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Kansas - Monolith CD (album) cover

MONOLITH

Kansas

Symphonic Prog


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scottadams964
4 stars A brilliant record, not supported on the face of it by many standout tracks- just working as a titanic whole. Livgren had lost the hit single knack by now, with the frankly laughable disco-lite of POTSW being the best the band could manage, 45s-wise. But killer album tracks such as Angels Have Fallen with it's massive nod to Boston and A Glimpse Of Home combine to make this a great record.
Report this review (#21851)
Posted Wednesday, December 31, 2003 | Review Permalink
Sean Trane
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog Folk
3 stars This album was my second bought and the group's most splendid Post-Nuke and Native gatefold (both inner and outer) artwork fascinated me, despite the music being "very average but still better than what would be coming up. I spent hours looking at the fascinating art work of the cover imagining Sci-Fi Disaster tales (while listening to other prog groups than Kansas) whose scripts I lost a few years later. No longer tracks to distinguish them from the pack, but there are a few over the 6-minutes mark.

Opening on the album-best and opening On The Other Side, this is the classic Kansas giving us the deeds with a bit of drama, just the way we like it. Unfortunately the promising (by the title anyway) People Of The Southern Wind is a rather awful AOR with a dreadful chorus line and Walsh's synths choices (he also rocks the piano) are disputable cheap-sounding, but the song can be viewed as catchy. The ambitious Angels Have Fallen is unfortunately IMHO cheesy but likely to please most of the group's fans. How My Soul is easily the most puzzling from the A-side, because of its experimentations (which I find unconvincing)

Opening the flipside is the track that was most likely put forth by the band and radios, Glimpse Of Home, a pure-AOR vocal track, but with some complex music, but marred by fake strings synth (just use a mellotron for f**k's sake). Away FromYou is from the same AOR mould with complex music than its predecessor, but a bit more acoustic. Stay Out Of Trouble is more of the same, but slightly less radio-friendly. The closing Reasons To Be is a cheesy almost-crooner track, which is best forgotten.

The Kansas fall from good or essential 70's prog band is now under way by the time of this album, but this one still has moments and might just be worth owning in vinyl for the superb artwork. In some ways, I prefer Monolith to Masque and POKR. We still have that very recognizable Kansas sound, but clearly the inspiration is waning by now. The trouble is that even picking out one track that would stand out from the rest of the album, is rather difficult, like the previous album had..

Report this review (#21844)
Posted Wednesday, February 18, 2004 | Review Permalink
1 stars Keep your money to buy candies or... a pack of beer :). Kansas was commercial with Point of Know Return (with still some good tracks) and now Kansas is... on the other side (the dark side or the wrong side for me). Away from you !
Report this review (#21845)
Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | Review Permalink
greenback
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars After "Point of Knowhere", "Monolith" has taken a more complex hard rock style than progressive. More accessible, the keyboards seem to take a break. The violin is less present, and there are some acoustic bits. The compositions are more pop oriented, despite the instruments fully load most of the songs. The sound is good and all the instruments are well played. We fill the dilution of the prog style here, and it seems to disappoint many fans. I think this record is among the least favorite ones.
Report this review (#21846)
Posted Sunday, April 11, 2004 | Review Permalink
nakevin@comca
5 stars I've bought all the albums at one time or another. By far, this is my favorite! I saw the Monolith tour in Johnstown, PA, front row. I had most of the songs memorized prior to the Concert. They played the entire album without flaw. It was a superb spiritual experience. The music of this album has a life of its own but when you the power of the lyrics it becomes a Treasured Masterpiece.
Report this review (#21857)
Posted Monday, June 7, 2004 | Review Permalink
Cesar Inca
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Well, 'Monolith' marks the start of an era of regressive creativity in Kansas, that's true, but still you can find strong material in this album, craftily performed, lots of energy, and specially, an extra amount of superb drumming and bass playing. It looks as if the slight diminishing of the progressive essence paved the way for the rhythm section to shine with a stronger light of its own: the guitar riffs are more featured in the mix, too. But despite their tendency to settle down to complex hard rock, this is still a progressive album. The repertoire is almost equally divided between Livgren and Walsh: they don't seem to be interested in interacting anymore as writers. The emotional opening number (a Livgren song about the difficulties of writing a song - maybe a confession of the fear of the blank paper syndrome?) delivers a testimony of a mysterious truth that is clearly there, but words fail to express: Walsh's singing is particularly great on this one. But... not as great as in track 3, 'Angels Have Fallen'. This Walsh-penned number is one of his most amazing compositions, with a sombre dramatism that is enhanced by his sung parts. The epic interlude and the majestic finale are simply captivating, with Steinhardt playing his violin like an inspired magician among the fiery guitar riffs and solos: his sung parts are calmer, in contrasts to his dominant partner's interventions. The instrumental climax is an apex of dramatism punctuated as a source of contrast by the last notes played at unison by a sole dute of violin and piano. Amazing!! This is my fave track of the album. Livgren, on the other hand, sounds much more optimistic, since he is now seeing the world with full hope given his then recent look into into the Urantian Movement (just on the verge of new-born Christianism). His opus 'A Glimpse of Home' is a candorous testimony of this crucial event in his life: the melodic lines, keyboard and violin interplays, and the guitar solos are well designed, like a musical ceremony. In the same vein, the closing acoustic ballad 'Reason to Be' describes the beauty implicit in the miracle of a trascendental revelation. 'People of the South Wind' is a catchy tune, with some poppy leaning a-la funky, with an interesting guitar solo in the middle: just funny. A major level of energy is displayed in 'How My Soul Cries Out for You' (a hard rock piece, at times almost heavy metal), and 'Away from You' (country-centered): both Walsh tracks comprise some interesting prog twists, and once again I have to mention it, great work by Ehart on drums. 'Stay Out of Trouble' is your typical angry rock tune, something to enjoy with a sense of fun before the solemnity of Reason to Be' ultimately appears. All in all, a very good album, though a bit far from some previous efforts' grandeur. Better than "merely good" and not as good as to be labelled as purely "excelent": yet, tracks 1, 3, 4 and 5 make 'Monolith' worth of my 4-star rating.

