NIGHT OF THE LIVING DREGS

Certainly not on par with What If, Night of the Living Dregs does however, contain more great tracks from this undoubtedly fun band. It's short, and the half live idea is a bit of a cop out, but most of the music is good enough to justify this as a solid, but far from essential, album.

The studio tracks. If you like previous Dregs, you'll like these, but the irony is that if you've got some older Dregs, these may--I repeat may--seem a bit redundant. Punk Sandwich is the Dregs in straighforward rocking mode, and of course they do this well, but not spectacularly so. Country House Shuffle is a highlight, with Rod providing some percussion craziness, followed by a nice country rocker. This is the Dregs at their best. Long Slow Distance is also quite nice, although perhaps shares some overlap with What If's Night Meets Light.

The live tracks. There's no doubt this band would be able to shine the brightest in stage. Talented, flexible, fun-loving, and clearly musical showmen, the Dregs' audience is clearly wider than progressive rockers or fusion-heads. The highlight is The Bash. It's a fairly generic country groove and progression, but at around 1 minute in, Morse gets his turn and just tears things up. Good grief, Steve Morse is fast! Just in case we needed a reminder...

Fun, solid, and a fair representation of the band's abilities. Not their best, but a good supplement to any Dregs collection.