You all know Steve Morse, at least his history with the Dixie Dregs.  He is also the guitarist-in-residence with Deep Purple.  I am not going into Mr. Morse’s entire history, there are more knowledgeable and better experts online to do that.  What I will tell you about is Ms. Spencer, as you may not have heard about her, you should!

In the liner notes to this CD, Mr. Morse discusses his love for divergent music other than the styles he is versed in.  Ms. Spencer came to his attention via an intermediary, and upon hearing demos of her work, he found himself in an unusual position (for him) of wanting to collaborate with a lyricist/vocalist.

Spencer being that lyrisct/vocalist.

Ms. Spencer was coached by the same instructor who taught child prodigy Charlotte Church.  She became immediately interested in music at an early age, and pursued it on this disc as purely as Mr. Morse would let her.  Mr. Morse’s approach to his instrument is different as well as he relies mostly on a nylon-string acoustic electric thin line guitar.  No effects, tremolo arms, just straight on playing.

Let’s take a look at where this collaboration…

The disc starts off with “Far Gone Now”, a reasonably sedate opening track with Spencer’s vocal kicking in right away.  Morse accompanies the vocal melody with the electric acoustic, with Spencer quickly displaying her husky falsetto.

They double her vocals on the bridges which makes them huge in the mix.  She could be describing Armageddon or telling you the date and time you will die, and the delivery will still soothe you.  Having heard Morse’s work with Dixie Dregs, I can say the solo on “Far Gone Now’ is restrained for his talent level.

While the production is pristine, the tempo and brushed drums don’t provide the strength behind Morse’s electric outro solo.

“Everything To Live For” reflects their southern roots and could be featured on any country/rock hybrid format radio station.  A more intelligent composition than most country rock songs of the today, Spencer isn’t breaking vehicle headlights, lamenting over Jack Daniels, etc.  It actually develops into a sprightly arrangement in time for Morse’s country-fried solo.  They wall up Spencer’s vocals right before a breakdown.

Don’t know if Phil Spector was up the river when they recorded this…

The overall message in the multi-tracked vocals is a positive one as the title would suggest.  My biggest complaint here would be the splash-cymbal ending.  You want more from such a grandiose wall of vocals than just an abrupt cymbal ending.

At least I do.

Quarter-note harmony guitar notes kick off (and I must say I love the title on this one) “Feelings Are Overrated”.  The percussion gives the impression of a ticking clock while Spencer contemplates leaving a dozing lover.

She greets the second verse stanza with full tonality. After the chorus, the clock ticks again, but this time the bass keep a counter rhythm/melody.  For a woman of her tender years, Spencer’s lyrics are deep regarding romantic situations, emotions, involvements, entanglements, etc.

Spencer’s falsetto permeates a break before the fade.  Beautiful!

Morse’s arpeggiated acoustic/electric starts off the brief “What Made You Think”.  But this time, she assumes the role of the abandoned as opposed to being the abandoner.  They use a reverse gate with flange on her layered vocals to introduce an arrangement change before the chorus.  A repetition of the last line ends the tune with a crescendo.

Delayed and harmony vocals with snap and pop instruments (sorry, no crackle in this production) brings us to “Here Today”.  From the opening line you can guess this is another love forlorn song.

So far Morse’s motus operandi has been chordal accompaniment of the vocal melody and arpeggiations over top.  A difference from the other songs is lots of bongo and high-pitched percussion permeate a strong vocal performance by Spencer.

More percussion rejoins the third verse.  They toss in some faster arpeggiations, as the next chorus comes in.  A minor lead builds to the round vocal, then a full blown plectoral solo where Morse finally flexes. The chorus may be repetitive, but they are so pleasant, you don’t notice.  An original ending with layered, round vocals, delays, oohs, ahhs, into the fade.

OK, right about now, I really wanna hear them rock out.

A snare drum build up gives us hope for that on “Get Away” but the formula quickly takes over.  A half-celtic, half-march snare beat changes both the mood and rhythm.  Spencer’s voice now has even more husk to it on the verses.  When she sings the line “Oh no…” I flash back to a young Ann Wilson.  This one has a speedier tempo, I will give them that.

Her lyrical focus is on relationships, new starts, etc.  Has she been dipping into Adele Adkins dating pool?

Morse’s solo kicks in with a burn, the guy’s got licks to spare, granted.  But if I have to be 100% honest with myself (and you) the constant use of the Ovation acoustic/electric can get monotonous.  It’s a good thing he is as inventive as he is, or this disc could tire someone’s attention span quickly.

