This is a Tale Of Two Albums, And The Bargain Bin That Holds
\nThem.<\/p>\n
Kansas’ work in the 1980s is notoriously spotty. The reason for
\nthis, frankly, is that Kansas’ lineup was notoriously flexible at
\nthe time, with the Amazing Disappearing Steve Walsh (Kansas’
\nlongtime lead singer, who left after
\nAudiovisions<\/i> and didn’t return until
\nPower<\/i>), the Amazing Disappearing Kerry Livgren (who decided
\nafter 1983’s forgettable
\nDrastic Measures<\/i> that it was easier to go be a contemporary
\nChristian recording artist than turn Kansas into a CCM band), and a
\nparade of lead guitarists. The best two CDs from the Decade Of
\nScary Hair, however, have to be
\nPower<\/i> and
\nIn The Spirit Of Things<\/i> — and even at that, there’s no
\nSomewhere To Elsewhere<\/i> or
\nPoint Of Know Return<\/i> here.<\/p>\n
So why bother to review them? Because, dammit, there’s half a
\ngood CD here, and it deserves noticed. While it isn’t quite the CD
\nthat Kansas wanted or needed — a mega-hit following up the
\nrelatively popular
\nPower<\/i> might have caused a chart resurgence — it’s worth a
\nlonger look.<\/p>\n
In a curious pairing,
\nSpirit<\/i> is produced by Bob Ezrin, best known for his work
\nwith Kiss and Pink Floyd. While in theory Ezrin seems a perfect
\npairing for Kansas’ late-80s sound — power rock with most of the
\nprogressive excess stripped out of it — in practicality
\nSpirit<\/i> sounds flat and two-dimensional, even on CD. The
\nlower end of the CD’s sound is oddly muffled and muted, turning a
\ncouple of tracks that could have been really good (“One Man, One
\nHeart” and “I Counted On Love”) into pseudo-Loverboy mediocrity,
\nand the top end echoes like a Boston CD, five guys singing in a
\nswimming pool. Kansas should have kept Andrew Powell from
\nPower<\/i>. Add in a couple of tracks that seem written
\nspecifically for EmptyVee rotation and Top 40 mindlessness —
\n“Inside Of Me” and “Once In A Lifetime” (which gets some sort of
\nbooby prize for one of the Bottom Ten Power Ballad keyboard intros
\nin history) — and there’s a couple of downright painful moments on<\/p>\n
Spirit<\/i>.<\/p>\n
So there’s the bad — where’s the good? That’s easy. Anything
\nmembers of Kansas actually wrote and Ezrin didn’t screw up, and the
\nguitar work of Steve Morse. In
\nThe Spirit Of Things<\/i> was the swan song for Steve Morse’s
\ninvolvement with Kansas, and his rapid-fire ascending-chord guitar
\nwork is as always a joy to listen to. . “Ghosts\/One Big Sky” is a
\nbrilliant, bright, and powerful CD opener; “House On Fire” really
\nrocks; and the last four tracks of the CD, from “The Preacher” to
\n“Bells Of Saint James”, are some fine, fine music.<\/p>\n
Thusly, the tale of two albums; half of
\nSpirit<\/i> is really prime Kansas, without being weighed down by
\nsome of the overblown progressive cliches and with Morse’s
\nmagnificent guitar, and half is mass-label power-ballad crap. And
\nfrankly, it’s hard to say who gets the blame. My vote goes for MCA
\nRecords, who never understood how to promote Kansas and from all
\nappearances kept trying to turn them into Night Ranger. This just
\nproves my theory that big-label A&R men are the devil incarnate
\n— but I digress.<\/p>\n
At any rate, last time I checked
\nIn The Spirit Of Things<\/i> was a bargain bin special. If you
\nsee it, pick it up; for half price, you get half a really good CD
\n— and if you can use your CD player’s programming ability, you’re
\nset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":26565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5839],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-37805","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kansas","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37805"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37805"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}