Report this review (#21858)
Posted Friday, June 18, 2004 | Review Permalink
Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars This album has individual songs composed by Livgren or Walsh. The best songs of this album (composed by Livgren) are "On the Other Side" (the best of all), "A Glimpse of Home" (with very good keyboard arrangements), "Reason to be", the most Prog songs, and the Funky "People of the South Wind". Steve Walsh`s songs tend to be more oriented to the Arena Rock style. One of his best songs in this album is "Away From You". "Stay out of trouble" (composed by Walsh with Robby Steinhardt and Rich Williams) is almost a "pure heavy rock" song, with a lot of guitars.
Report this review (#21859)
Posted Friday, October 15, 2004 | Review Permalink
winkingb@gmai
5 stars A true masterpiece. As much today as in 1979, released on May/23/1979. it sounds timeless ,as written with the help of angelic beings , sitting in their own dimension. smiling down upon the earth like a starry night. yes it is the real "point of know return". "the time is here, some feel the fear, as lightning streaks across the sky, the fingers of God ,touch your soul......"
Report this review (#21861)
Posted Thursday, March 17, 2005 | Review Permalink
daveconn
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Is Monolith the last of the classic Kansas albums or the beginning of the end? Go ask a philoskopher (I'm only an amateur historian). Speaking personally, I enjoy this album more than the works that followed, less than the pair that preceded it, which is hardly a revelation since most critics can agree on that. The disagreement occurs over where to grade the curve; were Leftoverture and Know Return masterpieces or mere mediocrity carefully concealed by producer Jeff Glixman? If you fall into the former camp, there's plenty of magic left on Monolith: "On The Other Side," "Reason To Be," "People of the South Wind." If you're apt to find flaws, there are more than a few moments on Monolith when the band embellishes simple songs with bombastic arrangements, as if flash were a substitute for substance. In fairness, Monolith marks the first time the band self-produced an album in the studio, and some of the silly touches (like the abrupt drum solo at the end of "How My Soul Cries Out For You") are to be expected when ambition collides with inexperience. What holds the album together is not a unifying story (contrary to some reports, this is not a concept album about space indians) but a unified Kansas. Steve Walsh, whose songs usually departed from Kerry Livgren's search for God, joins forces by writing songs with religious ramifications: "How My Soul Cries Out For You," "Away From You," "Angels Have Fallen." Only the directionless "Stay Out of Trouble" shows the sextet out of step with one another. If the album's theme is overtly religious, the music rocks out in spots, notably "Angels Have Fallen" and "A Glimpse of Home" (which sounds more like King's X than their previous work with Glixman). Considering that Livgren opens the album questioning his own inspiration, Monolith is a surprisingly inspired work. When it all clicks (and it clicks often here), Kansas makes superlative, spiritual music that fuses the best parts of American rock and English prog. If that's a sellout (as some have claimed), I'm sold.
Report this review (#47570)
Posted Tuesday, September 20, 2005 | Review Permalink
4 stars ahh Kansas. I started off with point of know return and leftoverture, this album is not like them at all. It seems to be geared more to hard rocking than intricate arrangements, but never the less it is an excellent album although not necesarily a progressive one. Exteremely catchy with many relatively fast guitar solos. A solid album that i thouroughly enjoyed. Right up my alley.
Report this review (#60579)
Posted Saturday, December 17, 2005 | Review Permalink
E-Dub
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Such an underrated album by one of American's most successful progressive rock bands. After turning out classics like Leftoverture ("Carry On Wayward Son") and Point Of Know Return ("Dust In The Wind"), anything following would be scrutinized. To me, however, this has always been a favorite of mine. This was the final Kansas album that wasn't full of shorter, poppier songs that dealt with more simpler issues and still maintained the characteristics of classic Kansas.

Listening to Steve Walsh is always a treat...although, it makes me sad to think how much he's fallen off. He is still a lot of fun to listen to; however, Walsh in his prime was hard to touch. Monolith is no exception of a true vocal onslaught by Walsh. "A Glimpse Of Home", "On The Other Side", and the absolutely stunning "Reason To Be" are true highlights from Monolith. I do believe this was the transition to the more pop side of Kansas (as was pretty apparent on the follow-up Audio Visions). Still, I still consider this a true Kansas classic with amazing music by the genius of Kerry Livgren.

ps. Dave Hope and Phil Ehart are the most underrated rhythm section in progressive rock history, IMO.

Report this review (#70506)
Posted Saturday, February 25, 2006 | Review Permalink
Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars This album is I think underrated. It's obvious here that Kansas took different approach in their composition after their last studio album "Point Of Know Return" so some people who got used to their early work like "Leftoverture" or "Song For America" were disappointed with this change. Change. Change. Change. Yeah, that's why they are progressive band because they tried to take another path which was unclear. Actually they did not take the new approach radically as their main ingredients like unique guitar riffs and stunning violin by Robby were still there with this album. But, song like "How My Souls Cries Out For You" with weird rocker style and heavy composition made their early fans were disappointed. But actually if you listen to this album and have an open mind, you might agree with me that this is an excellent.

