STEVE MORSE: MAJOR IMPACTS

I have to say I love the guitar play of this guy, whether it's with DIXIE DREGS, DEEP PURPLE or preferably with his STEVE MORSE BAND. There isn't almost any album I would call really bad. It's certainly not very intricate music, but more than the one in his other bands, very nice to listen, sometimes relaxing without ever sounding boring at any moment.

This album is in fact some kind of tribute to those musicians he had been mainly inspired by, the Magna Carta label had asked him for. Each song is reflecting the playing style of an individual guitarist. Sometimes it's quite obvious and easy to recognize to whom the song is dedicated to, but of course since STEVE MORSE is putting as well his very own touch to each song it's often quite a nice guessing game to find out during the first listen without reading the titles. As a few examples Derailleur gears is a tribute to ERIC CLAPTON during CREAM era, The white light is dedicated to John McLaughlin and Prognosis is reminiscent of YES and KANSAS. But I don't like to tell too much, just try to find out on your own. STEVE MORSE had many influences in his playing like JIMI HENDRIX, ERIC JOHNSON, ALEX LIFESON, ROGER MCGUINN, DAVID CROSBY, GEORGE HARRISON, LESLIE WEST, KEITH RICHARDS, JIMMY PAGE, RITCHIE BLACKMORE and so on.

Major Impact is a brilliant musical voyage through the history of rock and should certainly appeal not only to fans of STEVE MORSE. It's not necessarily an essential album in PROG, but a very good and interesting one in general.