The Great Spectacular
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The Great Spectacular
''The Great Spectacular'' is a self-produced demo album by the Dixie Dregs, recorded in 1975 on campus at University of Miami and released in 1976 only on limited vinyl. By the time the band had risen in popularity in the late 1970s, the record had been out of print, becoming a highly sought-after collector's item, and was re-released for the CD format in 1997. Overview Eight of the songs from this album were re-recorded for the Dixie Dregs' future releases. The first three tracks ("Refried Funky Chicken", "Holiday" and "Wages of Weirdness") were re-recorded on their debut album ''Free Fall'', while "Ice Cakes" and "What If" were re-recorded for ''What If'', "Country House Shuffle" and "Leprechaun Promenade" for ''Night of the Living Dregs'', and "The Great Spectacular" for ''Dregs of the Earth''. "T.O. Witcher" was featured during Morse's time with Kansas on the album ''In the Spirit of Things''. "Kathreen" hasn't appeared elsewhere. On the making of ''The Great Spectacular'', ...
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Dixie Dregs
The Dixie Dregs is an American rock band from Augusta, Georgia. Formed in 1970, the band's performance consists entirely of instrumentals that fuse elements of diverse genres such as rock, classical music, country, jazz and bluegrass into an eclectic sound that is difficult to categorize. Recognized for their virtuoso playing, the Dixie Dregs were identified with the southern rock, progressive rock and jazz fusion scenes of the 1970s. In 1975, the band recorded their demo album ''The Great Spectacular'' and self-released it in the following year in a limited pressing. The demo soon garnered attention from record labels, including Capricorn Records, with whom the Dixie Dregs would sign in 1976, and three albums were released for the label: ''Free Fall'' (1977), ''What If'' (1978) and ''Night of the Living Dregs'' (1979); the latter album, which was split between studio and live recordings, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, and each of the b ...
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Dregs Of The Earth
''Dregs of the Earth'' is the fourth studio album by Dixie Dregs, released in 1980. This album was the band's first release on Arista Records, their last one before changing its name to The Dregs, and contains a re-recording of one of their earlier songs ("The Great Spectacular"), which appeared on their 1976 demo ''The Great Spectacular''. Critical reception At the time of release the writers of ''Billboard'' placed review on this album in section "Recommended LP's". As per them the musical style of the band is hard to categorize "but the musicianship is often superb". The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Track listing All tracks are written by Steve Morse. #"Road Expense" – 3:24 #"Pride o' the Farm" – 3:40 #"Twiggs Approved" – 4:29 #"Hereafter" – 6:21 #"The Great Spectacular" – 3:20 #"Broad Street Strut" – 3:54 #"I'm Freaking Out" – 9:06 #"Old World" – 2:00 Personnel Dixie Dregs: *Steve Morse - acoustic and electric g ...
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Dixie Dregs Albums
Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it covers, most definitions include the U.S. states below the Mason–Dixon line that seceded and comprised the Confederate States of America, almost always including the Deep South. The term became popularized throughout the United States by songs that nostalgically referred to the American South. Region Geographically, ''Dixie'' usually means the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States of America in late 1860 and early 1861 to form the Confederate States of America. They are listed below in order of secession: #South Carolina #Mississippi #Florida #Alabama #Georgia #Louisiana #Texas #Virginia #Arkansas #North Carolina #Tennessee Although Maryland is rarely considered part of Dixie today, it is below the Mason–Dixon lin ...
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1976 Debut Albums
Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Philadelphia Flyers–Red Army game results in a 4–1 victory for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers over HC CSKA Moscow of the Soviet Union. * January 16 – The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction (the West German extreme-left militant Baader–Meinhof Group) begins in Stuttgart. * January 18 ** Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War. ** The Scottish Labour Party is formed as a breakaway from the UK-wide party. ** Super Bowl X in American football: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 21–17, in Miami. * January 21 – First commercial Concorde flight, from London to Bahrain. * January 27 ** The United States ...
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Andy West
Andy West (born February 6, 1953) is an American bass guitarist and composer who is an original founding member of the Dixie Dregs along with Steve Morse. Since the breakup of the original band in 1983, West has been on albums with Mike Keneally, Henry Kaiser, Paul Barrere, Vinnie Moore, and many others. His frequent style of playing bass is with a guitar pick, although he has performed in fingerstyle on several occasions. Since 1985, West has simultaneously pursued a career in the software industry while continuing to release albums sporadically. He currently works as a vice president for Analytics and Adaptive Learning at Pearson Education. Discography With Dixie Dregs *1976 ''The Great Spectacular'' (Formally released in 1997) *1977 ''Free Fall'' - Capricorn Records *1978 ''What If - Capricorn Records *1979 ''Night of the Living Dregs'' - Capricorn Records *1980 ''Dregs of the Earth'' - Arista Records *1981 ''Unsung Heroes'' - Arista Records *1982 ''Industry Standard'' - Aris ...
