Divided We Stand: Best of the Dregs

Amazon.com A necessarily subjective best-of collection (the Dregs had no bona fide hits), Divided features material from the Georgia hard-fusion band's debut Free For All, and the LPs What If and Night of the Living Dregs. The choices are apt. Concert favorites such as the uptempo, Jeff Beck-ish "Cruise Control" and a newly recorded version of What If's "Take It Off the Top" are shoo-ins. And it's hard to argue with the barnyard fusion hoe-down "Pride O' the Farm," where guitarist Steve Morse pits his Nashville chicken-pickin' chops against violinist Allen Sloan's equally wicked fiddle forays. This fine collection is marred by lousy presentation. There are no liner notes, the cover art is extremely cheap looking, and a somewhat thin digital remastering does little justice to bassist Andy West's superb low-end maneuvering. --James Rotondi