AUDIO-VISIONS

Being written so long after its release, my opinion of this album has shifted somewhat over the decades. Being a rock solid fan of the band and drooling over the likes of their debut and "Masque", "Leftoverture" and "Point Of Know Return", as my review of "Monolith" stated, every band has that moment when they have hit their creative heights and then begin to run out of unique songs that have that "WOWZA" sound. This band was great at throwing in hooks into their songs that were anything but predictable. They were unique and fresh.

"Monolith" was the starting to come down album and I still remember my disappointment when it first came out. They had come off the high of Point and their first live album and the fizzle happened. While there were some notable songs on that album it just didn't measure up and was too predictable. I rushed right out and swallowed up "Audio Visions" as soon as it was released hoping that they had another great surge. Back then I was not aware of the internal politics as I am today and one thing I do like about Kansas is that they did better to keep the drama out of the public's sight than most bands.

I was to be disappointed again but I would rate this album higher than "Monolith" but I am not sure why. As has been pointed out, the longer songs with heavy instrumental passages were being left behind in the dust. We must also understand that in the late 70's and early 80's prog was being left behind in the dust by many of the great prog bands. Don't even get me started on my favorite band Genesis whose transition to 3 was not a good one.

There are some songs on the album that have that Kansas sound and that is Kerry's songs. As "ClemofNazareth" penned in his review to the left "No One Together" sounded out of place and that is because Kerry wanted it on "Monolith" but after an argument with Walsh, Steve's "How My Soul" got on the album so this was a leftover without the ture?. That song is fair as well as my favorite "Don't Open Your Eyes" which was a group written song minus Robbie. "Relentless" opens then album up and I liked it's straight at you rock drive. Steve's selections didn't do much for me but "Loner" was the best of them.

It is good to note that I am writing this the day after I watched an old live Kansas concert during this tour. The concert played a lot of old tunes and they did so well at reproducing them but when the time came to do these songs, I could tell they struggled maybe just because they were new? They also played 1 song from each of Steve's and Kerry's first solo albums. Steve's was mediocre just like the songs on this album and Kerry's was better.

I cannot help but wonder how many good songs this album could have had if the 2 of them had not done solo albums. When you are already struggling to get songs written for an album and your allegiance is now spread too thinly, something will suffer. I think Steve was already on his way out his "Back Door" when they did this album. In all, the album struggles to achieve anything but mediocre music. Worth having but not essential by any means.