Spencer’s silky voice intertwines with the guitar at the break before the solo.  They layer her background vocals in order for them to be heard through Morse’s frenetic solo bursts.

It is interesting in that you head Spencer’s voice mature as if she gains more life experience track by track.

Spencer hits angelic highs in “Pleasant Surprise”.  She needs to learn Gabriel’s law (Peter Gabriel); “Songs that one writes in their twenties and thirties become more difficult to sing in their forties and fifties…”.  Multi-tracked backing vocals are gorgeous, for the most part, a nondescript rhythm track exists behind them.  But the idea of this disc is to showcase Spencer’s voice.  It may be highly calculated that the backing “band” not be too showy as to upstage Spencer’s vocals.  This disc IS all about her…

But you gotta love a song that starts out with the lyric line “You know a mind is a terrible thing to lose”!  So imagine my delight when the instrument track for this line kicks in with very King Crimson-esque  playing.

Sorry, though, no Bill Bruford here, think more Pat Mastellotto.

This might be in a 7/8 time signature if my count is correct.  But different musicians count things differently.  Some might view it as alternating 3/4 and 4/4 measures back to back.  As the title might allude, the subject matter is about retaining sanity.  In this world, at this time in history?  Good luck with that.  At least we have Spencer to help us keep our cool.

An intriguing portion of this tune is when Spencer begins to reason with herself in the form of the backing vocals answering her lead line.  Then, to cap it off, Morse delivers a less formulated solo.  Spencer gives us a brief example of her capacity at the end, but before we can get more vocal ad-lib, the song curtly ends with the line “you’re gonna lose it”.

OK, found my favorite song on this disc.

Next we have what is conceitedly called “Omnis Morse Aequat”.  Not too arrogant, Steve (yuk yuk).  Spencer’s addition to this is some dead-language vocals overtop of an obvious Morse composition.  He might have been sitting on this tune for just the right vocalist.  Enter Spencer…  This song does serve to showcase Morse’s dexterity.

Yer good, Steve, we know…

Superlative falsetto by Spencer at the end, however.

I finally hear (what I will presume) is the heavy track on the disc, “Take It Or Leave It”.  But it is a far cry from Mastedon…  The first verse comes in and my presumption is incorrect.  The layered chorus vocals are extraordinary.  Spencer is quite talented, Morse was right to invest in her.  She bests BlaBla, Perry, Kesha, and is worth listening to, not a flash-in-the-pan.

To keep it interesting, Morse plays an electric solo (and a tasty one at that) over a bed of Spencer’s backing vocals.  This may be one of the “harder” tunes on the disc, but you won’t lose sleep being too amped up if you listen to it late at night.

“Urban Decay” wraps up the album and describes the longing of every small town kid across the USA.  Bright lights, big city, etc.  But like all the songs on this disc, it greets you like a wise and trusted friend, as opposed to a harsh stranger.

But I have to make this known, the promo copy I have lists the time on this track as 4:18.  Someone made a printing or mastering error as my counter clocks this track in at 2:51.

I feel gypped…

Upon review and typing in this entry, it might appear that I don’t like this disc and will freely admit that the style of music on this disc is not for your average Steve Morse fan.  But Sarah Spencer’s voice is so soothing, and the music is delicate enough that Spencer’s talents become obvious.  But this disc is capable of so much more than that.

Even in the liner notes, Morse confesses that Spencer’s voice has charms to soothe the savage breast.  So for us, in this “nobody cares about anybody else” world or self-involved lunacy, it’s nice to get away with Sarah and Steve.

I DO recommend this disc, for fans of Morse (he still plays some crazed guitar on it, if I didn’t make that point previously) and for those who like lighter, more pop-oriented music.  Remember, I grew up around The Partridge Family, Monkees, Beatles, etc.

I can appreciate good pop.  Angelfire is what good pop (or even easy listening) SHOULD  be.

One last note on this disc, it is a two-year old release.  It took me that time to write this review as every time I went to give it an objective listening, I got carried away in the music and wound up putting down the pen and paper and just listening.

A good disc will do that to even the harshest critic.

Speaking of harsh critiques, one is coming your way next as I review my night in hell with Tori Amos at the Beacon theater.  While both Rolling Stone and one of my colleagues on one of the syndication sites that carries this blog reviewed this show seemingly favorably, and said it was “hard to pinpoint the highlights of a Tori Amos show”, trust me, I WAS there and I saw more lowlights than highlights.  Be forewarned, it is not for the faint of heart…

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