3.5 stars. A really enjoyable album with Richard Sinclair's warm and whimsical vocals on several tracks. Richard mostly plays bass or acoustic guitar here and has Didier Malherbe from both GONG and CLEARLIGHT adding clarinet, soprano sax and bamboo flute. Jimmy Hastings adds flute and sax while HAPPY THE MAN's Kit Watkins adds synths and piano. I guess Kit would play in CAMEL too which leads us to Andy Ward from that same band adding drums along with Pip Pyle.

A warm and mellow record overall that sees Richard often in a reflective mood and this was released in 1994. It's like he's looking back at times to those heady Canterbury days. Imagine Richard being in both CARAVAN and HATFIELD AND THE NORTH. Pip actually nails this sentiment with his lyrics on the opener "What's Rattlin'?" which must be a British phrase. Love the name dropping on this one and humour. A top three track for me along with "Out Of The Shadows" and the closer "What In The World". Worst song easily is "Videos" and were talking VHS right? Just a bad commercial sounding track which I started skipping after 3 spins or so.

It's hard to believe that most wouldn't get something out of this record even if your not into Canterbury. I also like how it has a uniform sound to it for the most part.

Kansas is a band that totally changed my life, for real. I heard the track Song For America at a low point in my life, when I was dealing with an injury that left me debilitated without any sort of direction. I had never heard anything like that in my life, along with other tracks such as The Pinnacle, The Devils Game, The Wall, Closet Chronicles.... my jaw was simply on the floor. Not only did their music really help and guide me through these struggles, but I found that I was completely baffled by the piano and organ playing. I ran right out and bought a cheap second hand Casio off Facebook marketplace and today, not only am I a classical pianist, but I'm also studying to complete my music education degree in the next few years. All this because Kansas ignited something in me. So understandably, they're a very special band to me and I will buy anything they release. I've been a big supporter of the current lineup of the band. I think Ronnie Platt has been a perfect replacement for Walsh in the recent years, carrying the range that Steve unfortunately lost over the years while still being very easily distinguishable from his predecessor. In 2017 they released their last live record 'Leftoverture Live and Beyond.' While that setlist could easily have carried it to a 5-star rating, that record was unfortunately plagued by some poor post production choices that covered a lot of the vocals in pretty blatant autotune and pitch correction. Not enough to ruin the album or anything, but it reasonably took some of the authenticity out of the "live" factor for me. It was frustrating, because anybody who knows the current lineup of Kansas as a live band knows that Ronnie Platt doesn't need it. He hits the right notes. That was somewhat of a small gripe I even had with their latest studio record. On this 2021 release, I'm happy to report that issue has been resolved and Kansas has delivered the second quintessential live album of their long career. Kansas has always been an incredibly tight band live, and the performances here are still flawless and full of life. Every member sounds so incredibly in tune with one another, which is made even more impressive by the fact that there are 7 people playing off of each other. I love the passages of the music where Billy Greer and Platt trade off vocals and harmonize. Their voices compliment each other so well, very similarly to Walsh and Steinhardt. I was also extremely impressed by Phil Ehart and how dialed in he still sounds. Of course, I have to mention Tom Brislin who also takes the keys to a whole different level properly covering a wider variety of sounds that you just wont find on Leftoverture Live and Beyond. The first disc covers a whole multitude of Kansas albums including several deep cuts off some lesser known albums. I really appreciate them doing this. Cold Grey Morning and Taking in the View were previously two songs that weren't really on my radar, but I think they work really well here. Of course you have the monstrous Song For America which is still to this day, a top 3 song of all time for me. However, the highlight of disc one in my opinion has to be The Wall. This rendition is so awe-inspiring and powerful. If this was the whole package, i'd be a happy camper. But there happens to be a second disc, and that second disc covers my favorite Kansas album 'Point of Know Return' in its entirety. It's just totally gripping and incredible start to finish. What I really appreciate is that the band hasn't slowed down or lost their edge at all. Everything is up to tempo, and they continue to carry a fiery intensity in their playing. You can tell every member is just 100% on board and fully into the music they're playing. The two tracks I have to highlight the most from this performance are Closet Chronicles and Hopelessly Human. The atmosphere the band drenches you in on the former is stunning. I also think it contains the best Billy Greer vocal performance on the album. Now for the latter, listening to this record made me realize that Hopelessly Human is a top 3 Kansas song for me, and honestly, this could be the best version of it out there for my money. The softer, airy piano led passages are simply staggering. As a little bonus, there's a nice acoustic set here with a really cool rendition of People of the South Wind, admittedly a track I've always been a little lukewarm on. It's a little transformed here and I really like what they do with it. I've always pointed to the Two For The Show version of Lonely Wind as the essential version of the song. Though I've always been hesitant, as it cuts out some portions of the studio version at the cost of an albeit very nice piano and guitar solo. The version on this release takes the best of both worlds and covers the whole song while still reaching that incredible peak that the former live version does. I could just keep funneling compliments into this live album all day.

