EARLY RECORDINGS FROM KANSAS 1971-1973

This really is a piece of history that has been resurrected from the grave for all of us to hear and enjoy. But this is also a feel good story, when you have some of the members of the band who have been away from the musical spotlight for over 30 years, all of a sudden making new music in this band called PROTO-KAW. What we have here though are recordings from 1971-1973, these are demos really that aren't the best quality but certainly are good enough to bring joy to a lot of people including me. You aren't going to find a lot of KANSAS-like music here, in fact the music here has more in common with early KING CRIMSON. There are two guys playing sax and flute and no violin play.

Things get started with "Hegemonium" opening with keyboards, this song has some heavy lyrics and the sax here reminds me of KING CRIMSON. "Reunion In The Mountains Of Sarne" is a slow paced song with some great flute. This song is very good and is the most memorable one on the record for me. "Nactolos 21" opens with Livegren on the piano. About 4 minutes in there is a good guitar solo and later in the song some noteworthy sax and flute.

"Belexis" features an organ and drum melody.This is an uptempo song that is pretty straight forward with some more good guitar. "Totus Nemesis" is a really good song. I love the instrumental parts, some good interplay. "Greek Structure Sunbeam" is a dreamy song with flute. "Incomudro" features some good drumming in the intro until it gets pastoral with gentle vocals. "Cyclops" is another highlight for me.This is a jazzy instrumental with a KING CRIMSON vibe. "Skont" has some great guitar and organ play, and these last two songs are actually live recordings. Highly recommended. In fact I much prefer this to KANSAS.