SPLIT DECISION

Despite the fact that I love Steve Morse's music, both his compositions and guitar playing, this album just misses the mark with me. I've listened to it over and over and it just doesn't do much for me. Sure there are a few great tunes. Busybodies and Mechanical Frenzy are excellent, complex works. But the rest just doesn't quite seem to be up to the band's usual standards.

The first part of the album, according to the liner notes, is "heavier", band oriented songs. And it's nice. The two songs mentioned above are great works of prog fusion, the former mixing in some baroque classical as well. But the rest of the "heavy" songs are just okay.

The last five songs are more mellow. And again, Morse can make the worst material sound good. But that's just it. These songs are only good. Morse music is usually great.

So while this is not a bad album, I wouldn't call it essential. It's one of the last Morse albums I'd recommend.