The Steve Morse Band Live in Baden-Baden Germany,
March 1990 + Dixie Dregs – Live At Montreux 1978 (Eagle Eye Media)
Picture:
C+/C- Sound: C+/B- Extras: C Concerts: B-
Steve
Morse is one of the best and most beloved guitarists around. His grasp of music and Rock in particular
have inspired more than a few people to try mastering an instrument that is
second-nature to his talents and he just gets better all the time. Now, Eagle Eye Media is issuing two very good
concerts of his from the past at the same time on DVD: The
Steve Morse Band Live in Baden-Baden Germany, March 1990 and Dixie Dregs – Live At Montreux 1978.
Often
demonstrating a Country Rock edge or Jazz-Rock skill, Morse is even more
diverse and in both cases, you can see his energy, enthusiasm and talent in
full swing. Each concert is almost an
hour long. Tracks on the Morse disc include:
1. The Introduction
2. General Lee
3. Country Colors
4. Sleaze Factor
5. Highland Wedding
6. Tumeni Notes
7. Point Counterpoint
8. Night Meets Light
9. Ice Cakes
10. Rock 'N' Roll Park
11. Pride Of The Farm
12. Cruise Missile
Tracks on
the Dregs disc include:
1. Freefall
2. Leprechaun Promenade
3. Country House Shuffle
4. Patchwork
5. Attila The Hun
6. Wabash
7. Punk Sandwich
8. Wages Of Weirdness
9. Take It Off The Top
10. Catherine
11. Dixie
You get
differences in the performances, but both are the kind of concerts that could
only come out of real Rock credentials and that is why they are both worth
seeing. They seem to be among Morse’s first
DVDs. If these go over as we expect they
will, expect more if any are in the vaults.
Both have their strengths and weaknesses as we discovered in playback.
The 1.33
X 1 image on both concerts have their limits, but why the Dregs disc looks so bad and weak is unfortunate. It is soft, grainy, a tad noisy and you need
a darkened room to see all the detail, making it the poorest of so many
otherwise impressive Eagle Montreux DVDs.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on both are fine for their age, with the Dregs disc offering better sound and
even some surrounds despite being 12 years older than the other disc. Though not audiophile quality, Eagle would
have done DTS if they could have, so we know this is as good as they are going
to sound.
Extras in
the Morse disc include a promo Music
Video for Cruise Missile and four
more concert performances (Refried Funky
Chicken, Northern Lights, Pride Of The Farm, Rock ‘N’ Roll Park) from 1984 and the Dregs disc has Punk Sandwich
from the Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert
show and Crank It Up and Bloodsucking Leeches from American
bandstand, with additional interview footage by host Dick Clark of the band. Darren Tucci liner notes are included for
both volumes with different text inside the DVD case.
Needless
to say despite some flaws, you’ll get a crash course on Morse’s career with
either DVD, both very enjoyable.
- Nicholas Sheffo