[An earlier version of this review appeared on
\nHouseofshred.com in 2001]<\/p>\n
As a fan of all kinds of music, and more importantly a fan of
\nall kinds of musicians, nothing makes me happier than seeing a
\ntruly talented, yet relatively unrecognized performer step out from
\ntheir usual role as band member and take the limelight. Such is the
\ncase with Billy Greer. For 16 years Billy has been the “Seventh
\nKey” to the musical entity known as Kansas. Besides laying down the
\nbottom line on bass, his searing tenor voice has been the lynchpin
\nto the awesome vocal harmonies Kansas is known for. Kansas’ fans
\nhave admired this secret weapon for years and have been clamoring
\nfor some original Greer material for some time.<\/p>\n
\nSeventh Key<\/i> proves what Kansas fans have known for years —
\nBilly Greer can sing like nobody’s business. Teaming with Billy in
\nSeventh Key is veteran Streets\/Steelhouse Lane guitarist Mike
\nSlamer, who also produced. Slamer lends his distinctive shredding
\nand impeccable ear to produce a fresh, lush sound. Also on the disc
\nare a crew of familiar faces; guitar-god Steve Morse and Billy’s
\nfellow Kansas members Steve Walsh, Rich Williams and Phil Ehart are
\nall on hand (Walsh and Morse also contributed songs to the
\nproject). The bulk of the disc features Greer on bass and vocals,
\nSlamer on guitar, drummer Chet Wynd, David Manion on keys and
\nanother great voice, Terry Brock, providing harmony vocals.<\/p>\n
Greer and Slamer unleash a blistering shred-fest right out of
\nthe gate, with the opening track “The Kid Could Play,” a tribute to
\nBilly’s departed friend Marty Conn. What follows is a great
\ncollection of original songs. From balls-to-the wall rockers like
\n“Prisoner of Love” and the anthemic “Only the Brave,” and melodic
\nrockers such as “Every Time it Rains” and “No Man’s Land,” to
\ngut-wrenching power ballads like my fave from the disc,
\n“Surrender.”<\/p>\n
The highlight of this disc is the inclusion of four “lost” songs
\nfrom Billy’s early days with Kansas, including a couple of great
\ntracks penned by Kansas wailer Steve Walsh. These songs were
\noriginally written and recorded for Kansas’
\nPower<\/i> album, but were never released. The original
\nrecordings for two of the songs were too damaged to use, but the
\nother two original demo tapes, “Every Time it Rains” and “No Man’s
\nLand” appear in remastered form on this album.<\/p>\n
Sonically, think of the likes of Journey and Whitesnake with
\nmore up-to-date arrangements. Solid classic rock styling wrapped up
\nin modern sound and production. I was much more impressed with this
\ndisc than recent releases from more established classic rock icons.
\nFans of great melodic rock with eat this up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7041],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38002","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-seventh-key","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38002","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\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38002"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38002"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}