MONOLITH

Monolith is often pointed to as the beginning of the slide for Kansas, and in some ways it was. But the album as a whole is extremely well arranged, and considering it was the band’s first attempt at self-production in the studio, pretty well constructed overall.

There have been many reviews written stating that the clear distinction between the Steve Walsh and the Kerry Livgren penned tunes as well as the ongoing internal squabbles in the band were a result of Walsh’s impatience with Livgren’s insistence on cranking out Christianity-inspired lyrics. This is not quite right. In fact, Monolith released in May 1979, and was recorded largely between February and March of that year. Livgren has stated many times that he converted to Christianity during the 87-city tour supporting the Monolith release, not before (on July 29, 1979 to be exact – one month after Monolith was certified as a gold-selling album). In fact, most of the Livgren tunes on the album (as well as “No One Together”, which was written during this time but released on Audio-Visions) were written while Livgren was still an ardent supporter of the Urantia Book, a cosmically spiritual alter-Bible of sorts that surfaced in Chicago in the mid 20th century. The Christian lyrics would come with Audio-Visions and Livgren’s solo debut Seeds of Change in 1980. Livgren was, to be fair, pretty much always inclined to mystic lyrics and arrangements bordering on the spiritual though.

There were certainly divisions in the band, but they were more because of Walsh’s desire for the band to pursue a simpler, more rock-infused musical path and less of a spacey, progressive one (and also probably because of Walsh’s liquid-consumption-plus-short- temper problem during this period). In fact, Walsh had penned some tunes during this timeframe that were not included on Monolith for whatever reason, but did end up on his own solo debut Schemer-Dreamer in 1980. It is interesting to note that this is the first Kansas album that did not include any co-authored works between Livgren and Walsh.

Coming off three consecutive multi-platinum selling albums, Monolith was a bit of a letdown for the band, but the period of 1979-1980 was a watershed period for many progressive bands, what with the competing genres of punk, new wave, and disco. It’s worth noting that the #1 album in America the day Monolith went gold was Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls”. Still, the album went on to sell nearly 900,000 copies, and will more than likely still top the platinum mark at some point anyway.

The songs themselves are somewhat varied, but most of them are pretty good. “On the Other Side” is pure Kansas, with a lot of spacey moog, gorgeous violin work by frontman Robbie Steinhardt, and some great guitar work by Livgren and Rich Williams. This is just as good as pretty much anything Kansas had done previously, plus it features the timeless lyrics –

“The answers are so simple and we all know where to look,

But it’s easier just to avoid the question”. amen

“People of the South Wind” is routinely panned as pseudo-disco fluff, which is a bit unfair. Livgren wrote this as a concert song, a kind of reflective, backward-looking nostalgic piece from the viewpoint of a weary road-warrior. Walsh said years later that the reason the band doesn’t play it any more is that they haven’t been able to capture the same vibe live that the song had back then. I can say from having seen it live in Wichita Kansas during the Audio-Visions tour that it was massively well-received by citizens of the state it was intended to pay tribute to. It was also one of two singles from the album.

Walsh really outdoes himself on “Angels Have Fallen”, a song whose lyrics sound remarkably like something Livgren would have written. This is probably the best thing Walsh had done since “Lonely Street” on Song for America. The abrupt tempo changes are atypical for Walsh, but make for a nice musical adventure. Walsh’s voice is superb, and Steinhardt sounds so young in his backing vocals that it’s almost shocking to hear today. Phil Ehart really makes this one work with some tight tempo discipline on drums. This has an intense guitar bridge with Williams laying down his meat-wall of sound and Livgren’s Dean just climbing all over it. Walsh on piano and Steinhardt on violin lay down some really delicate chords around the thunderous rhythm section and wall of guitar riffs. This is another song that just begs to be sung live.

“How My Soul Cries Out For You” is a bit of self-indulgence by the band, more like a semi- controlled jam session than a true studio work. Ehart is barely restrained on drums, including a short solo that is quite good but seemingly pointless; Walsh and Steinhardt alternate on some rocking vocals, backed by what sounds like the entire band; and Steinhardt tears up his violin pretty much uncontrollably. The crowd noises, opening doors, and breaking glass in the middle are pretty goofy, but Livgren makes up for it with some wicked guitar over the top of Ehart and bassist Dave Hope toward the end. Like I said, a bi self-indulgent, but if nothing else the players clear up any questions as to whether they have mastered their respective instruments. This is probably about a seven on a scale of one to ten.

“A Glimpse of Home” is actually one of my favorite songs on this album. Musically it’s fairly simple and straightforward for a Kansas song (especially one written by Livgren), but it’s a perfect example of one of those spiritually-minded works that Walsh was apparently coming to detest. Kind of funny though, because it also sounds a lot like the back side of Walsh’s solo album Schemer-Dreamer. Really, I have to believe the issues between Walsh and Livgren back then had to do with something much more basic than musical differences.

“Away From You” is the one song on this album that I’m very surprised Walsh didn’t hold back for his upcoming solo album. Other than the opening keyboard/violin flourish, the rest of this song sounds just like the stuff Walsh did solo. I kind of wonder if “Away From You” was the compromise made to Walsh in exchange for not including “No One Together” on this album. Livgren has said in interviews that he felt “No One Together” was an important song for Monolith, and I can say from having bought this at the height of my fervor for the band that it would have been a better choice than “Away From You”, which wasn’t well-received by fans back then.

It seems that every once and a while the band acted on their urge for a dirty, nasty blues rocker, usually co-written by Walsh and Williams. “Stay Out of Trouble” is the one for this album. These are often the songs that feature some sort of drugs/booze references, plenty of low-down vocals by Steinhardt, and Williams getting funky on his six strings. This one is no exception. Don’t be surprised if this resurfaces on tour with David Ragsdale back in the band.

The closing track “Reason To Be” is among the finest singles ever released by Kansas. It’s slow, heavily acoustic, and forward-looking. Another Livgren classic that would have been a huge hit just a couple years earlier, but was largely written off as sappy amidst some of the other crap that was filling the airwaves at the time –

“Someday something will find you, a magic feeling you could not foresee;

A feeling so devastating, from that moment on your life’s a comedy”.

A largely unheralded and underappreciated yet solid work from the boys from the heartland. A few production flaws, mostly on “How My Soul Cries Out For You”, and somewhat fragmented due to the split-personality known as Walsh & Livgren, but otherwise a great addition to any fan’s collection. This one teeters between three and four stars, but since all of these tracks are at least good (and some are great), I’m erring on the side of fan-boy and marking this down for four stars.

peace