StressFest (Steve Morse Band, 1996)

In spite of his impressive work with Kansas (in the 1980's) and Deep Purple (from the 1990's onward), not to mention his own bands, the Dixie Dregs and eponymous band, Steve Morse remains a largely unknown guitarist outside the community of musicians. Musically active since the 1970's, Morse generally stuck to instrumental rock, a genre that was of niche interest at best since the mid-1960's. Even attempts to add vocals from hired guns like Alex Ligertwood and Patrick Simmons did not propel him into the mainstream. He probably had his best first crack at something larger when he joined the reborn Kansas in 1986 for two albums: Power and In the Spirit of Things. But even that career move wasn't going to be a definitive breakthrough as that Kansas bore little resemblance to its Kerry Livgren-era counterpart. It was no surprise that Morse returned to instrumental work with a tighter trio-configured version of the Steve Morse Band, which advances the story to around 1994.

At the end of 1993, the seemingly unrelated legendary British hard rock band Deep Purple was dealt what for most bands should have been a death blow. The second departure of Ritchie Blackmore was designed to kill off the band once and for all. One need not look any further back for proof than the first time he quit, with the band folding less than a year later. American replacement Tommy Bolin, in spite of his impressive chops on the guitar, was never accepted by the fans back then. It seemed like history would repeat itself when the band initially drafted Joe Satriani for a few shows, followed by less contract-bound Steve Morse on a more permanent basis. Neither choice was exactly what you would call inside ball and I'm pretty sure nobody in Purple had ever played with Morse prior to meeting.

Thankfully, the Morse decision paid off handsomely and he has been with the band for over 20 years, unseating Blackmore as the longest-serving guitarist of the band. However, Morse (and indeed most member of latter-era Deep Purple) maintained his side projects, including the Steve Morse Band in its regular formation of Dave LaRue on bass and Van Romaine on drums. StressFest, the first album released by SMB during Morse's Purple tenure, would invariably introduce his solo work to a whole new audience. Most of the attention that year was on his Purple debut, Purpendicular, so I'm guessing the album was probably done on the fly, following up a series of albums going back to 1991's Southern Steel. It pretty much follows the same formula as these albums, a trio approach where each instrument holds down around 33.3% of the sound. Well, maybe more like 45-30-30 in Morse's favor, and yes I'm doing the math correctly because these guys always give at least 105% effort. While it's great that the SMB has the confidence to keep doing what they always have, it is a little weird that in spite of over a year together, there is very little here that sounds even remotely like Deep Purple. I should amend this somewhat; they covered "Speed King", which was sadly relegated to Japanese bonus track status and didn't even make it into the later pair of Major Impacts cover albums.

Overall, like its three predecessors, StressFest is a listener's album and a musician's album. Although it chugs and rocks along in many places, one can't really appreciate it as background music. Many of the songs are subtle variations along a theme, so if you aren't paying close attention you can be forgiven for thinking the songs sound a lot alike. Around 10 years ago, I saw Steve Morse in concert, with the Dixie Dregs opening. Yes, Steve Morse opened for himself. How often do you see that happen? Anyway, near the end of the set, SMB busted through the title track and the slower and deeper "Eyes of a Child". Both were rendered excellently and received very well by the Coach House audience in San Juan Capistrano, which leads me to believe that this album still holds a very important place in the hearts of both Morse and his fans.