MONOLITH

After five albums, which I believe is not just my opinion but generally are regarded as some of the best in our beloved music, it was time for their first bum note (or should I say album), or, to be more precise, half-bum. The band had released two years ago the monumental Point of Know Return which contains the monster-hit Dust in the Wind that literally everybody has heard once in their life even if they live at the most remoted place in the world. This time the band decided to produce the album themselves and I don't know if the lack of an experienced producer played a role, although I would bet that it was more the pressure of coming up with a song that would draw about an equal response as Dust... did. On this album there are some typical Kansas songs like the opener On the Other Side, A Glimpse of Home, Away From You and Angels Have Fallen (which are also my favourite ones), How My Soul Cries Out For You and Stay Out of Trouble that rock harder but aren't something remarkable, especially the latter which features mainly one and only riff responsing to every line Walsh sings and it becomes somewhat wearisome whereas the former features some interesting theme and time changes and finally the radio-friendly People of the South Wind and Reason to Be which were actually the two singles of the album. People... was the first one, it didn't make an impact and the label figured that Reason to Be (which due to the acoustic guitar drew some parallels with Dust in the Wind although, to my ears, it's closer to The More Fool Me by Genesis - which doesn't belong to their best moments). Strangely enough, I don't consider People... as a bad choice because it balances finely between commerciality and quality, I can clearly see hear it in my mind's ear even at summer night clubs blasting through the speakers, it's so upbeat but still not your every-day radio single. Anyway, the album falls short due to the massive quality of their first five albums or else it isn't that bad and it deserved something better. In restrospect, it was a transitional album to the most commercial and less inspired 80s era that the band would follow.

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