"On the other side" sounded like a pop tune but the more I listened to it, it grew on me. The Kansas sound is still around - that's why it makes me happy. "A Glimpse of Home" is really a great track which has quite complex structure with tight composition showing the collaborative work of guitar, violin and keyboard has made this song is engaging the min. And the sound is truly the early Kansas sound. Great! "Away From You" is also a very good track with rocking style blended with powerful Walsh voice. It's hard to deny - at least for me - the high standard of music Kansas plays. An excellent addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Report this review (#75753)
Posted Friday, April 21, 2006 | Review Permalink
ClemofNazareth
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Prog Folk Researcher
4 stars 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

Report this review (#79662)
Posted Sunday, May 28, 2006 | Review Permalink
4 stars I had a very hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars for this album. It is right on the border. On one hand all of the songs on this album are very, very solid. On the other had...all of the songs are very solid; none really stand out as being terrific. Lacking are Kansas's grand masterpieces, such as The Pinnacle, Closet Chronicles, and Song For America.

The best track is the opening On The Other Side which has the elements of all the best Kansas songs, but it doesn't really stand out amonst them. People Of The South wind is catchy and entertaining with some interesting lyrics; pretty much average Kansas. Angels Have Fallen is an underated track, containing some excellent violin and very good vocals (as usual) from Walsh. A Glimpse Of Home is a very interesting track, alternating between three very different styles throughout. The gentle Reason To Be closes the album in a successful way, and is one of my favorite relatively unknown Kansas tracks.

The other songs (How My Soul Crys Out For You, Away From You, and Stay Out of Trouble) are all good, but not necessarily anything that stand out. The kind you enjoy when you hear them but forget about afterwords. Definately the weakest tracks on the ablum.

In the end, I have to give this album the nod for 4 stars. Though it is weaker than the previous four albums from this band, it is still worthy to be among them. Essential for Kansas fans, but low priority behind Song For America, Masque, Leftoverture, and Point Of Know Return. Not where you want to start your Kansas collection, but you should pick it up eventually.

Report this review (#93588)
Posted Friday, October 6, 2006 | Review Permalink
ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars I was not very impressed with "Point Of Know Return" (to say the least) and I was quite suspicious to hear what Kansas was going to deliver with this album.

The opener "On The Other side" is a very nice piece of music : melodious vocals, great violin and good guitar arrangements. It is truely a great song : Kansas how I like it. Instrumental passages are really great. It is definitely the best number of this album : a superb opener. From the very first note of "People of the South Wind", one knows that this track is going to be a real bad one : pop / FM oriented. Kansas at his low. What a contrast between those two tracks ! I have a hard time to understand how they could have produced such a crappy song / one of their worst so far, with no doubt. But maybe I'm too critical...This song is rather commercial and might appeal to some Kansas fans. But not me. The Kansas I love is the one of their epic songs with these incredible violin, guitar and keys moments; so with this poor number, there is no wonder : I can only hate this. Which direction will choose the band for the other songs ?

"Angels Have Fallen" is a good track. Several tempos : a quiet intro as well as a good final section. In between a good guitar break, at times a bit heavy. From time to time, Kansas did propose truley hard-rock tune. I must admit that I do not dislike that. Again (like Purple) we get a very peaceful moment (piano and vocals). A quite elaborate track indeed which is welcome to forget the dreadful experience of the previous number. A good track indeed.

"How My Soul Cries Out for You" is a pure hard rocking song. After an hesitant debut, it evolves to a very good tune when Steinhardt violin solo enters the scene. Again Kansas at his best (although the short drum solo is not really relevant). The end though is rather rare : the sounds being faded away very low for about 40 seconds. The medieval intro for "A Glimpse Of Home" might have announced the worse but it is not the case. Not a superb track of course but thanks to nice vocal harmonies it has its charm. It turns out to be heavier in its later part (but this is a general feeling for this album).

"Away From You" is a good middle of the road rock song. Strong rythm, and superb backing band. Great vocals as well. Nothing too fancy but not bad either. The abrupt fading (again) at the end of the track is a bit annoying though. "Stay Out of Trouble" is a classic Kansas song (hard-rocking side) : a bit similar to "The Devil's Game" from "Song For America". One of the best number here. Very dynamic with a very strong guitar solo and a good bass playing (but, again, this weird fading at the end ...).

The rock ballad "Reason To Be" closes the album in a weak way. Mellowish and worthless. One number too much I must say.

This album is not a masterpiece, but it is well balanced. None of he tracks will remain in the memories as being great Kansas anthems but I will rate this effort three stars for its consistency.

Report this review (#118358)
Posted Saturday, April 14, 2007 | Review Permalink
4 stars I know that very few Kansas fans would agree with me but, IMHO, the band's best period goes from Masque to Audio-Visions (included). So Monolith is on my list.

Let's state it clearly, though : there is not one song here that I would include in my personal Kansas anthology. I could easily find ten or even fifteen songs on other albums that would come first. The only real standout track that was recorded during the Monolith sessions, "No One Together", was left aside and finally released on "Audio- Visions".

Still, I do love this album, maybe in an unrational way, because this is pure Kansas all along, showcasing the different facets of the band.

In order of appearance, you get a classical Kansas sounding tune ("On the Other Side"), a short and poppy/groovy number ("People of the South Wind"), a melancholic ballad with heavy parts ("Angels have Fallen"), a hard rock piece with a nice drum solo ("How my Soul cries out for You"), a pompous but gorgeous mini-epic ("Glimpse of Home"), an uplifting light rocker ("Away from You"), the usual heavy blues/rock ("Stay out of Trouble") and finally a semi-acoustic ballad in the vein of "Dust in the Wind" ("Reason to Be").

