Post Description

The name Dixie Dregs was misleading--it always made people assume the band would sound like the Charlie Daniels Band or Molly Hatchett. So for "Unsung Heroes" the name was changed to "The Dregs". The music remained the same, instrumental rock played by five virtuoso musicians in a dizzying array of styles, with music and arrangements as intricate yet insanely catchy as anything either progressive rock or fusion has ever produced. Solos are kept short, and at some point during an album you're bound to hear every possible combination of two instruments play in unison (listen for the violin and bass on "Attila the Hun"). 
This is the Dregs' best studio album, with a fantastic set of compositions by Steve Morse, the world's greatest guitarist. By now, the formula for a Dregs album was pretty well established: a couple of rockers ("Cruise Control" and "Rock & Roll Park"), a couple of progressive rock tracks ("Divided We Stand" and "Attila the Hun"), a ballad ("Day 444"), and some bluegrass ("I'll Just Pick"), funk ("Kat Food"), and baroque ("Go for Baroque"). "Divided We Stand", "Kat Food", "I'll Just Pick", and "Go for Baroque" are the best songs the Dregs have done in each of their respective genres. In fact, "Divided We Stand" is perhaps the Dregs' best track ever, and unlike anything else you've ever heard. "Cruise Control", which had previously appeared on the "Freefall" album, is reborn in a stripped-down, harder rocking version. "Rock & Roll Park" gives keyboardist T Lavitz a chance to show that he can also play soprano sax. The climax of "I'll Just Pick" has Morse repeating an 8-bar melody, as one by one, bassist Andy West, Lavitz, and violinist Allen Sloan join in with counterpoint melodies. This was Sloan's last album before leaving to become an anesthesiologist, and his simple yet gorgeous solo on "Day 444" is the highlight of that song.

Poster: Slartiiwoo

Songs / Tracks Listing 
1. Cruise Control (3:36)
2. Divided We Stand (4:58)
3. I'll Just Pick (3:58)
4. Day 444 (7:05)
5. Rock & Roll Park (4:36)
6. Attila The Hun (4:01)
7. Kat Food (5:00)
8. Go For Baroque (3:58)

Total Time: 37:22
This album received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

The DREGS:
- Steve Morse / acoustic and electric guitars
- Andy West / fretted and fretless bass
- Allen Sloan / electric and acoustic 5 string violin
- Rod Morgenstein / drums and percussion
- T Lavitz / acoustic and electric piano, organ, synthesizer, clavinet, saxophone