To begin with, Steve Morse is one of the finest rock guitarists in the world, so I’m not sure how I feel about critiquing his work with my comparatively small amount of knowledge in this field. However, I do feel up to talking about how great this album is, and how it is a blatant yet humble display of the genius represented in this guy.

Steve Morse has produced a huge amount of music, both as a solo artist and with his former project, Dixie Dregs. He’s currently on Magna Carta, a label with a great attitude towards eccentric rock that has also housed other artists like Mike Keneally and the Celtic rock band Tempest. Steve’s new album Major Impacts is different in that it is more than simply a collection of shavings grated from the cheese wheel of genius that grows in the song-producing part of his mind. Instead, it is a carefully crafted work of art, employing about a dozen songs written by Steve to show both the artists that have influenced him throughout his life, and the ways in which they have done so. In this manner, it accomplishes more than does the album that is a collection of cover tunes that other bands use as a tribute to artists they appreciate. Steve has actually taken the time to write these tribute songs by himself, using the essential styles of the artists he has chosen to pay homage

The first song “Derailleur Gears” is a vigorous nod in the direction of Eric Clapton and Cream (Disraeli Gears, get it? Ha!). One of the coolest parts about the way this album is constructed is Steve’s inclusion of in-depth explanations of each song. For “Derailleur Gears” he says it “is based around the tempo of ‘Crossroads’ but the middle section does get a bit weird just to provide some relief from the basic theme. Like my memories of Cream, it has a lot of soloing…not designed at all, just improvising, just feeling good.”

Of the many other artists he beams at, such as Jimmy Page, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and George Harrison, my favorite musical interpretation has to be his tribute to The Byrds with a song called “Migration.” It’s supposed to be a little like “Turn, Turn, Turn” but was written mainly to exemplify The Byrds’ use of the 12-string guitar. It’s really a very pretty song.

You can get MP3 samples of all the songs on this album if you go to www.magnacarta.net. I definitely recommend this, as you can also get samples from all the other amazing artists on this label. Magna Carta sampler CDs are available for five bucks. Go wild.