Kansas - Audio-Visions
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Free Music Notes for Audio-Visions
Free Music Review: Good, but not vintage Kansas...
Hit: 4 Stars
I'm being generous with the 4 star rating but like many who review second rate Kansas albums i need to consider how the music compares to other material out there not just to vintage Kansas like left overture, masque or point of know return. The two things i always liked most about kansas was their kick butt rock(carry on, opus insert, belexes ect) combined with their long play anthems(song for america, hopelessly human and hymm to the atman, pinnacle). What i like the most are those songs that seem to combine those two styles and attributes(the wall, borne on wings of steel and miracles out of nowhere). The ideal Kansas album in my mind would be a nice mix of all of those.Yes this was the last album by the original line up. Steve walsh left the band because he didn't like the born again christian lyrics livgren was writing yet those lyrics are already present in less obvious form in many of these songs. "Hold on" for example is livgren imploring his wife to come to christ.(I got this info from livgren's book).
There are many good songs here. "No one together" is the best and "relentless"(more born again references from livgren) is solid. "Got to rock on" does just that and "hold on" is ok for a top 40 song. Then there is childish crap like "any thing for you" that is unforgivable. Most of the rest of the stuff is mediocre. Hard to get excited with "iron curtain". Once again the album is good but nothing like their best work.
The main issue for me is which second rate Kansas album is better, this one or "monolith". Take the best songs from both and you have one pretty good album that would rival their best work. Take the worst songs from the two albums and you have something pretty terrible.
..........socks
Free Music Review: Nuggets of Brilliance amid medocrity - End of an Era
Hit: 3 Stars
This is the last studio album that sported the entire original mega-successful Kansas line-up. There are wonderful songs on this album but the whole kit-n-kibutal does not equal the sum of its parts, which is unusual for a Kansas album.Anything for You, Loner, and Don't Open Your Eyes are painfully mediocre compared to the Kansas epics of previous albums. Even some of Livgren's gems don't live up to the standards the band had set earlier. Curtain of Iron is great by other's standards but just suffers from comparisons to Cheyenne Anthem or Icarus-Borne on Wings of Steel.
Hold On is a wonderful single, perhaps even better (as a single - not a better song) than Dust In the Wind, the band's trade mark tune. No On Together has a great message, and great instrumental bridge but, again, not up to earlier standards. Of course, the band was struggling in an era when shorter songs were the norm. Struggling also with different directions musically and spiritually. Audio-Visions signaled the end of an era for Kansas, but still worthy of a listen. Walsh, whose Loner is a snooze/rocker with little redeeming value, strikes with good material in Got To Rock On (another good single) and Back Door.
Are you a Kansas newbie? Go for Leftoverture or Point of Know Return before opting for Audio-visions. If you're a Kansas fan, well, you'll have your own opinions about this disk.
Questions about the reveiw, email me.