Slash - ...and on guitar (2008)

Saul Hudson was born in Stoke-on-Trent on July 23, 1965, and was immersed in music from the outset. His father, Anthony Hudson, was an artist who created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, while his mother Ola J. Hudson was an African-American fashion designer and costumier from the United States, whose clients included David Bowie (whom she also dated), Ringo Starr, and Janis Joplin. During his early years, he was raised by his father and paternal grandparents in Stoke-on-Trent while his mother moved back to her native United States to work in Los Angeles, and when he was around five years old, they both joined his mother in Los Angeles. Following his parents' separation in 1974, Hudson became a self-described "problem child", living with his mother, but often being sent to live with his beloved maternal grandmother whenever she had to travel for her job. He sometimes accompanied his mother to work, where he met several film and music stars, and was given the nickname "Slash" by actor Seymour Cassel, because he was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another". In 1979, Slash decided to form a band with his friend Steven Adler, and although the band never materialized, it prompted him to take up an instrument, and since Adler had designated himself the role of guitarist, Slash decided to learn how to play bass. Equipped with a one-string flamenco guitar given to him by his grandmother, he began taking classes with guitar teacher Robert Wolin, but during his first lesson he decided to switch from bass to guitar after hearing Wolin play 'Brown Sugar' by the Rolling Stones. In 1981 he joined his first band Tidus Sloan, and a couple of years later he reunited with Alder and formed Road Crew, named after the Motörhead song '(We Are) The Road Crew'. He placed an advertisement in a newspaper looking for a bassist, and received a response from Duff McKagan. They auditioned a number of singers, including one-time Black Flag vocalist Ron Reyes, but they couldn't find one that suited them and so the band broke up the following year. Slash and Adler then joined  local group Hollywood Rose, which featured singer Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, and after that he played with Black Sheep, and also unsuccessfully auditioned for glam-metallers Poison. 

In June 1985, Slash was asked by Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin to join their new band Guns N' Roses, along with Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, replacing founding members Tracii Guns, Ole Beich and Rob Gardner, respectively, and they began playing Los Angeles-area nightclubs‍ ‌such as the Whisky a Go Go, The Roxy, and The Troubadour‍. Before one of the shows in 1985, Slash shoplifted a black felt top hat and a Native American-style silver concho belt from two stores on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, combining them to create a piece of custom headwear which would become his trademark. After being scouted by several major record labels, the band signed with Geffen Records in March 1986, and they released their debut album 'Appetite For Destruction' in 1987, eventually selling over 28 million copies worldwide. However, as their success grew, so did interpersonal tensions within the band, and in 1989, during a show as opening act for the Rolling Stones, Axl Rose threatened to leave the band if certain members didn't stop "dancing with Mr. Brownstone," a reference to their song of the same name about heroin use. Slash was among those who promised to clean up, but the following year Adler was fired from the band because of his heroin addiction, being replaced by Matt Sorum of The Cult. In May 1991, the band embarked on the two-and-a-half-year-long Use Your Illusion Tour, and the following September they released the long-awaited albums 'Use Your Illusion I' and 'Use Your Illusion II', which debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively on the U.S. chart. In the four years since the release of 'Appetite For Destruction', Slash had gained an enviable reputation as a guitarist, and so it was no surprise that he was asked to guest on albums from other artists, and one of the first that he accepted was an invitation from Iggy Pop, adding his guitar to Pop's 1990 'Brick By Brick' album, followed swiftly with a guest appearance on Bob Dylan's 'Under The Red Sky' album (even though Dylan later cut his solo), and collaborations with Alice Cooper, Motörhead, Michael Jackson, and Spinal Tap, and even though Spinal Tap don't take themselves too seriously, Slash pulled out all the stops for his contribution to their 'Break Like The Wind'. In November 1991 Izzy Stradlin abruptly left the band, and was replaced by Gilby Clarke of Candy and Kill for Thrills, and after the Use Your Illusion Tour had ended in 1993, the band released 'The Spaghetti Incident?', a cover album of mostly punk songs, which proved less successful than its predecessors. Slash then wrote several songs for what would have become the follow-up album to the 'Use Your Illusion' double set, but they were rejected by Rose and McKagan, and so with the band's failure to collaborate resulting in no album being recorded, Slash announced in October 1996 that he was no longer a part of Guns N' Roses. 