At the exception of "Stay out of Trouble", which is very well executed but in a musical style that is not my cup of tea, and "Reason to Be", which I find a little bit cheesy, everything here is highly enjoyable to my ears.

Of course, as often with Kansas, you are allowed to consider that they are just "too much" : too dramatic, too bombastic, too affected . But if you can get over this "too much" factor, or simply don't care about it, you will see that this album holds the promises of its beautiful art cover.

To summarize, Monolith is not a masterpiece by any means but this is another brilliant star in Kansas discography. And speaking of stars, it is worth four on my personal scale.

Report this review (#119789)
Posted Thursday, April 26, 2007 | Review Permalink
Tarcisio Moura
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Well, this is clearly no Leftoverture or Point Of Known Return. Still I liked it very much when it came out. Times had changed and I think it was so good to have a rock sounding album in a time rock seemed to be falling apart fast. And big names were totally out of place in 1979. It is less progressive, and more pop, ok, still the instrumentatio is great and the songs are very good. Soime are brilliant: On The Other Side, A Glimpse of Home and Away From You. Even the so maligned People Of The South Wind is a fine pop song in any way.

The strains inside the band were also starting to show: Walsh´s and Livgren visions were by this time almost opposite. That did not help the group at all, even if, as a whole, Kansas could still deliver a fine performance. Specially Steve Walsh, who is singing here better than ever.

Not a good start for someone new to the band, specially prog fans, but still a strong record.

Report this review (#136037)
Posted Monday, September 3, 2007 | Review Permalink
UMUR
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars This is the start of the downfall for Kansas. Most of the songs on this album are more normal rock songs. Of course there had been a lot of these songs on earlier releases as well, but there are no epics and the songs are more stripped. You can still hear that it is Kansas playing though and for the hardcore fans this is still a worthy album allthough not great. I´m not too impressed though.

Songs like On the Other Side, People of the South Wind and How My Soul Cries Out for You are ok songs in my ears, while other songs on this album are really boring.

Even though this is the best of Kansas "Bad albums" it´s not very good and I have to give this one 2 stars even though it might deserve 3, but I just don´t enjoy it much.

Report this review (#149676)
Posted Friday, November 9, 2007 | Review Permalink
Chris S
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars To me this is where Kansas started losing the Progressive edge. Yes many bands had to evolve late 70's/early 80's and few managed it convincingly. At the same time one has to set aside personal predujices and assess the album as a whole. Monolith is not as good as it's predecessor Point of know Return but in the big scheme of things it is not a bad album overall. The album starts with the strong on the other Side arguably the best piece of music. Livgren the main contributor also on Reason To Be'. Away from you' another good tune. This album gets two and half stars for lack of consistency. It is not because it was sounding more AOR/mainstream just in that the material does not sound as convincing.
Report this review (#161417)
Posted Saturday, February 9, 2008 | Review Permalink
b_olariu
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars For sure not a bad album, but from here Kansas is more mainstream, more like Toto, Survivor, Forigner. With all that the Kansas sound is still present, some pieces are real good like the opening track On the other side , How my soul cries out for you and i think the best piece from here A glimpse of home. The rest are so so, with a plus on People of the South wind, very cachy pop tune. What to add more, only that the album is well balanced, and is the band's first attempt at self-production in the studio. 3 stars for this one, not a msterpiece but a good album in every way.
Report this review (#165572)
Posted Thursday, April 3, 2008 | Review Permalink
LinusW
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Monolith might just be ultimate so-so album. It's enjoyable, but enjoyable to an extent and never as interesting as the classical albums. The AOR tendencies have started to creep into the bands sound, but compared to Audio-Vision, they are kept on a tighter leash here, never indulging in arena-style rock as on that release. I guess that this is what one could call their transitional album, acting as a middle-way between Point Of Know Return and Audio-Vision. So this is basically Kansas Light. The Prog-Related Kansas if that's a better description.

While Kansas have always maintained a balance between guitar and keys, the balance has shifted in favour of the former on Monolith. Standard gritty, distorted rock guitar riffing, acoustic chord work and the mandatory solo coupled with less unusual time signatures and straight-forward structure opens up for a heavier, ballsy sound the casual Kansas listener might feel slightly put off by. The keys, or rather just piano for the most part, returns in mellower parts, and it's leading form is re-shaped into an accentuating or atmospheric one, much like with other melodic rock bands from the time. Some loathed 80s-like synth has also snuck into the mix. Just listen to the intro of People Of The South Wind. It leaves a bad taste to the rest of the otherwise quite catchy tune.

The songs that are most 'Kansas' are probably On The Other Side, which features a classic odd-signatured pounding bass-drum section and Away From You. Violin-keys-interplay and that rolling feeling I just intimately think of as Kansas-esque make that one stand out. Oh, and Angels Have Fallen. Just a great mix of old and new.

Coming to think of it, in terms of progressiveness, Audio-Vision might take the first prize in competition with Monolith, since it has a skewed outline of blatant rock vulgarity and tasteful longer compositions. Monolith is a more consistent 'prog-related' effort, and even if that is a terribly vague description, that's what you get. It's an intense album, vibrant and fun to listen to, and you feel that the band's still working together in relative harmony. This is a planned changed direction, not a fight of interests as Audio-Vision. If in the mood for some up-tempo, classy rock, listen to Monolith. Will not bring any shame to your collections!

3 stars.