I have nothing but praise for this release, but if you've made it this far you probably came to that conclusion yourself. If you're a Kansas fan whose willing to accept the band without Walsh and Livgren as a part of it, buy it.

5 Stars

A nice surprise!

Right from the start, I'll admit that I never got into Styx back in the day. Certainly, I was familiar with them and even liked some of their tunes that got some play, but I never owned any of their albums. Being subscribed to a streaming service today, I have no hesitation is sampling anything, so when I saw this coming, I thought, why not!

The first track seemed like a repeat of the signature, Styx sound that I was familiar with, albeit with a good, modern production quality. Hmmm, not sure how much of this I will bother with. Second track starts and I'm thinking, ok, there's something more here.

I stuck around for the whole ride. Sure, there were a few more 80's rock moments, but they were quite acceptable and there was so much goodness surrounding it that I had zero regrets giving 43 minutes to Styx. In fact, I have listened to it several more times and recommended it to a few friends, and I am recommending it to you all. It's a nice album with the right balance of nostalgic elements and some newer sounds, all fitting together well, as you would hope a veteran band would produce (but many don't!).

Crash of the Crown is a thoroughly enjoyable, surprising ride. Hop on!

Ok, I admit it. At my core, I'm a Styx fan. Sure, they get the short end of the stick a lot of times in music circles, and they might not necessarily be the coolest band to like, but I really think that there's some real artistic merit to some of their 70s releases. They hit their sweet spot mixing some lighter and accessible elements of progressive rock with pop rock sensibilities and big melodic hooks and solos. Styx acted as an important stepping stone band to me. Helping me eventually get into more challenging progressive rock bands. Though they're no longer one of my all time favorite bands like they were several years ago, I still get a lot of enjoyment out of their music and have a lot of fun with it. I think the album that shows them at their creative peak is 1978's 'Pieces of Eight.' For me, that record is full of a good mix of uplifting and hard rocking tracks, strong songwriting and a real sense of chemistry within the band. However, following that release, key songwriter Dennis Deyoung started taking the band in a different direction with much more of an emphasis on power ballads such as the hit songs "Babe'' and "The Best of Times" along with somewhat of a theatrical edge and personally, they begin to lose me here. Being candid, I think the following records are the reason that they have the mixed reputation that they do today. Ultimately, this sound reached its eclipse on the notoriously disastrous half-concept record Kilroy Was Here in 1983 that also boasted a nearly equally infamous trainwreck of a tour that soon after, led to the split of the band. After some solo efforts from the members that ended with mixed results, the band came back in 1990 with Dennis Deyoung once again at the helm, notably with the absence of the other key songwriter, guitarist and singer: Tommy Shaw. This album was titled Edge of the Century. However, despite having a hit song in "Show Me The Way," it just wasn't meant to be, and the band split once more soon after in 1991. Personally, I think I like this record even less than Kilroy to be frank about it. However, this wasn't the end of this story. In 1995, the band was back with almost the classic lineup intact. Drummer John Panozzo was struggling with alcoholism, which he eventually succumbed to in 1996, unfortunately. Taking his place was a young Todd Sucherman, more on him later. The resulting tour of this reunion ended up being a massive success, so of course, it only made sense to make a new record. Unfortunately, old gripes and tensions would resurface during the making of 1999s Brave New World, resulting in an album that comes off to me as just directionless and among their weakest material. Soon after, Dennis Deyoung was more or less kicked out the band due to him and Tommy Shaw, along with other guitarist James Young finding it incapable to get along after all these years. I get the impression Dennis, found somewhat of a niche, and perhaps many many dollars in his more ballad based direction. When for all this time, Tommy and JY wanted to bring the band back to it's hard rockin' somewhat prog adjacent roots. They brought in Canadian singer/songwriter Lawrence Gowan to fill his shoes, and in 2003, they released Cyclorama. An album that.... exists. It didn't make much of a splash in the 2003 music landscape, so the band from there on out decided to become a touring band. That remained the case until 2017.

