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Kansas - Song for America CD (album) cover

SONG FOR AMERICA

Kansas

 

Symphonic Prog

4.15 | 830 ratings

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Cesar Inca
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
5 stars As someone else before me already stated, 'Song for America' is Kansas' first great album: in fact, it is one of the definite milestones of American prog during its maturing phase. I once read that Kansas put the emphasis in rock in the label "prog rock", and that is pretty clear. This sextet sure can play complex melodies, harmonic counterpoints, and unusual time signatures, and yet, always find a space to show off their American self (tight sounding rock, energetic blues, high-spirited country-rock) and make it an integral of their own prog style. This is the reason why I find the opening track 'Down the Road' and the 11/8 tempo based blues 'Lonely Street' complementary to the rest of the material, which is undoubtfully more ambicious in terms of writing and more demanding in terms of performing and interacting (that is not to say that the aforementioned numbers are simplistic - pay attention to the fiery organ and violin parts in track 1, or the awesome guitar duets and dialogues in track 4, and you'll hear by yourself). But it's obvious that the other tracks are the most explicitely articulated under the usual symph prog standards. The title track has a very well deserved status of classic in the band's repertoire: the rich keyboards textures and chords, the way that the violin interact with the synths and the synths with each other, and the fluid integration of the different melodic lines that flow one after the other and finally come back... well, it's all superb. Less spectacular but far more dramatic, is 'Lamplight Symphony', a deeply emotional ghost love story where Steinhardt's violin rivals with the leads and harmonies on various synths in the struggle to steal the limelight: a special mention goes to the beautiful interlude of piano and violin, which gives us a momentary rest before the drama returns and eventually culminates with grim grandeur. 'The Devil Game' is rooted in Texan-oriented rock, but its branches are expanded and reconstructed in an explosive prog manner. Yet, no explosion in this record is bigger than in the 12-minute long closing title: 'Incomudro' is an ambicious suite that keeps an intense, introspective melancholy in the Buddhist lyrics, that ultimately winds up like a fire of mystical inspiration in a Beethoven-like vein (until a "literal" explosion occurs, in the shape of a synth effect) - other highlights of this track include the Arabic rondo interlude, and the elephantine drum solo that follows, which I interpret as a replica to the sonic architecture that preceeded it. An awesome closing to an awesome album: although it doesn't totally equal the perfection of the band's '76 and '77 masterpieces, it sure is an excellent world class master opus on its own.
Cesar Inca | 5/5 |

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