//LinusW

Report this review (#166165)
Posted Wednesday, April 9, 2008 | Review Permalink
SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Symphonic Team
3 stars Angels may have fallen, but stayin' out of trouble

After two studio masterpieces in a row in Leftoverture and Point Of Know Return followed by the live masterpiece Two For The Show, it is not too surprising that Kansas would eventually deliver a lesser album. And 1979's Monolith is indeed a far cry from those great preceding albums. However, seen in the wider perspective of Kansas' entire output up to this point, Monolith is not a bad album at all. I would say that it is up to par with the band's self-titled 1974 debut and better than 1975's Masque. Furthermore, it is better than the albums that followed during the early 80's.

Kerry Livgren wrote so very many fantastic songs present for previous Kansas albums, so it is understandable that sooner or later his inspiration would start to fade, and the Monolith material showed the first signs of the decline. But a decline from the highest of peaks does not mean that this is not still good and thoroughly enjoyable music. Three of the songs were written by Steve Walsh alone and a fourth is credited to him together with Robby Steinhardt and Rich Williams. Livgren's songs are generally the best ones, but the Walsh number Angels Have Fallen is a wonderful duet between Steinhardt and Walsh. The best tracks include opener On The Other Side, Angels Have Fallen, A Glimpse Of Home and the closer Reason To Be. The weakest track is Stay Out Of Trouble.

The band decided to produce this album themselves instead of relying on Jeff Glixman and they did a good job even if it is never the same as Glixman's brilliant production work. Some of the songs are related to a native American tradition, so this might be seen as a very loose concept album. The art work features native Americans wearing space helmets!

Report this review (#178757)
Posted Sunday, August 3, 2008 | Review Permalink
Epignosis
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Monolith is by no means a bad album- on the contrary. It does, however, indicate a sharp decline in the importance of Kansas's music, and it reflects the rising turmoil among the band's personnel. There are a few outstanding tracks (mostly thanks to the masterful Kerry Livgren), and almost everything else here is at least decent. More than ever, Steve Walsh wanted a more conventional arena rock sound, and this is apparent when listening to his input on this album (and on the next, for that matter). Of all the Kansas albums employing the classic lineup, this one is the least consistent, largely I suspect, because, of the eight tracks, not a single one was the result of a collaboration between Livgren and Walsh.

"On the Other Side" This is one of two songs on this album that carry the classic Kansas sound. It's outstanding, in the same bracket as underrated gems like "Hopelessly Human" or "The Devil Game." The music ranges from intense to beautiful, and the final verse builds nicely to the chorus.

"People of the South Wind" It's like Kansas doing a good cover of a bad 1970's television theme song, really, if such a thing is imaginable. That said, it's not awful; it's a song that can prove highly pleasurable if one is in the mood to listen to it. I myself have enjoyed this one numerous times. The guitar solo is uncomplicated but respectable.

"Angels Have Fallen" Starting out like a dirge, with quiet acoustic guitar and violin, Robby Steinhardt sings over a lonely piano before the song quickly becomes an explosive plea for help from Steve Walsh. There is a spirited guitar solo over the chorus chords, after which the song comes to abrupt halt to give way to power chords and another guitar solo. Shortly thereafter, there is a graceful piano interlude, over which Walsh soon begins singing. The song has a strong finish that wanes to let the piano and violin give us the final notes. It's an amazing song, one that is sadly overlooked.

"How My Soul Cries Out for You" A high-energy rocker, the guitar interlude between verses (with the lovely violin flourishes) has real potential, but the song fails to realize most of it. The lyrical content is banal at best (about what one would expect from Steve Walsh at the time). The instrumental middle section tries to be progressive rock, but doesn't quite cut it. Then there's something unheard of in a Kansas studio album: The outlandish sound of someone throwing a bottle at someone else. The rest of the song consists of a muddled drum solo from Ehart, the chorus, and a blistering guitar solo.

"A Glimpse of Home" This is the second song with the classic Kansas sound, and boasts a more sophisticated composition. There are several lively moments and excellent guitar work in the middle. The lyrics are definitely from the hand of Livgren, who would write years later that the song was not about Christianity, but about Urantia. Like "The Wall," however, the words would prove prophetic to him as he came to embrace Christianity. The ending is sublime.

"Away from You" This is a fair Steve Walsh composition- the opening is exceptional, but by the time the chorus comes around, we're back to goofy pop-rock. The musical interlude is absolutely brilliant, and I wish Walsh had kept that feel throughout, maybe even leaving off the silly vocal melodies. With "The Spider," he had already shown how terrific he could be when he wasn't trying to be a mainstream rock star.

"Stay Out of Trouble" Not a bad song, this is in the vein of the grittier, bluesy side of Kansas (like "Down the Road" and "Lonely Street"). It is a guitar-dominated song, and the riffs are solid.

"Reason to Be" Strangely for a Kansas album, the last song is not a progressive rock masterpiece, but a lighthearted and simple song. It's an enjoyable short one, with strummed acoustic guitar and whimsical violin. I liked it the first time I heard it.

Report this review (#191379)
Posted Monday, December 1, 2008 | Review Permalink
Sinusoid
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars I'm very stunned in the least to say that for a Kansas album, MONOLITH is very ho-hum/run-of- the-mill in terms of the overall sound. Everything you expect about the Kansas sound is still there and in relative abundance, but the overall songwriting seems to have slipped into generic hard rock. There isn't anything wrong with that, it's just that compared to earlier Kansas albums, it's a disappointment.

As I am trying to write comments on the album, I find it very hard to pinpoint exactly what to say, especially on the points of why I don't like it and why I gave it a maligning rating. I like hard rock, but that genre gets too old too quickly since I feel that the ''main hard rock sound'' is too stagnant and never evolves. I feel that Kansas takes on the ''stagnant hard rock'' sound on this album with traces of their prog past. There's really no other explanation I've got.