In 1994 he added his guitar to band-mates Gilby Clarke's solo album, and then formed Slash's Snakepit, a side project that featured his Guns N' Roses bandmates Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke on drums and rhythm guitar respectively, as well as Alice in Chains' Mike Inez on bass and Jellyfish's Eric Dover on vocals. Their 1995 album 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere' included Slash's rejected material that was intended for Guns N' Roses, and was critically praised for ignoring the then-popular conventions of alternative music. Faring well on the charts, the band toured in support of the album, before disbanding in 1996. Slash then toured for two years with the blues rock cover band Slash's Blues Ball, as well as adding his guitar to albums from Sammy Hagar and Insane Clown Posse, before deciding to regroup Slash's Snakepit in 1999, with Rod Jackson on vocals, Ryan Roxie on rhythm guitar, Johnny Griparic on bass, and Matt Laug on drums. Their second album 'Ain't Life Grand' was released in October 2000 through Koch Records, but it didn't sell as well as the band's previous release, and its critical reception was mixed. In 2002 Slash reunited with Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum for a Randy Castillo tribute concert, and realizing that they still had the chemistry of their days in Guns N' Roses, they decided to form a new band together. Izzy Stradlin was initially involved, but left after the others decided to find a lead singer; a task that took many months listening to demo tapes, before former Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland got the Velvet Revolver gig. In 2003 they released their first single 'Set Me Free' followed by their debut album 'Contraband' in June 2004, which crashed in at No. 1 on the U.S. chart, eventually selling two million copies. In July 2007 Velvet Revolver released their second album 'Libertad', and embarked on a second tour, but during a show in March 2008 Weiland announced to the audience that it would be the band's final tour, following which he was fired from the band, with Slash insisting "chemical issues" had led to his departure. Despite the loss of their singer, the band did not officially disband, and in early 2010 they began writing new songs and auditioning new singers. By January 2011 they'd recorded nine demos, and was reportedly due to make a decision on their singer, but Slash eventually admitted that they had been unable to find a suitable vocalist and that Velvet Revolver would go on hiatus for the next few years while its members focused on other projects. So that's the perfect place to end this collection of Slash's extra-curricular work between 1990 and 2008, so settle down and listen to some superb rock guitar on a wide variety of genres from a stellar group of artists. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Home (from 'Brick By Brick' by Iggy Pop 1990)
02 Wiggle Wiggle (from 'Under The Red Sky by Bob Dylan 1990)
03 Always On The Run (from 'Mama Said' by' Lenny Kravitz 1991)
04 Hey Stoopid (from 'Hey Stoopid' by Alice Cooper 1991)

05 Give In To Me (from 'Dangerous' by Michael Jackson 1991)

06 Break Like The Wind (from 'Break Like The Wind' by Spinal Tap 1992)

07 You Better Run  (from 'March Ör Die' by Motörhead 1992)

08 I Don't Live Today (from 'Stone Free: A Tribute To Jimi Hendrix' by Various Artists 1993)

09 Tie Your Mother Down (from 'Resurrection' by Brian May & Cozy Powell 1993)

10 Hold Out For Love (from 'Colour Of Your Dreams' by Carole King 1993)

11 Believe In Me (from 'Believe In Me' by Duff McKagan 1993)

Disc Two

01 Cure Me...Or Kill Me... (from 'Pawnshop Guitars' by Gilby Clarke 1994)

02 Where You Belong (from 'Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus' by Carmine Appice 1995)

03 Communication Breakdown (from 'Stairway To Heaven' by Various Artists 1997)

04 Moja Mi Corazón (from 'Azabache' by Marta Sánchez 1997) 

05 Little White Lie (from 'Marching To Mars' by Sammy Hagar 1997)

06 Hall Of Illusions (from 'The Great Milenko' by Insane Clown Posse 1997)

07 Human (from 'Human' by Rod Stewart 2001)

08 Over, Under, Sideways, Down (from 'Birdland' by The Yardbirds 2003) 

09 The Blame Game (from 'Hollywood Zen' by Matt Sorum 2003)

08 Street Child (from 'Street Child' by Elan 2003)
09 Mustang Nismo (from the soundtrack to the film 'The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift' 2006)
10 Gioca Con Me (from 'Il Mondo Che Vorrei' by Vasco 2008)

Steve Morse - ...and on guitar (1997)

Steve J. Morse was born on 28 July 1954 in Hamilton, Ohio, after which his family moved to Tennessee, then Ypsilanti, Michigan, where Morse spent his childhood. Although familiar with piano and clarinet, he ultimately became interested in guitar, and played briefly with his older brother Dave in a band called The Plague. In the late 1960's he played in the band Three with his older brother and a junior high schoolmate, William Gerald (Jerry) Wooten on keyboards, performing at a local psychedelic youth club, the Glass Onion, and at Legion Halls and church functions. While enrolled in the Academy of Richmond County, Morse met bassist Andy West and together they formed the Dixie Grit, adding keyboardist Johnny Carr and guitarist and vocalist Frank Brittingham, with Dave Morse drumming. This short-lived group covered bands such as Led Zeppelin and Cream, before West and Morse left to continue to play as a duet billed as the Dixie Dregs, until Morse's expulsion from school in the 10th grade. He enrolled at the University of Miami School of Music, where he reunited with Andy West, and with the addition of drummer Bart Yarnold, keyboardist Frank Josephs and violinist Allen Sloan, they collaborated in a lab project entitled Rock Ensemble II. In 1975, the group compiled a recording of the project, releasing it on vinyl in 1976, and again on CD in 1997 as 'The Great Spectacular'. When he graduated in 1975, he and West officially named their group Dixie Dregs, adding Rod Morgenstein on drums, and began performing regularly, eventually gaining the attention of Capricorn Records, who signed the band in late 1976. Their first effort for Capricorn, the Morse-composed 'Free Fall', established him as an important newcomer to the fusion genre, being recognized for both his compositional skills and his musicianship, but despite receiving positive reviews as a pivotal jazz fusion album, it sold poorly. 'What If' followed in 1978, but with the writing credits being more collaborative, the band's sound had matured from what was considered fusion at the time, including Southern rock, classical, folk and country elements. 

