BEFORE BECAME AFTER

The album of this pre-Kansas band begins immediately with a classic. The song "Alt. More Worlds than Known" has everything it takes to remain memorable. The guitar riff and the structure are striking. The keyboards remind me of Murrey Head's "One Night in Bangkok". And towards the end, there's a bit of "Music" from John Miles. Making a reference to Kansas is not sufficient in order to categorize this CD. Besides the artists just mentioned, this album also reminds me of Kaipa, The Eagles, Robbie Robertson, King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator. You become fascinated by the music of Proto-Kaw starting from the first track. The voice of Lynn Meredith sounds pleasant and quickly familiar. The songs are strong and contain good melodies that are expressed in an especially nice way. These songs and the orchestral structure have been well thought out. It gives the songs more than just distinction. The setting gives the songs the necessary depth that allows this CD to be named as one of the better releases. The percussion really comes alive in "Leaven" and Kerry's guitar work in "Quantum Leap Frog" is exceptionally solid. Personally, I find this song to be a bit too jazzy in contrast to the other songs. In general, I find John Bolton's flute performance nicer then the saxophone pieces, but others will probably not agree. In any case, there is enough variation in styles and influences to fulfil everyone's imagination

This CD fascinates me much more than the previous Kansas albums. The record label executives of the 70s would have been deaf not to have heard that this was a hidden super band. Luckily they made it up now by putting out an excellent album!

>>> Review by: Jany (8,5/10) Translated by Jennifer Summer<<<