Ironcladd's Full Review: Stand Up by Steve Morse Band
Stand Up: Steve Morse Bows to Commercialism and Fails.
By
James Zaworski
Steve Morse is one of my favorite guitarists, and in my eyes, he can do very little wrong.
That statement is basically true and sound, in terms of his guitar playing. However, his second solo CD, Stand Up, shows the kind of pressure that the record labels exert on the musicians of talent. Really, they do not care for true talent, and are just interested in sales.
It is a sad but true tale in the music industry: they don’t care for talent, just money. So, in the case of individuals such as Steve Morse, they have to bow to the pressure or perish in the industry. Up until this time, Steve Morse had just embarked on a solo career, after a nice run with the Dixie Dregs. He had just released his first solo CD, and things were looking up, seemingly.
However, soon after this, he was forced to divert his career from musician to commercial airline pilot! So, to support himself and his family, he had to take a completely alternative path.
Stand Up, with its various guest musicians, was an attempt to make Steve Morse into a commercial act. Peter Frampton, Albert Lee, Alex Ligertwood and others could not contribute to sales of this CD. Actually, the guest musicians detract and diminish the music that is there. I hate to give a bad review to a Steve Morse CD, but here it is.
Book of Dreams.
The only good thing about this song is Steve Morse’s guitar playing. The singer is not good, the feel is all wrong, and the song is completely out of place. The lyrics are dish watery, and they don’t work at all. The counterpoint and riffs that Steve plays here is the only reason to listen to this song. To quote from the song lyrics: “It’s a prison I can never leave!”.
English Rancher.
Really the only reason to get this CD is to listen to the instrumental tracks, such as English Rancher. Here, the trio of Steve Morse, Jerry Peek and Rod Morgenstein come to the fore. Their tight playing is evident from the start, and one can hear a joy and solidarity of their playing, most likely after the dreadful singing songs they had to sit through on this CD. The music is inspired here, with Steve’s Celtic electric sound, his fat Fender playing, and the wonderful bass guitar playing of Peek, and outstanding (as usual) percussion.
Rockin’ Guitars.
This is really a dreadful tune. Peter Frampton has a guest appearance here, and he really never improved from his debut in the 1970s. The song is totally lame, and even Steve cannot save it with his inspired playing. The singing is atrocious too. Boo, Peter Frampton.
Distant Star.
This song completely is out of place on a Steve Morse CD. To hear this pop song wannabe is really painful. Steve has a nice solo in the middle, but that’s all that is good here.
Stand Up.
Alex Ligertwood makes his appearance on Stand Up, the title track of the CD. Of all the singing tracks on this CD, this is the best one. That isn’t saying much, though. It is not a half bad song, actually. Good singing, reasonably good harmony, the guitars work and this has some reasonably good feeling. Steve even plays a good solo later in the song. Alex had done some good work for Santana, and someone thought that he would work well with Steve. I guess this was the only good call for a vocalist here.
Unity Gain.
Another instrumental track is worthy of mention here. Thank goodness there is more than one instrumental track on this CD! This one is slow tempo, and is typical Steve Morse. Nice counterpoint, good overdubs, great feeling. It has a reflective and sad feel to it. But, alas, it is not enough to save this CD from the two stars I am giving it.
All in all, Stand Up fails miserably. I think that Steve himself does not feel that this was a good CD, but something that he had to do to get by. We all do things like this in our lives. We are human, and all have low points. This is Steve’s lowest point, but it is due to industry pressure, not by his lack of talent, ability or creativity. Damn the producers, and full speed ahead to High Tension Wires!!!!!!
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