COLLECTOR'S SEDITION - DIRECTOR'S CUT

This was already my favorite Livgren solo release and now it is even better. The history of this album briefly was in the late 90's Kerry had prolific time of writing. Some of the material he had he thought sounded like Kansas so he contacted Kasnas drummer and manager Phil Erhart and Erhart listened and agreed. So the reunion album of Somewhere to Elsewhere was born.

This album is what was not chosen for that album. Livgren in the liner notes that he felt some pressure to release these tracks and he did so. In his own mind he never felt they were much more than demos so he wanted to revisit this CD an give these tracks their due diligence. With exception of some of the vocals and guitar tracks this CD is re-recorded, song order is changed and one song dropped and another added. Kerry also brought in Proto-Kaw band mates bassist Craig Kew and Drummer Mike Patrum to lend a hand. Proto-kaw's Jake Livgren has the majority of the lead vocals and sings on 7 tracks 5 other vocalists cover the other 7 tracks. The cover was even re-touched up by original cover artist Ken Westphal and the CD label was also redesigned. So this is almost a brand new album with familiar songs.

The re-recording is phenomenal these songs almost sound brand new. The re-mastering of already digital tracks from 16 to 24 bits is also shocking in its clarity. Livgren also stated he evaluated every keyboard track used for orchestration and most were rewritten and re-recorded using newer samples. I am telling you they really stand out now compared to the original. From the first note of Am Juengsten Tage you can hear the difference. When the drums kick in in On the Air you start to think this is really special.

The songs that were great before are stellar now and as good as anything Kerry has written and recorded with anyone. These are On the Air, The Sentinel, Hindsight, Cold Grey Morning and The Dragon. It is such a shame that these songs are never going to be heard live as they truly show the brilliance of Kerry as a songwriter and musician. The real beauty of this CD though is on the other songs I regarded as not as much on the original release. Songs such as the Navigator which is a ballad with a great vocal by Jake Livgren but all the nuances under the vocal in the acoustic guitar and the bass are really heard now and add so much to overall song. A song like As it Should Be comes alive with some great keyboard/guitar work and with its Latin rhythm it sounds almost like a live track. Livgren even adds a crowd response in it to make it seem more so. The backing vocal work in At Every Turn seems right next to you on this recording along with great new orchestration. This one is going to get a lot of listens on my play list.

There was one song that didn't make it on this Song Du Jour because the original master was lost. Kerry remastered the final cut as best he could and it is available for download at I-tunes. It was replaced by an add on called So Ends the Show kind of a Sgt Pepper outro so I am disappointed that we lose a complete song to this novelty even with its great guitar solo. So as much as I would like to give this a 5 star I will have to give it 4.5.