Deterred from the commercial failure of the last album, the band was always hesitant to throw new songs in the pool. However, seemingly finding a new source of inspiration, Tommy Shaw teamed up with songwriting partner Will Evankovich to write new music. This eventually led to 2017s "The Mission." Now, I can't imagine too many oldschool Styx fans were very enthusiastic about the prospect of a new Styx album, without Dennis Deyoung, in 2017. However, this album actually blew me away, and it seemingly had a similar effect on fans who were willing to embrace this current lineup of the band. You see, this album didn't feel like a return to form. Instead, it was something new, a progression, a reinvention. While classic elements of their sound still remained in the mix, I found this record to be not only among one of their most progressive, but also very bold and ballsy. They sounded tight, inspired, and the production and songs were excellent. The drumming of Todd Sucherman also just took things to a new level, dudes insane. Since its release, I've always held it as the second best Styx record. That brings us to the present, 2021. Styx has released the follow-up to that record with Crash of the Crown and once again, they've really surprised me with just how well they've moved their sound into the 21st century compared to many of their contemporaries. The production is once again extremely rich, potentially even better than ever with more of an emphasis on embracing ear candy electronic and percussive subtleties. This album, like The Mission, is a concept record, perhaps a little looser than its predecessor in that respect. It falls into one cohesive unit with all the songs flowing into one another with different motifs and melodies recurring throughout the record. I mentioned that The Mission to me, was likely their record that was the most rooted in progressive rock. Well at this point, Styx is just a modern prog band in the same vein as Ted-era Spock's Beard, Neal Morse Band, some Kansas and even early Dream Theater. This is a straight up progressive rock album with pop rock sensibilities, rather than the other way around like it tended to be on their 70s albums. Once again, the drumming! Todd Sucherman just cruises through a multitude of odd meters and rapid structural change-ups across this record. Tommy Shaw just sounds exactly the same as he did in the mid 70's, his voice simply hasn't aged. I can't quite say the same for James Young, but he only has one lead vocal on this album and it's also a shared lead vocal at that. So really, the performances and production on this record get an A+. Very few bands of this age ever sound this inspired and fierce to me. Also unlike many contemporaries, this isn't a nostalgia act. This is a band that's pushing themselves creatively and trying all sorts of new sounds and song structures, and that's likely going to be a turn off to a chunk of their fanbase which? is likely made up of a lot of old classic rock radio fans who aren't particularly interested in that. That's alright though. At the very least, they've earned back my respect with these last two records for this reason. Let's get into the songs now.

