ON THE OTHER SIDE

This is one of those cut-priced compilations and you really don't need me for this, do you? I mean, you know the drill by now: ten tracks, some (but not all) of the big hits and the usual baffling selections. I'd point you toward The Best of Kansas, but that kind of sucked too. Not that the songs on either compilation are to blame. In this case, "Child of Innocence" and "What's On My Mind" are wonderful surprise substitutions. But is a single-disc Kansas compilation so daunting after all? The trouble may be that Kansas had two phases: the early prog years and the arena rock years. You know which side I fall on, and On The Other Side at least falls into my favor. Nothing on here is later than Monolith, which is where I usually cut the cord myself. But I keep coming back to that cut-priced mentality and the Skaroojiz at Sony/BMG. They even have the audacity to thank Phil Ehart for "his assistance in this project and making it possible." What project? It's a budget compilation for crying out loud; the interior CD cover spread is completely blank. However, among budget-price compilations, this actually ends up on the plus side. Usually these things include latter-day hits or live versions, but On The Other Side contains classic-period Kansas: "Can I Tell You" from their first album, three tracks from Masques, three from Leftoverture. You could do worse for seven dollars. You could also do better by picking up a used copy of Leftoverture or Point of Know Return. But as a sampler, I actually prefer this to The Best of Kansas (the 10-track original version).