AUDIO-VISIONS

After the release of Steve Walsh and Kerry Livgren's solo albums, it would have been reasonable to expect that some sort of renewed and reneweing energy would found the core of the next Kansas album. But this was not the case, since Audio-Visions (not being IMO the disaster that many claim it to be) followed the creative downslide that was started in half of the Monolith material. Actually, these two albums bear a stronger sound production than most of the classic era albums, and there's a more featured presence of bass and drum kit in the mix, which in turn seems to motivate the guitar parts (either sole or dual) to create a more robust spirit. But this strength is never matcehd by an equally strong song writing. The fatc that the best rack in the album is the Livgren-penned 'No One Together', an unexpected leftover from Monolith, should give you an indication that the band was not getting closer to a genuine artistic rennaissance. Walsh and Livgren had built an abyss of void between them, with the former trying to take his ever-stronger arena-rock leanings to the band's helm and the latter procuring to tear the band's dramatic symphonic heritage asunder on behalf of a Christian art-rock scheme. Way to go, boys! - trying to make Kansas a mere extension of what you did on your solo efforts. The sign of times had already stated some standards for what was cool in North American rock, and Kansas was getting increasingly closer to tht standard. The loss of personality resulting of all this was the price to pay for a waning of the main writers' creative juices. Let's go to the repertoire now. 'Relentless' opens up the album on an enthusiastic vein, with attractive motifs beautifully intertwined in a catchy manner. This track sounds at times as a poor man's 'Carry On wayward Son', but if you check the live videos in Youtube, you will notice that in concert this track acquired a considerable dose of stamina. 'No One Together' is the real Livgren gem here, displaying a mind-blowing sequence of well-constructed melodic ideas in a most orchestral fashion: this track capitulates the spirit of the first 5 albums in a 7 minute span. 'Curtain of Iron' is not so well constructed, although here you can find some very good guitar solos. Less ambitious but more elegant (as well as catchier) is the beautiful ballad 'Hold On', really haunting - I only miss a major presence of violin, a thing that is properly updated in live renditions (Vinyl Confessions tour) and newer versions (Always Never the Same). The set of Walsh-penned songs is more irregular, since they go from self-indulgent AOR ('Anything for You', 'Got to Rock On') to straightforward hard rock ('Loner') to polished blues-rock ('No Room for a Stranger', co-authored by Williams) to symphonic prog ballad ('Back Door'). I mus tadmit that I find 'Got to Rock On' a very appealing song, conveniently ordained as to avoid the simplicity of the basic motif, but not enough as to avoid sounding generic (as an improved Foreigner, so to say). 'Loner' has some funny country undertones amidst the heavy rocking guitars. 'Back Door' is a majestic closure for the album: one of the most moving Walsh compositions ever, it includes a soaring violin solo, effective piano washes and a nice military-based conclusion. 'Don't Open Your Eyes' is an excercise on complex hard rock with both a vivid spirit and a scary overtone, much in tune with the schizophrenia-laden lyrics. It's quite a good song, but I wonder if this interesting idea couldn't have been developed further as to explore its epic potential further. Well, the epic thing is left to the whole 'No One Together' and the climatic ending of 'Back Door'. Just a very good album with an uneven tracklist: that's what Audio-Visions is. Something had to give in at this point of Kansas' career, and the line-up for the following album in this spiral of decay is proof that it did.