The Fight of Our Lives is a short opener that quickly introduces a motif that will pop up again later in the title track. The band quickly hits you with a pretty signature large-scale Styx harmony. This track acts as a bit of an overture to the album, but ultimately, while this does a good job of kicking off the album in an energetic fashion, there's much higher peaks to be reached later on. For example, the following track "A Monster." Though once again clocking in just over 3 minutes, this track feels very complete and packs a lot into those three short minutes. It opens with a cool menacing main riff before flowing right into a nice acoustic guitar backed verse. The synth melodies across this song really stick with me and always act as a nice little immediate payoff within the music whenever they pop up. This track gives me some strong Dream Theater vibes, especially in the closing minute where Gowan seems to channel Jordan Rudess for a sweet solo to close things off. One of the best tracks here, really tight vocal performance as well which is somewhat of a constant across this record. Reveries is a really pleasant and playful track similar to Fooling Yourself off the Grand Illusion, but now with Gowan delivering the lead vocal. It has a very summery vibe to it with another big chorus and uplifting synth lead. This song also packs a pretty fiery guitar solo in the middle that adds a little "umph" to it. Hold Back The Darkness is a somewhat more intimate and darker song. I like a lot of the production effects in this track, and the somewhat slowburner cadence behind it is a nice change up as well. While I have no particular complaints, it just ends up falling a little middle of the pack on the album, as does the following track Save Us From Ourselves. Again, nothing blatantly wrong here. It just doesn't stand out to me. Perhaps extending it by a little bit and throwing in a little more variety would have benefitted it. That's something you may notice on this album, the songs are all very short. It's pretty clear this tracklisting was designed for a full album front to back listen, but on a couple tracks I do feel there's room for a little more development and extension and this is one of them. The titular track that follows this up however, similarly to a monster accomplishes plenty in its runtime just shy of 4 minutes. All three lead vocalists get a little time to shine here and structurally this track is broken up into three different sections to complement the vocal shifts. The opening is very exciting and melodic with a smooth 5/4 groove. Gowan transitions us into the next passage of the song with a cool little symphonic sounding synth motif before it kicks into Tommy Shaws portion of the song. The groove! Closing the song is a really rampaging and stomping finale with some cheeky little nods to Queen in the guitars and vocal deliveries. The album really hits a stride starting with this track, as Our Wonderful Lives totally soars. I feel bad because I think I've said this word a good four times already in this review, but man, this song is so incredibly uplifting. It just really hits the spot, especially now in this time where I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where my life is more or less, back to normal. For those of you not quite there, please hang in there! This track has one of the strongest hooks on the record, and towards the end of the track there's some nice Beatles-esque horns. Keeping this momentum, Common Ground comes up next and once more, stands tall as one of the best songs on this album. Once more, the hook is incredibly inspiring. This one reminds me a little bit of Sing For The Day off Pieces of Eight. I also really like the little change of tone in the instrumental halfway through this song, as well as the tradeoff of lead vocals towards the end. Continuing this streak is Sound the Alarm, a very pretty ballad covering ground that sounds both somber, yet hopeful at the same time. Funnily enough, this one reminds me a little bit of Take Away My Pain by Dream Theater, which honestly when you really listen, sounds more like a Styx song than it does a Dream Theater song. The keys act as a strong backbone to this song, properly setting the stage for an emotional delivery from Shaw on lead vocals. The next track Long Live The King doesn't quite stand out as much as the sweet streak of tracks that preceded it, but the instrumentation on this song is really unique in its darker somewhat windier tone. Lost at Sea is a short little dreamy interlude that brings us into another highlight in 'Coming Out The Other Side,' which is kind of a good summary for what I feel like my life has been like as of late. This track has an effortless 9/4 groove, while the music and melodies around it blossom with beauty. The guitar solo on this track is probably my favorite across the whole album. There's an incredible amount of feel in the playing and the guitar tone really compliments the performance we're given. The solo would make Andy Latimer of Camel proud. Unfortunately, the next track on the album "To Those" is my least favorite. It's not bad, but it's the only track where I feel like it's very safely a Styx song. I feel that on this track they're pulling just a little too much from some of their past works. The chorus has a pretty similar melody to the Pieces of Eight titular track as well as a few cuts off The Grand Illusion. Perhaps it can easily be summed up as the least adventurous track, and sadly, adventure is what I'm looking for in this album. Now on the final track Stream! This is a really good note to end out on and I think "Stream" is a fitting title for the music that accompanies it. The guitar solo that takes up half of this relatively short track is probably my second in command after the one on Coming Out the Other Side. The solo and cadence of the track has a real easygoing and comfortable quality to it that I really dig. This is another case though where I think the track could've been extended by about a minute, giving the band room to build up to an even more majestic finale. Instead the track somewhat anticlimactically fades out, but I'm happy enough with what we have here!

I'm super into this album right now and Styx should be proud of it! A certain subset of fans will probably immediately write it off because a certain name isn't attached to it, but at the very least, I hope some of those people at least give it a few spins with an open mind to see if it ends up changing their perception or growing on them with time. This album makes me happy, and it came at a time when I'm in a perfect headspace and situation to? feel happy! I hope we see another album from Styx where they continue this inspired and proggy direction. Hopefully I can catch the band at some point this summer and see some of these tracks live. Feel no shame about loving the bands you love folks!