To be honest, the barroom boogie feel of ''How My Soul Cries Out For You'' is the most memorable MONOLITH tune in my mind (say that five times fast). There's also an interesting acoustic guitar lick in ''Away From You'' and a few guitar solos are of a worthy mention. But, if you're very into prog rock and don't know Kansas, don't go here. Try any album that came earlier first. This one is for those who already love Kansas, or for those who can stomach ''People of the South Wind''.

Report this review (#224857)
Posted Tuesday, July 7, 2009 | Review Permalink
2 stars Oops........ I am getting onto a bad start with Kansas. The PA reviews is telling me that this is one of their weaker albums. It is typical my luck that it is on the top of the list of Kansas albums I will review.

It starts OK with the rather good On the other side. It is a nice AOR number. It soon dawns on me that this is not symphonic prog at all. Only How My Soul Cries Out For You is anywhere near that label. The rest is AOR bogged down in the typical 1980s sound. AOR in the stadium rock version. If they ever toured this album in the stadiums, I do not know. But this album is typical US of A. Brash, big and cheesy. That describes this album. That and some heavy metal on the top of it. Straight funk is also thrown in. This album stinks of Jane Fonda's leg warmers, hair spray, Ronald Reagan, yuppies and stadium rock. The worst of US of A, in my view. The songs are not too bad. But the sound is so typical 1980s that it should be returned with a time machine with a polite "no thanx" letter.

This is not for me at all. With the exception of the above mentioned songs and some OK parts of some other songs, this album has not aged well at all. Give me Jane Fonda anytime.

But there is enough here to follow up Kansas more from my side. I have not been scared away.

2.5 stars

Report this review (#239079)
Posted Sunday, September 13, 2009 | Review Permalink
Evolver
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
3 stars On the day this album was first released, I bought it, listened to it a few times, and filed it away. Now, after all these years, I've finally listened to it again. Maybe my tastes have changed, maybe I'm just comparing it to Kansas' later releases, but this album isn't as bad as I remember it. While it is nowhere near as good as any of the preceding albums, it is better than any of the studio albums to follow. There are no absolute mind blowing prog moments, but there are enough technically interesting sections to make this worth picking out of a cutout bin, if you can still find it after all of these years.
Report this review (#276589)
Posted Tuesday, April 6, 2010 | Review Permalink
2 stars Monolith broke the "great" streak Kansas had going with their preceding 4 albums, SOng For AMerica, Masque, Leftoverture, and Point. All 4 of these I will eventually get around to reviewing and they will all get at least 4 stars. They are the pinnacle of Kansas's career as a band. This album, however, has always been a dissapointment to me. It doesn't have any great "epics" in the Kansas tradition, is more radio-friendly than the others, and just seems to short of new ideas. The formula is wearing thin. Much of this album is typical, AOR, and stadium rock. No new ground broken. It is not a bad album, but it is not a very good album, either. My favorite on here is "Glimpse of Home" and it is the classic Kansas I love. Other than that 1 song, only "Reasons to Be" does anything for me. This is a 2 star effort. Bring on Song for America!
Report this review (#276595)
Posted Tuesday, April 6, 2010 | Review Permalink
4 stars Kansas' 1979 album "Monolith" was initially disappointing. Listening to lines about "The empty page before me now, the pen is in my hand, the words don't come so easy", I felt like they had writers block and had a lack of inspiration upon the first listen or so. However after a few listens the album grew on me.

The opening 'On the other side' is a great song for creating atmosphere, good vocal harmonies. I like the guitar lick that opens and closes the song, catchy, and very prophetic. the following "People of the South Wind" is a catchy song, not progressive rock, but has an eerie atmosphere that I like. I've never liked "Angels have fallen" it just seems out of place, and it was Steve Walsh trying to ruin the Religious atmosphere, but he's allowed to do that by the way. But his "How my soul cries out for you" is a rocking gem, and Robby Steinhardt rocks out on violin on this one. I like it's chord changes and bar-room, rocking sound, I would agree it drags on too long a bit at the end but not a major problem.

Flip over to side two and we are delivered the quaint, cheerful strains that open "A glimpse of home". This song cycles through various stages, the carnival-like opening riff, hard-rock sections, more gospel sounding sections. To Steve Walsh's credit, he interprets this Religious epic very well, seeing he didn't dig that stuff at all! Actually the song that follows, "Away from you", possibly my favourite Kansas song, is a Steve Walsh song but it's fairly similar to "A glimpse of home", but more uptempo. It goes through a few phases, like pomp-rock, acoustic sections, swirling synth passages. Then there's another bar-room rocker, "Stay out of trouble", which is quite enthusiastically performed, and is a nice change of pace. It's actually a very good song and has a nice rhythm to it. The album closes with a very surreal ballad, "Reason to be", soothing and a favourite of mine.

In closing, I'm actually very fond of "Monolith". It has plenty of atmosphere, if it doesn't have a lot of the long instrumentals. One thing wrong with this album, it is a bit short. Only eight songs, and they are not very long songs. Still it's an album worth checking out if you are a fan of atmospheric hard-rock prog.

Report this review (#282112)
Posted Saturday, May 15, 2010 | Review Permalink
Ivan_Melgar_M
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars "Monolith" is a very hard KANSAS album to review, because it's obvious they have already left their peak behind, but still the classic and melancholic essence is there, most surely we won't listen the vast majority of "Monolith" songs on a concert of the band (Except maybe "On the Other side"), but there's not a bad track in all the disk (Most are average)..

Some tracks like "People of the South Wind" are very close to the AOR sound of the 80's but still the characteristic sound of Kerry's violin is enough to maintain the interest of the listener. On the other hand, songs like "A Glimpse of Home" present us the delicate blend of Hard Rock, Symphonic and Country that made them famous.

