Industry Standard

Reviewer Daniel Gioffre at the All Music Guide wrote, "Although they dropped the "Dixie" from their name in 1981, Industry Standard is still basically what one would expect from the Dixie Dregs. It also proved to be the band's last album before they disbanded, with fans having to wait ten years for a reunion and a new record. This incarnation of the band is actually the strongest one musician-wise, with master fiddler Mark O'Connor (in his lone appearance as a Dreg) making strong solo and ensemble statements. By this point, Steve Morse's compositional acumen had reached the level of complexity and polyphony that he would mine in his solo work throughout the '80s and '90s, and the sound of the band is more streamlined than ever before. Gone from Industry Standard are many of the Mahavishnu-isms that were so present in the band's work from the 1970s. The interplay between the guitarist and drummer Rod Morgenstein is particularly stunning, as in Morse's cathartic solo in "Conversation Piece." All in all, Industry Standard is one of the band's strongest albums, although it plays more like a Steve Morse solo record than any other Dregs release."