POWER

For a long time after this album was released, I couldn’t put my finger on what it was that I didn’t like about it. There were quite a few things definitely missing: no multilayered arrangements with overlapping keyboard tracks and tree-hugging or spiritual lyrics; no violin (except in some limited orchestral backing); no extended-play opuses (or is that “opi”?); no dog-whistle-high vocals (for the most part); and of course, no Kerry Livgren, Dave Hope, or Robbie Steinhardt.

So what was really missing from this first album by the reformed Kansas was – well, Kansas.

This is actually a pretty good rock album. In some places it’s even a pretty good almost- metal album. What it’s not is a Kansas album, and doesn’t fall into the category of symphonic or progressive rock at all.

There was certainly no shortage of progressive 70’s icons reconstituting themselves in the mid-80’s as power-pop bands. Steve Hackett and Steve Howe were out marketing themselves as GTR; Carl Palmer, Geoff Downes and John Wetton were enjoying great success as Asia; and Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins were successfully passing themselves off as – well, “Genesis”, but we all knew better.

The point is, when Steve Walsh decided to abandon his critically-acclaimed but commercially disastrous Streets band and rejoin Phil Ehart and Rich Williams to record an album for MCA Records, they were not reforming Kansas. Had this incarnation been called – I don’t know, “India” maybe (since “Asia” was already taken), or GTX, or whatever – anything but “Kansas”, this probably would have been a much more successful venture. All the ingredients were there – a hugely talented guitarist and composer in Steve Morse; Steve Walsh with his ambidextrous talent on keyboards (and he still had most of his voice left at that point); a premiere drummer in Phil Ehart; and a solid bassist and vocalist in the journeyman Billy Greer. Plus Rich Williams had really come into his own as a multifaceted guitarist in the years since Livgren had left that duty solely to him in the early 80’s. But the name of the band inevitably attracted the fans from the 70’s version of the group, and they could not help but be disappointed and feel betrayed by this new sound, and by the new faces. It’s no wonder MCA abandoned the album (and eventually the band) in the face of this negative vibe.

Which is unfortunate, because the music here is mostly top-drawer stuff. “Silhouettes in Disguise” sounds a bit like a Steve Walsh autobiography (“they pick the time and place then they fall from grace; they’re riding on a rail trying to chase the dragon. Engines never cool – trade their sins for fuel – that’s what they’re running on when they’re blown to kingdom come”), but Ehart’s drumming is wild and riveting, and Walsh had never had a guitarist next to him before with the skill of Steve Morse.

“Power” comes off as a solid Rocky-type power ballad, led by virtuoso guitar work by Morse, Walsh’s best vocal performance in years, and a positive message of self- empowerment and encouragement. This was one of two hit singles on the album. The other was “All I Wanted”, a sappy tortured-love song that gave Steve Perry and Journey’s “Raised on Radio” a run for their money. This was not only the last Top-40 hit single for the band, it was also probably the best composition by Walsh since his first solo album six years prior.

“Secret Service” employs some orchestral backing to mixed effect. On the positive side, this gives the song more of a true Kansas sound than pretty much anything else they did on the MCA label. On the down side, the arrangements sound oddly out-of-place buried behind Walsh and Morse’s dirge-like vocals and guitar. The men’s glee-club backing vocals had kind of become a staple for all things Kansas in the 80’s – Livgren used these extensively on his first solo album Seeds of Change, as well on the first A.D. album, as did Kansas on Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures. In all cases they were largely unnecessary.

Considering both of their musical backgrounds (Morse with Dixie Dregs and Walsh with his visions of rock-god grandeur), it’s not surprising that the two of them could manage to put together a few rocking tunes. “We’re Not Alone Anymore” is one of these. Nothing in this song other than Walsh’s voice sounds like Kansas, but Ehart fills in between Walsh and Morse to make this a rocking number that would have been a crowd favorite in any juke-box bar in those days (and probably even today).

The liner notes of “Taking in the View” co-credit Morse and Walsh, but these lyrics are all Steve Walsh. More orchestral accompaniment here, and this time it works well augmenting Morse’s soaring guitar licks. Walsh sounds introspective and nostalgic, a mood that he has always worn quite well, with lyrics that are taking on a whole new meaning for me twenty years later, as I struggle with finding a workable arrangement for my aging parents and grandparent, and my children are growing up themselves and starting to form their own lives:

“The world began to change – the children moved and they had children.

It was all arranged you couldn’t live there anymore. All you had was that old place in the middle of the path of progress.

So they took the space and put the ceiling on the floor.”

If you don’t get it, wait twenty years and you will.

“Three Pretenders” is a Billy Greer composition, and he gets in some decent vocals here as well. This is vaguely similar to so many Walsh-penned lyrics, and the arrangement is nothing special, but it’s an okay tune.

“Tomb 19” is a strange collaboration between Morse and Walsh, probably written just as a way to showcase both of their own particular musical talents. It’s a tale of an ancient Mayan tomb that dispenses curses on those who dare to disturb it. This one seems out of place.

“Can’t Cry Anymore” is yet another power ballad, apparently brought in from outside to show off Walsh’s talent in pulling off these kinds of songs. It’s an okay close to the album, but honestly, the first time I heard this I didn’t even realize it was Walsh singing.

So this is a good album, maybe even a really good one, and a pretty decent rebound for Walsh, Ehart, and Williams after some struggles in the early part of the decade. It’s a Kansas album in name only really, and one has to wonder how successful it might have been if the players had made the bold move of creating a new persona for the group instead of tying this incarnation of the band to the considerable expectations that come with the name “Kansas”. Three stars.

peace