The band were invited to perform at Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1978, and the recorded performance was released the following year as 'Night Of The Living Dregs'. Capricorn went bankrupt in late 1979, and the Dixie Dregs were left without a label, but were quickly signed to Arista Records, and released three albums for the label. Around this time Morse started to add his guitar to records by other artists, and featured on an album by Liza Minelli in 1977, and with the Rob Cassels Band in 1979. Arista became increasingly concerned about Dixie Dregs' album sales and pressured the band to change their name to simply The Dregs, in an attempt to increase the band's visibility in the public eye. 'Unsung Heroes' included eight new Morse compositions in early 1981, but the name change did little to address Arista's worries, and the Dregs felt compelled by label management to add lyrics to their next release, appropriately titled 'Industry Standard'. Readers of Guitar Player magazine voted Morse 'Best Overall Guitarist' in their 1982 annual poll, an honour that he would hold for five consecutive years, but the band weren't happy with the constant touring , and after fulfilling their commitment to Arista, the Dregs disbanded in early 1983. Before they broke up they backed Fiona Flanagan on demos of some songs that she'd written, and after the 1983 breakup  Morse then formed the Steve Morse Band, a trio with bassist Jerry Peek and drummer Doug Morgan, who was replaced by Rod Morgenstein after Morgan left to fulfill previous commitments. The group toured Germany in early 1984 and was signed by Elektra Records, who released 'The Introduction' album mid-year. 

A second German tour began in December 1984 and 'Stand Up' was released in 1985, including guest vocalists and guitarists (Eric Johnson, Alex Ligertwood, Peter Frampton, Albert Lee, and  Van Temple), and violinist Mark O'Connor. In 1986 Morse joined Kansas, playing on their albums 'Power' and 'In The Spirit Of Things', but he left after the 'In The Spirit Of Things' tour to resume the Steve Morse Band with new personnel, bassist Dave LaRue and drummer Van Romaine, releasing several more albums for MCA Records.  In 1994 he was offered the chance to join Deep Purple, replacing Ritchie Blackmore, and played on all their studio albums from 1996's 'Purpendicular' onwards. In addition to playing with Deep Purple, in 2003 Morse formed the band Living Loud with Jimmy Barnes, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake and Don Airey, releasing one studio album and a live DVD in 2004/2005. In 2007 he began a collaboration with singer Sarah Spencer entitled Angelfire, and an album appeared in August 2010, after which he formed Flying Colors in 2011, which was an American supergroup composed of Mike Portnoy, Dave LaRue, Casey McPherson and Neal Morse, with their debut eponymous album being released in March 2012, followed by 'Second Nature' in 2014. Morse continued to act as a session player for a wide variety of artists while still a member of all these bands, playing on over 40 albums after the timeframe of this compilation, but here we concentrate on the emergent talent at the beginning of his career.   

Track listing

Disc One

01 The Battle's Won (from 'Evening Pastoral' by Rob Cassels Band 1979)
02 When It Comes Down To It (from 'Tropical Nights' by Liza Minnelli 1977)
03 Wait Until Tomorrow (from 'Schemer-Dreamer' by Steve Walsh 1980) 
04 Call In Love (unreleased demo with Dixie Dregs by Fiona Flanagan 1982)
05 Art In America (from 'Art In America' by Art in America 1983)
06 Sparkle Plenty (from 'Storytime' by T Lavitz 1986)
07 Opus 32: Swept Away By Tides (from 'Stone From Which The Arch Was Made' by 

                                                                                                                Mark O'Connor 1987)
08 Headed For Nowhere (from 'Surveillance' by Triumph 1987)

Disc Two
01 Don't Misunderstand Me (from 'Love Your Man' by The Rossington Band 1988)
02 Goodbye Blue Sky (Song For Dominique) (from 'Nashville Rendez-Vous' by Marcel Dadi 1990)
03 Morning Rush Hour (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1991)
04 Talking Hands (from 'Lone Ranger' by Jeff Watson 1992)
05 Minute Mouse (from 'Coven, Pitrelli, O'Reilly' by CPR 1993)
06 You Offered Only Parabolas (from 'Thonk' by Michael Manring 1994)
07 4 Miles High (from 'Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus' by Carmine Appice 1995)
08 Eagle (from 'Storm' by Torden & Lyn 1997)