4 Stars

A step backwards.

To the highest bidder is great, this is not.

The opening is a short Supersister song that changes midway into a deeper/darker song with a narrator providing rather lame narration. The second song is not a song, although It's potentially my favourite track on the album. Psychopath is no 3 and is a another short song with vocals that are again delivered in a meh manner, not as bad as radio, 3/5. The fourth song is where the album begins getting bad. It consists of deep drones for minut after minute with a small respite then back to the ambient. The last song is by far the worst and why this album get 2/5. It is a sprawling mess of 20 minutes that is arduous to get through. No beauty to be found, all the stereotypes about this kind of music come true, riff salad, excessive length, terrible.

1975 is a pivotal year for Kansas who are in a particularly prolific phase of their career, then in full swing. In fact, in the same year they publish Songs for America and Masque, the second and third work of their discography respectively, just one year after the homonymous debut. With the first two works the group had already achieved a good status, emerging as a unique case in the US scene, by virtue of a paradoxically very European style already able to gracefully mix hard rock, folk, classical music and instrumental fugues, daughters of the best progressive tradition, a genre that was at the peak of its popularity at the time. Despite the excellent conditions, however, Kansas were still far from the enormous success achieved in the following years with the two bestsellers Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. For this reason Masque can be framed in a certain sense as a transition album, on the one hand still linked to prog tout court, on the other to the strenuous search for that perfect combination of chart-breaking pieces and artistic freedom that only very few can boast.

Taking this into account, however, it is good to underline it immediately, Masque is a great record. The eight tracks contained therein are practically all high-profile, revealing here and there real underrated gems and, in retrospect, a little overshadowed by the two sensational future successes. Apart from the two initial songs It Takes a Woman's Love (To Make a Man) and Two Cents Worth, as cheerful as they are light-hearted but in fact ordinary in proposing a hard- prog without particular jolts in the first and a nice guitar dirty with the wah pedal in the second - with an almost soulful vein - Masque definitely takes off starting from the third track. In fact, we think of the wild violin solo in Icarus-Borne on Wings of Steel set to embellish a rocky hard rock ride with epic tones, or the roller coaster between solids and voids of All the World. And again it is a pleasure to be carried away by the hard-prog of Child of Innocence or by the fun and irresistible It's You (where Steinhardt again plays the lion's share with his trusty violin), or even the proto-heavy metal in abundant prog sauce. and loaded with reinforcement keyboards from Mysteries and Mayhem. And what about the final Pinnacle, which in nine grandiloquent minutes dispenses a successful bignami on how to write a prog piece in three distinct sections: the dynamic instrumental intro, the more reflective central part that leaves ample space for vocal lines alternating with short solo interventions and finally the classic instrumental closing in crescendo dubbed by the voice of the always effective Steve Walsh.

This album, as I said at the beginning, is a kind of transitional material, but regardless of this, this is another great success of this fantastic band.

After the surprising 1974 self-titled album that had made up their debut, the sextet released "Song for America" in 1975, yet another confirmation of the talent and uniqueness of the proposal formulated by the American group. The musical direction undertaken, although incredibly mature and technically flawless already with the previous platter, had not yet taken a well-defined turn, so it is with this second album that Kansas define their style by enclosing their musical world in a sound of theyr own. Influences and musical genres very distant from each other find in this context an amalgamation and a truly enviable body, we recall for example the strong country rock component, the massive doses of grandiloquent arrangements taken directly from the romantic period of classical music, the blues component is also important and heartfelt, ending with the predominant use of hard rock distortion that makes the power of the riffs the other fundamental characteristic of Kansas music. Each song can therefore be understood as a story in itself, starting with the opener "Down the road" which risks taking the listener immediately off topic since it does not hit anything with the rest of the album, the boogie rock sung by Steinhardt it is discreet as well as his violin phrases in a country "grass" key, but we are far from saying that this is a representative track for their music.

