As Ritchie Blackmore’s successor in Deep Purple, Steve Morse doesn’t always get the respect he deserves. But no less a guitarist than Steve Howe still remembers precisely where he was when he first heard Morse. It was as part of the Dixie Dregs’ well-respected, though light-selling 1978 project What If.
“I went bananas,” Steve Howe tells Rhino. “I was, like … ‘Who is this guy? This is a hit record, right?’ And they said, ‘No.’ And I was, like, ‘This isn’t a hit record? This isn’t in the American charts?’ ‘No!’ I said, ‘I’ve got to get through to them. This is the most incredible record!'”
The two later worked together on “Up in the Air,” from the Dregs’ 1982 album Industry Standard. Steve Morse then joined Deep Purple in 1994, but continues with occasional modern-day reunions with the Dregs, a band he co-founded in 1970. What If made him at least one life-long fan in Steve Howe, guitarist with Yes and former co-founding member of Asia.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Steve Morse joined us to discuss Deep Purple’s modern-era gem ‘Now What?!’ and how he worked to honor their legacy while staying true to his own sound.]
“It’s astounding instrumental music,” Howe says of the Steve Morse’s work on What If. “The breadth of the music! Like me, he was doing other styles of music: quasi-classical, quasi-country. … Steve’s a master guitar player. And I feed off the knowledge I got off these other guys who are shit-hot.”
This admiration, by the way, is mutual: “Steve was the first guitarist who showed me that it was OK to play classical guitar and electric guitar,” Morse later enthused, “and that variety of sound was an important thing.”
Steve Morse’s most recent studio project was Deep Purple’s well-received comeback Now What?! He’s also a member of the all-star group Flying Colors. Steve Howe, meanwhile, issued a two-disc anthology recently that focused on his underrated solo career. He was also a key creative force behind Yes’ most recent album, Heaven and Earth.
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It might have been of interest to readers who otherwise don’t know that Steve Howe recorded a duet with Steve Morse on the 1982 Dixie Dregs’ album “Industry Standard.” (The album known for “Bloodsucking Leeches,” which may ring some bells among the cognoscenti.) My recollection from the liner notes is that Morse approached Howe about doing it, Howe was up for it but couldn’t travel to the studio, so Morse recorded his part, sent the tapes to Howe, and basically said, “OK, just add something.”
I think Howe was working on the first Asia album in England, while the Dregs were in Atlanta (with Eddie Offord producing, ironically enough).