If I am asked to chose one song, I will go wit the brilliant "Away from You", that takes me back to 1976 when KANSAS released the fantastic "Leftoverture", but we are only talking about reflections of the past, because it's not a solid release, or maybe KANSAS set the bar to high with their previous albums.

Well due to he fact that the original lineup is complete (despite the internal problems) and being able to listen Steve's voice still in the highest level, makes me rate "Monolith" with no less than 3 stars.

II usually write very long reviews, but in this case, there's not much to say about a release that is a great addition only for KANSAS diehard fans, but an average album for most Progressive Rock listeners.

Report this review (#283919)
Posted Friday, May 28, 2010 | Review Permalink
2 stars Kansas: Monolith

This album represents the down fall of Kansas. The band seems to have lost its creative spark. Though it may still be progressive it is a boring uninspired attempt. It starts out well with the song "On The Other Side" which probably my favorite song on here, it is a well written, classic Kansas sounding ballad. A reasonably good song is followed up by a terrible song called "People Of The South Wind." "Angels Have Fallen" Is a decent song worth a listening to. it starts out a little quite with the acoustics but a distorted guitar comes in and the song picks up some pace and the song turns out enjoyable. " A Glimpse Of Home" is the last song worth any ones attention off of this album. It sounds as if it would have been a good fit for any of Kansas's previous albums. The rest of the songs are pretty lame. "How My Soul Cries Out For You" is a hard rock song with below average lyrics. "Stay Out Of Trouble" fits the same description as "how my soul cries out for you.". "Reason to Be" is a quiet acoustic ballad that is quite forgettable just like the majority of this album. 2 Stars.

Report this review (#293535)
Posted Thursday, August 5, 2010 | Review Permalink
Rune2000
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars The end of the '70s was generally not the best period for progressive music bands and while Kansas did manage to keep excellence throughout 1976 and 1977, 1979 was where they would bite the dust.

Kansas' last 70's album was clearly not the graceful conclusion to a great era that I was hoping for. Their traditional style is definitely still in place but the song quality is subpar at best. I'm not even going to talk about flawed concept of this album and instead concentrate on what's good about this release. Monolith features two great AOR hits. I really enjoy On The Other Side for its monumental buildup but even thought it's easily the best track out of this bunch, the song would feel pretty average on any of the band's previous releases. People Of The South Wind does come off like a cheap stab at a radio hit but the I can't argue against it since Kansas were still great at delivering this type of hit material.

This is probably not the best album to begin an exploration of Kansas with. I would suggest to start with, the debut album, Leftoverture or Point Of Know Return, in no particular order. Monolith is an interesting lesson in what can happen when a band tries to satisfy both the critics and the fans at the same time.

***** star songs: On The Other Side (6:23)

**** star songs: People Of The South Wind (3:38)

*** star songs: Angels Have Fallen (6:37) How My Soul Cries Out For You (5:44) A Glimpse Of Home (6:34) Away From You (4:23) Reason To Be (3:50)

** star songs: Stay Out Of Trouble (4:13)

Report this review (#301733)
Posted Sunday, October 3, 2010 | Review Permalink
colorofmoney91
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars Monolith is the album that marks the point where Kansas lost their creativity. All of the songs here were obviously meant to be radio hits, although the only song that I know of that actually was a hit is "People of the South Wind", which is actually one of the better tracks on this album. The songs are of decent length, and I hear some great motifs in the music that I always expect to become more developed, but soon after any of the tracks start to get interesting... they end. This is still above-par radio rock, which makes this good enough music. It just doesn't live up to any of the work that Kansas had done prior to this.
Report this review (#431182)
Posted Monday, April 11, 2011 | Review Permalink
Slartibartfast
COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam
3 stars Portrait of a band in decline.

After producing a string of four and five star albums (hell, I'd round them all up to five), the magic seemed to have gone out. I don't think they produced anything as good as what came before until 2000's Somewhere To Elsewhere. Even though I had the LP back when the album was new, I didn't bother to get a CD copy until 2003. It's not really a bad album, just uninspired. I think the problem is that they were going for more commercially accessible music and the next one after this one Audio-Visions continued the trend after which the classic band lineup would be no more.

So, what's good on here? Pretty much all the songs but alas nothing really great on here.

Report this review (#639547)
Posted Thursday, February 23, 2012 | Review Permalink
3 stars Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh don't have a good relationship anymore, and that leads Kansas to a decay. Monolith is not a bad album in any way, but it's the worst Kansas made up to that point and it comes right after their best album ever, so it's doomed to be remembered as an even worst album than it actually is.
Let's do a track-by-track review:

1. On the Other Side - a Kansas classic
A very promising start! This is a really great song that reminds me of The Wall from Leftoverture. Every aspect of it is great, the slow and the fast parts, the vocals and the melodies, the solos too. A true Kansas classic that was recognized as such by the band only during the last 15 years, when they made it a semi-regular part of their live setlist.

2. People of the South Wind
A radio friendly tune that was released as the album's first single. A pop song, almost disco, it could easily be a Chicago piece! While the music is uplifting, the lyrics are about the sufferings of the native American tribe "Kansa", the tribe that Kansas state was named after. They were also known as the "People of the South wind", hence the title of the song. Well the song is absolutely good, but it's not a classic.

3. Angels Have Fallen - a Kansas classic - best song of the album - my favorite song of the album - most Prog song of the album - most underrated song of the album
Fantastic, majestic, an instant classic! Seriously progressive, with time and dynamic changes allover the place, it's a movie-like song that truly fascinates the spirit! Kansas played it live only during the album's support tour in 1979 and never again, which is a shame. One of the best "obscure" Kansas songs in existence. This one is for Monolith what The Pinnacle is for Masque: arguably the best song of the album!

