DREGS OF THE EARTH

If you were a Dixie Dregs fan in nineteen eighty, by this time you knew just what to expect from a new album of theirs. Beautiful, majestic ballads, southern flavored rockers, a blazing bluegrass romp, at least on smokin' prog tune, and maybe a little classical thrown in. This one does not disappoint. For their first major label release (they had just switched to Arista records after starting out on Capricorn) the Dregs created what may have been their finest album yet.

The absolute highlight here is "I'm Freaking Out", which starts with a jazzy jam, and turns into a symphonic prog tour de force. It's easily up there with the best the Dregs have ever recorded.

The rest of the album is your usual extremely listenable and inventive Dregs fare. The bluegrass selection, "Pride O' The Farm" is good, but slightly slower than their usual bluegrass fare. They fixed that in concerts, where they sped the song up to jaw dropping speeds.

This is a definite must for any Dregs fan.