Kansas - Somewhere to Elsewhere
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Free Music Notes for Somewhere to Elsewhere
Free Music Review: GLIMPSE OF A GRAND RETURN
Hit: 5 Stars
this is perhaps the best reuniting of this band .
and impressive tie up of all livgren / walsh kansas periods with musical references all over the place even seeds of change hints and A.D. . Livgren has a wealth of material going all the way back to the pre-kansas experimental prog period up to present solo work
while Walsh's voice has worn with age he still delivers emotional heart wrenching expression .
great layered vocal harmonies and amazing musicianship.
With the exception of the living room jam at the end this is a masterpiece and a grand if not short return of most of the classic lineup I highly recommend it !
Free Music Review: Best album since Point Of Know Return!
Hit: 5 Stars
What a great Kansas CD! Kansas was one of my favorite groups in the 70's behind Pink Floyd and Zeppelin! I loved Song For America, Masque, Leftoverture, and Point Of Know Return! Things started a slight downward turn on Monolith and than even more so on Audio Visions. Still some good songs, but falling short of the Masterpiece of the earlier albums (or peak form on Leftoverture). But they found it again here! These songs easily could have been released right arond the time as those other classic albums and they would have held up nicely! The criticisms about this being a Livgren project dont mean nothing here. The songs and the music are spectacular!! And even with Steve Walsh's voice having some rough edges with time, it's STILL a fantastic CD! This release really makes me appreciate the songwriting of Livgren! Yet even his solo albums and A.D. they never came up with a project this good. Warren Ham was a good singer, but never this good. A.D. always had a bit of that 80's generic feel to their music. While that wasnt a really bad thing (it had it's qualities), it was less than spectacular! This has the classical excellence and the wonderful compositions that you would expect from Kansas in their heyday! Ironically I only discovered it recently. Thank good ness for music going online in the 2000's. Several years ago after I had become disallusioned with classic rock, an old friend introduced me to this CD. I listened to part of it and said blah! My mind was closed and my ears werent really hearing it. Well I am hearing it now, VERY clearly!! 5 stars! Free Music Review: KANSAS - the Reunion
Hit: 3 Stars
KANSAS - Somewhere to Elsewhere (2000) (*** ?) 11 tracks (68:13)
In the summer of 2000, KANSAS released its 14th Studio album. An album that included all six original members (plus recent stand-in bass player Billy Greer). This was quite a surprise, especially by the fact that it had been almost 20 years since all these guys had been together to play music, much less record a whole new album. The songs, all written by Kerry Livgren, are quite good although kind of "mellow" over-all. The good news is you finally have a chance to get some honest to goodness, authentic KANSAS music. Written by the bands main songwriter, sung by original singers Steve Walsh (lead) and Robby Steinhardt, and played by all the original founding members. In addition, there are more epic-length tracks than ever before. Five passing the single limit (7 min +) with two of those pushing almost 9 minutes.
There was obviously a lot of interest in this album when it came out. Many older fans were shocked to see a "new" KANSAS album at their local record store. With twice the Amazon Reviews of any other KANSAS album, it shows just how many people decided to give this a chance and then tell us about it. My over-all impression is that this is No Leftoverture, and doesn't come close to resembling the bands early albums, but it does sound like KANSAS, an older more mature KANSAS. There are a few heavier tracks such as Distant Vision and Not Man Big. And a throwback to one of their early songs entitled Icarus II.
This is not an album that I will be reaching for often, but it's a nice addition to ones KANSAS collection. The way its currently looking, we may never get any more music out of the boys from Topeka again, so enjoy it while you can.
Free Music Review: A very good recording effort that grows on you...
Hit: 4 Stars
For one thing, it's great to listen to the Kansas line-up that brought so many memorable songs across the years. Steve Walsh and Robbie Steinhardt make a very solid vocal pair. Steve's vocals are in much better form and those who yearn for the early days and criticize how his voice sounds should try to sing those high notes thousands of times for many years. Time doesn't stand still for us mortals. He still sings on pitch, gives passion in every note and his all everytime he sings. My hat's off to you Steve. Kerry Livgren's songwriting shines best when it's revised and produced with talented musicians and this line-up was the best. My issues with the recording are: Steve doesn't play keyboards at all and that's a shame since he's an exceptional Hammond C-3 wizard, you can actually perceive the vacuum in "Myriad"; all songs were composed by Kerry Livgren, who is a very talented songwriter but, was this then a solo project? the other band members are very talented as well and collective efforts are quite good (Magnum Opus); finally, the mixing left some guitar and violin solos sounding faint against the music. However, this recording grew on me as I listened more. Icarus II is one of my favorites in the CD, with the "Metallica" sound incorporated and the tale of WWII bombers, while Steve sings his heart out. "Distant Vision" is another favorite that evoques earlier Kansas albums. "Myriad" goes along with their signature time changes and "Byzantium" incorporates Middle-Eastern influences that changes the tapestry in the CD. All in all, I'm glad I bought it and gladder still that the band incorporated some of its songs in their DVD. Free Music Review: Kansas - The Band's Best Album In Years
Hit: 5 Stars
It took 5 more years, but Kansas finally came out with a new studio album of material in 2000. The unique thing about the disc is all of the original members of the band appear on it and Kerry Livgren wrote all the material. The core members of Kansas circa 2000 were Steve Walsh, Phil Ehart, Billy Greer, Rich Williams and Robby Steinhardt who had come back to the band after the departure of David Ragsdale. Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope were not part of the touring band, although Livgren is all over the album and it was recorded at his home studio. So how is the album? In my opinion "Somewhere To Elsewhere" ranks right up with the band's all time best. I really really like it and think every song here is a good one. Walsh's voice is not quite what it used to be, but he still sounds good for the most part here. Livgren contributes some of his best songwriting in years (his solo / group outings are very inconsistent), as he brings the band to a more modern sound in places. The music is typical strong Kansas, the band sounds as good as ever instrumentally. With Steinhardt back in the fold, along with Billy Greer the 3 part vocal harmonies are probably the strongest of Kansas career. Greer and Steinhardt share lead vocal duties with Walsh on several songs. Highlights of the album for me include; "Icarus II" which is a cool sequel to the original song from the "Masque" album about a world war II pilot. "Myriad" is a melodic rocker. "Look At The Time" has Billy Greer on lead vocals and almost sounds like psychedelic era Beatles. "Disappearing Skin Tight Blues" is a great song with Robby on lead vox, and Kansas patented use of blues mixed with prog. "Byzantium" is another cool progressive rocker. Really every song on the disc is good to great. Even the weaker tracks like "Grand Fun Alley" and "Not Man Big" grow on you with repeated listens. I love this album and rank it right up with Kansas best. If you are a Kansas fan and never picked this one up you owe it to yourself to do so. If you are looking to explore Kansas in the modern era this would be a great place to start.