In fact, all doubts are dispelled by the title-track, more than ten minutes of authentic magic, the pomp prog proposed here is at the highest levels both in terms of creativity and technique, and from this point of view Kansas seem to fear no comparison with anyone. ; countertimes, splendid melodies, pure prog passages accompanied by that dreamy atmosphere that only classical music can recreate, appear in turn from this small work of art. The incredible voice of Steve Walsh and the extremely refined drumming of Phil Earth perfectly fit into this context. There is no respite and the third "Lamplight Simphony" is just as majestic and full of phatos, here too, as in the previous track, the style is decidedly marked by a romantic atmosphere interspersed with sudden changes of tempo. Rising like a rock in the middle of the sea, the heavy hard'n'blues of "Lonely Street", the massive guitar riff and the deep feeling of the voice of both Walsh / Steinhardt singers make this piece an important variation in key. hard rock of the album, which turns out to be one of the most heterogeneous of the Kansas production as already mentioned several times previously.

The tones become brighter the more frenetic rhythms, "The Devil Game" is an authentic bomb and in five minutes the American "naturalists" contain a concentration of energy that makes anyone pale, this is a track that borders on absolute masterpiece , the mastery of the instruments is exceptional, the proposed rhythm is a breathtaking hard prog ride and the rhythm section holds an odd tempo in continuous variation, in which acrobatic solos of violin and guitar alternate, and everything turns out to be the center of attention enough to make each instrument - including the voice - sound like a continuous solo. There could not have been a better ending then with "Incomudro" a twelve-minute composition, which can artistically summarize the incredible cultural background of the main inspirer of Kansas music and that is the guitarist / keyboardist Kerry Livgren, who manages in his great desire to amaze , because there is not a single second of boredom even in this long pomp prog rock digression, extremely spectacular are the approximately three minutes of Phil Earth's drum solo with his very original use of the double bass drum (and we are in 1975). from a series of effects that integrate it perfectly into the musical game of this latest piece. Credit for the success and importance of this platter therefore goes beyond the skill and class of all the musicians involved, to the compositional genius of Kerry Livgren, one of the most underrated musicians ever in the rock field; Kansas in fact, when they separate from him in the 80s, while maintaining a high quality standard of their music, will be forced to change genre moving towards AOR sounds (excellent however). In conclusion, a disc recommended to everyone without distinction, especially to prog metal lovers, you will see that it will not disappoint you and that it will reserve you many positive surprises.

Formed in Topeka, Kansas, in 1970, under the name of White Clover they had been the shoulder to one of the last concerts of the Doors, in New Orleans, and that already speaks volumes. Thanks to a trip to England by drummer Phil Ehart, where he got to know the bombast of Genesis and ELP, the early style is immediately transformed into a delightful fusion of rock, folk and classical music. After numerous line-up changes the band takes the name Kansas and stabilizes in a sextet formed as well as by the aforementioned Ehart, by guitarists Kerry Livgren and Richard Williams, by bassist Dave Hope, by singer and keyboardist Steve Walsh and above all by ' important figure of classically trained violinist and singer Robby Steinhardt. The drafting of the album of the same name in 1974 is characterized by the production of Don Kirshner, discoverer of the Monkees. The style explicitly refers to the English prog of the early '70s, with boogie and hard-rock tints, and it is immediately a success: they fill stadiums and arenas, establishing themselves as the greatest American prog-band, even if initially the sales are not exceptional.

