising Power’ shows that this power trio is able to produce the goods live too, the sound having an incredible depth for just three instruments playing.
This album may not fall into the realms of metal, and may be a somewhat specialized offering, harking in many ways back to the glory days of The Old Grey Whistle Test, but if you have ever been tempted to just indulge yourself by sitting back and listening to a guitar virtuoso at work, get this and treat yourself.
http://www.stevemorse.com
http://www.ear-music.net
