SONG FOR AMERICA

Kansas second studio album is very interesting and radical. The prog songs are maybe their most ´traditional´ (in a european way) of their entire career. The rockers on the other side are the hardest, heavier they ever recorded. This album proves they could easily hold both styles. It´d take them some time to balanced and mix both elements to make their very own and distinctive sound.

Anyway, all the songs are very good, even if they are all quite different from each other. Song For America, the title track, is the most celebrated and rightly so: it was a big sep into the right direction. But Lamplight Symphony and Incomumdro are also very well done and deserved better attention. Down The Road, The Devil Game and the bluesy Lonely Street are the rockers, and in that vein, quite good too. Highlights are the incredible, tight instrumental passages and the passionate vocals. Production is only average.

All in all an excellent early album by one of the most influential and important prog bands of North America. 4 solid stars.