The production of the American group begins with a very lively and amused, almost joking style. Perfect for a festival of acrobats and trapeze artists, under a circus tent. A new and fresh sound, of which in those years we find very few similarities with the contemporary world of music. The folk rhythms combined with the synthesizers and the novelty of the violin work, with a damn winning alchemy. The differences with the Italian and British world of the time are clear and the refrains that we could define as pop have that something extra. We should immerse ourselves in the reality of the early 1970s, imagine being in the American state of the same name and having purchased a copy of the vinyl, on the cover of which we find war images, start the music and enjoy the show. Impossible not to think of the reaction of the very first listeners: "Oh my God!". As mentioned previously, the mix of prog, folk and blues works, a mix that interpenetrates gives life to something better than genres taken individually and giving a touch of never heard before. The guitar riff accompanied by the violin is memorable, with a cantabile and catchy refrain that does the rest, to permanently impress everything in history. The first half of the disc is characterized by these short and rapid songs, such as Bringing It Back, the daughter technique of the progressive genre is all in the tight exchanges of keyboards, organ, violin and guitar enclosed in three minutes or so. The initial wonder leaves room for a more classic ballad with nostalgic tones, Lonely Wind, on which there is no need to spend too much thought. What about Belexes, with the scratchy guitar typical of hard rock that further embellishes a sound already rich in characterizing elements that close with a short drum solo, the kind usually offered at the end of the concert. Journey From Mariabronn is the song that closes the A side of the vinyl, the first two minutes are dominated by the keyboards while the iconic voice of Steve Walsh gradually takes the chair. The second half of the song is a masterpiece, Dave Hope's bass dictates the timing for a change of register and we start with a riot of prog. The Pilgrimage opens the B side of the LP in an unpretentious and at times even light-hearted way, having fun while having fun. But we prog lovers don't like to have fun, we like to listen to long and technical suites. If we look at our continent and above all at the British production, defining a song of just nine minutes as a suite could be an offense, but here we are in the United States and we can expect a clear difference. Apercu leaves a lot of space for the violinist Robbie Steinhardt who draws sound textures in freedom, followed closely by keyboards, synthesizer, guitars, bass and so on and so forth, we are facing the highest moment, the climax of the record. Here we find the manual for every band that will approach neo progressive from the 90s onwards, that is practically all of Neal Morse's projects, if you want to joke about it. For the same speech made above, it is difficult to consider a nine- minute song in those years suite, even less one of not even eight, but this is how Kansas themselves define their Death Of Mother Nature. A grand closing of a band aware of having just built something new, a difficult-to-define genre that starts from blues, enriches itself with folk, passing through hard rock to get to the real final goal, progressive rock.

The final consideration is that in a certain hard-prog arena, along with Canadians Rush, Kansas have far excelled over any other European band. With the next four albums they will reach full maturity and become one of the most beautiful and original and, if desired, underrated bands in history.

One of the best Post-Metal albums I've ever heard. The first CD is ok but the second CD is where it all really shines. Heavy riff sections, death metal vocals, trancelike keyboards, all packed into one. Precambrian is a double-CD album that features The Ocean showcasing all the skills (which are many) that they're good at.

Hadean/Archaean is the first CD and features very straightforward progressive metal. It's forty minutes shorter than the second CD. The second CD features more atmospheric, sludge-metal-ish music and it works even better. Highly recommended to all Post-Metal fans. Very solid, very well performed. Five stars for me.

"In a Silent Way" has an incredible lineup of young musicians and the album might have set the world on fire in 1969, but I just don't get it. Sure, the musicians are doing something new that has never been done, i.e., infusing electronic instruments with jazz, but it sounds like nothing more than a long-tired jam. The first track "Shhh/Peaceful" is a repetitive ditty that revolves around one chord. Yeah, you read that right. One chord. Miles makes his appearance around 1'45" into the song, the bass guitar keeps repeating the same few notes through the entire song. The entire song! My god, the patience that Dave Holland must endure. The band keeps flailing along trying to make something special out of this one chord song, but it doesn't happen. I can't take much more, and by ten minutes into the eighteen-minute most repetitive song ever - I'm done. Please make it stop!! There is nothing earth shattering about this, except maybe the jokes on you for listening to a song this long that flounders endlessly.

The title track is next. Oh no! For four minutes it seems to be another one note song. The same note even? It does move a bit after four minutes, but then the same note is played over and over by Dave until 8'20". What did Dave do to deserve this? Ugh! So, there are a couple more notes thrown in for about 40 seconds - back to one note riffage - then back to the previous riff. At 11'40" the bass changes some, and then at 12'40" we go back to the same riff we heard at 8'20". Miles' solos are good but not good enough to drawn my focus away from the three riffs that make up this song. At 15'38" a guitar part is introduced that is totally removed from anything played before, and Dave, once again, is playing his one note - being faithful to that one note - hanging on to that one note - forever just one note. And "In a Silent Way" ends.

Ok, so I don't understand what the fuss is over this and why this is hailed as a masterpiece. This isn't essential to anyone's record collection. If I heard this when it was released, I don't think my reaction would be any different. For me this is a very repetitious record and if that's your gig it's in abundance here. Me, I like music that evolves, that is unpredictable, and I don't find any of that here.