Kansas - Drastic Measures
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Music CD Cover
Artist: KansasEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1996-02-27
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Fight Fire With Fire
- Everybody's My Friend
- Mainstream
- Andi
- Going Through The Motions
- Get Rich
- Don't Take Your Love Away
- End Of The Age
- Incident On The Bridge
Free Music Notes for Drastic Measures
Free Music Review: Few Good Songs
Hit: 2 Stars
This is a Kansas album that should never have happened. Drastic Measures, released in 1983, was not a good effort by Kansas. Kerry Livgren, one of the main songwriters for Kansas, had lost interest and contributed very little to this album. Robby Steinhardt, the band's violinist, was gone. And, with the exception of the final two tracks, it just didn't sound like Kansas. John Elefante, who replaced Steve Walsh on vocals after Audio Visions, was leading the band now and he made them sound like a cross between Journey, Loverboy and Foreigner. Now if this was a new band or a solo project by Elefante, that wouldn't have been bad. As a Kansas album, though, it only took away from this idea of what Kansas music was.
Fight Fire With Fire is actually a great power rock song. It doesn't sound like Kansas in the least, but, really, neither did Dust in the Wind or Hold On when they came out. This is the best song on the record.
The second track, Everybody's My Friend, is not very good. It's best to skip.
Next, Mainstream, the first song penned by Livgren, is pretty good, although it also doesn't sound much like Kansas. It has some very small "prog" moments, like the middle interlude, but is more or less a straight-forward rock song.
Andi is aweful, both lyrically and musically. I thought if I forced it down my ears long enough it would grow on me, but it hasn't. Skip this one, too.
Going Through the Motions, by Elefante and his brother, is one of the best Elefante songs on any Kansas album. It's my second favorite song on this album (behind Fight Fire With Fire), but, once again, just doesn't have that Kansas sound.
The next song, Get Rich, is ho-hum. It doesn't stand out but it doesn't distract too much either. I think Elefante was trying to make a prog-rock song, but it just isn't that good. I won't judge it too harshly, though, because there are some prog-rock attempts on the early Kansas records that didn't turn out well, either.
Don't Take Your Love Away is an alright rock song. It's straight-forward and doesn't have that traditional Kansas sound I keep referring to. In some ways it reminds me of a cross between A Glimpse of Home from Monolith and Relentless from Audio Visions.
Next is End of The Age, the second Livgren-penned song. The keyboard intro reminds me of a sumo wrestler. It's a good song that could have been on Monolith or Audio Visions. By the time Drastic Measures comes around in 1983 it sounds a little dated. Even so, it's good to hear a little of that "Kansas" sound we all love so much.
Finally, Incident on a Bridge, another Livgren song, closes the album. It also has a more traditional Kansas sound and would have sounded great on Monolith. Like the previous track, it sounds a bit dated in 1983, but, compared to much of the record, it sounds like a glass of cool water on a hot day.
If this had been John Elefante's solo record or perhaps the first Mastedon (Elefante's next band) project, it would've been pretty good, for the most part. As a Kansas album, well, it just doesn't sound much like Kansas and the little that does sound like Kansas is somewhat behind the times, not forward thinking like their earlier work.
Those of us who can't get enough Kansas will purchase this for a few songs that will get played every once in a while. Those Elefante fans out there (you know who you are) will play it over and over again. Those who love 80's rock will find it interesting, but won't think it's any better than what Journey and Foreigner were doing at that time.
It's too bad the name Kansas is on the front cover.
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