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Rod Morgenstein
Rod Morgenstein (born April 19, 1953) is an American drummer and music educator. He is best known for his work with the rock bands Winger and Dixie Dregs. He also played with Fiona, Platypus, the Steve Morse Band, and Jelly Jam. He has also done session work with Jordan Rudess including his ventures with the Rudess/Morgenstein Project. He also toured with Jazz Is Dead. He has also been awarded ''Modern Drummer''s "Best Progressive Rock Drummer" five years (1986-'90), "Best All-Around Drummer" (1999) and was inducted into magazine's Honor Roll. He worked for twenty years as a professor, teaching percussion at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Morgenstein continues to tour with the band Winger. He has also been a columnist for ''Modern Drummer'' magazine. Morgenstein is known for his versatility of playing many styles of music. Equipment Morgenstein currently uses Premier drums, Evans Drumheads, Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks, and LP Percussion. H ...
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Steve Morse
Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of the group Kansas in the mid-1980s. Most recently, Morse became a member of the supergroup Flying Colors. Biography Early life Steve Morse was born in Hamilton, Ohio. His family soon moved to Tennessee and then to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where Morse spent his childhood. Although familiar with piano and clarinet, Morse ultimately became a guitarist. Morse worked briefly with his older brother Dave in a band called the Plague until the family moved to Augusta, Georgia. In the late 1960s, he played in a band called Three with his older brother and a junior high schoolmate, William Gerald (Jerry) Wooten, who played keyboards. The three performed at a local psychedelic youth club, the Glass Onion, and at Legion Halls and church functions. ...
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In The Spirit Of Things
''In the Spirit of Things'' is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Kansas, released in 1988 (see 1988 in music). It is a very loosely organized concept album, telling the story of a flood hitting the real Kansas city of Neosho Falls in 1951. It is the first Kansas album since 1975's ''Masque'' to lack a hit single. History According to the author Dan Fitzgerald, Rich Williams was inspired to create this album after having read the book ''Ghost Towns of Kansas, Volume II'' (1979), specifically the chapter on Neosho Falls. The album is Kansas's last studio effort for a major label. It didn't receive much promotion, as MCA Records dropped a slew of "older" artists shortly after its release and famously switched its attention to current younger acts such as Tiffany. Kansas got caught in that decision and the album was a commercial failure. The label did produce several promotional materials for the record, including a glossy video for "Stand Beside Me". The song was ...
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Night Of The Living Dregs
''Night of the Living Dregs'' is the third album by Dixie Dregs, released in 1979. The first half of the album was recorded in the studio, and the second half at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1978. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. "Country House Shuffle" and "Leprechaun Promenade" were previously released on the band's 1976 demo record ''The Great Spectacular''. Track listing # "Punk Sandwich" – 3:18 # "Country House Shuffle" – 4:13 # "The Riff Raff" – 3:17 # "Long Slow Distance" – 6:45 # "Night of the Living Dregs" – 4:21 # "The Bash" – 4:28 # "Leprechaun Promenade" – 3:46 # "Patchwork" – 4:53 *All tracks composed by Steve Morse except "The Bash", by Morse/Morgenstein/Parrish/Sloan/West. Personnel *Steve Morse – guitars *Andy West – bass *Allen Sloan – strings *Mark Parrish – keyboards *Rod Morgenstein – percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded b ...
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University Of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, including the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine in Miami's Health District, the law school on the main campus, and the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science on Virginia Key with research facilities in southern Miami-Dade County. The University of Miami offers 138 undergraduate, 140 master's, and 67 doctoral degree programs. Since its founding in 1925, the university has attracted students from all 50 states and 173 foreign countries. With 16,954 faculty and staff as of 2021, the University of Miami is the second largest employer in Miami-Dade County. The university's main campus in Coral Gables spans , has over of buildings, and is located south of Downtown Miami, the heart of the nation's ninth largest and world's 65th ...
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What If (Dixie Dregs Album)
''What If'' is the second studio album by the Dixie Dregs, released in 1978. Track listing # "Take It Off the Top" (Steve Morse) – 4:07 # "Odyssey" (Morse) – 7:35 # "What If" (Morse) – 5:01 # "Travel Tunes" (Andy West) – 4:34 # "Ice Cakes" (Morse) – 4:39 # "Little Kids" (Morse) – 2:03 # "Gina Lola Breakdown" (Morse, Twiggs Lyndon) – 4:00 # "Night Meets Light" (Morse) – 7:47 Personnel * Steve Morse – guitar, banjo * Mark Parrish – keyboards * Allen Sloan – violin, viola * Andy West – bass guitar * Rod Morgenstein – drums, vocals Production Producer - Ken Scott * Assistant engineers – Brian Leshon, Chris Gregg, Gary Coppola * Mastered By – SR/2* * Recorded At – Chateau Recorders Production coordinator - Steven Brooks Notes * "What If" and "Ice Cakes" are re-recordings from the band's 1976 demo record ''The Great Spectacular''. * The lead track "Take It Off the Top" was used as the theme song for the ''Friday Rock Show'' for most of the show' ...
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The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. , the print circulation was 75,052. According to the organization's website, "the Monitor's global approach is reflected in how Mary Baker Eddy described its object as 'To injure no man, but to bless all mankind.' The aim is to embrace the human family, shedding light with the conviction that understanding the world's problems and possibilities moves us towards solutions." ''The Christian Science Monitor'' has won seven Pulitzer Prizes and more than a dozen Overseas Press Club awards. Reporting Despite its name, the ''Monitor'' is not a religious-themed paper, and does not promote the doctrine of its patron, the Church of Christ, Scientist. However, at its founder Edd ...
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