4. How My Soul Cries Out for You
Oh, what's going on here? A very strange experiment by Kansas, a "nervous" piece with musical influences from English prog bands, it could very well be a Yes or an ELO song. I don't know if it's good or not but it's definitely very interesting and unexpected, be sure to pay attention!

5. A Glimpse of Home
Another religious song by Kerry, and a very nice one! The bombastic intro sounds like ELP and the rest of the song is a quality rocker that I believe should be edited and released as a single. It lacks the "it" factor to be a classic, but it's pretty good.

6. Away from You
Nothing very special here. A pop song with folk elements, it doesn't sound bad but it's rather forgettable, especially compared to the higher Kansas standards.

7. Stay Out of Trouble - worst song of the album
RNB influences on that one, it seems like Kansas try to play each song in a different style on that album. It's OK, it has it's moments, but we expect more from Kansas. It could be a minute shorter too, no need for 4 minutes on that one.

8. Reason to Be
The second single of the album, it's a ballad and it seems like it tries to capitalize on the success of Dust In The Wind from the previous album. Well, it is not of the same quality... The keyboards are nice and Steve's voice is beautiful, but the "it" factor is absent once more. Bad choice for a single release and not the best option to close the album.

RATING:
Pretty close to Masque, but if you compare their songs 1vs1 Masque wins without a doubt. Monolith is on the 3 stars spectrum but closer to 2,5.

Report this review (#1382143)
Posted Saturday, March 14, 2015 | Review Permalink
2 stars My first exposure to a full-length Kansas album was Point of Know Return (obviously intrigued by the radio staple "Dust in the Wind") in my late teens. I then went backwards to get Leftoverture. I loved both albums - symphonic bombast, energy, high technical playing skill, terrific melodies...it was all there.

My next Kansas purchase was Monolith - and as it did for the band itself, it killed all Kansas-related momentum for me. I have only recently started in on their back catalog - some 25 years after my initial Kansas purchase. Through ears which have had their musical horizons expanded significantly, I hear the band moving musically toward those two magnum opuses, and while there was the odd low point or ill-conceived idea, there's some truly solid music on their first three albums.

I'm realizing how one has to almost view the band with a bit of schizophrenia. Kerry Livgren was obviously the prime mover for the group, and he wrote the most progressive, classically-influenced pieces. Steve Walsh, on the other hand, took a more arena-rock approach to things - more stripped down, a bit more raw fury and less bombast. Sometimes you would feel like it was a totally different group. While Livgren's compositions were nearly always hits for me in those early days (and the misfires were hardly ever forgettable even if they just didn't work), Walsh's were far more hit-and-miss for me, and often worked best when he co-wrote with Livgren ("Down the Road" from Song For America, for instance, or much of Point). Walsh had gone into something of a composing drought around Leftoverture, and Livgren's nearly-solo composing for much of the album probably did it a world of good in my mind. Walsh himself has admitted that the competition he had with Livgren for songwriting may have not always produced the best results on his part for the band in the end (which I must say is a mature outlook from an artist).

Having to shoulder so much of the weight for so long, however, likely dried up Livgren's creative wellspring. Walsh does a lot more writing on this album (especially by himself or at least without Livgren), and the resulting rockers don't hold up terribly well. "Stay Out Of Trouble" is particularly forgettable. This could have been perhaps at least partially overcome if Livgren's songwriting was up to its usual snuff - but even he is going through a down period here. "On The Other Side" captures a lot of the magic of the earlier days, "People Of the South Wind" is a glossed-up pop number that actually works quite well, "Reason to Be" is pleasant if a bit slight, but "A Glimpse Of Home" sounds a bit too much like Walsh - and none of these numbers ever quite achieve the grandeur of what came before. Everything sounds a bit forced, pressured and uninspired. The whole package alternates between a lack of energy and wild, largely purposeless thrashing.

My enduring memory of this is listening to it in my room on a late December day in the northeastern United States. There was snow on the ground, the trees were leafless, and it was approaching sundown on a day where the sun was visible but there was enough overcast to make the sunlight diffuse. My room had a southern exposure so I'm seeing this gauzed light passing almost horizontally through my windows, taking the shadows of tree branches with it...and I'm feeling that the album I'm listening to is perfectly emulating the light entering my room. Grayish, low on power, feeling almost harsh because of the cold, barren conditions outside - and it's only going to get dimmer as the time goes forward. Kansas did some truly remarkable work leading up to this. It's too bad that they finished the '70's on such a low note (and without much to look forward to, unfortunately). Even ten years ago I might have given this album a single star, if only because of how disappointing it was compared to its predecessors and how it put me off the band for so long much like reading Bleak House (how appropriate is that?) put me off reading Dickens. Listening to it now - I see some redeeming value. But it's not enough to make it anything more than a weathered milestone testifying to what used to be. Two stars.

Report this review (#1530526)
Posted Friday, February 19, 2016 | Review Permalink
4 stars I don't quite understand all these two a three star reviews. I'm a little biased because I've loved this group since I was 12 years old and they helped me get through a lot of hard times at that tender age. I'm not really down on this recording of Kansas MONOLITH but I think it's quite a ways down the entire Kansas discography by the original lineup. I would give it around 4.25 stars.

I think that the four or so best tracks are "On the other Side", "Angels Have Fallen", "Glimpse of Home", and "Away From You". If I could, I'd cut off the final two tracks which are "Stay out of trouble" and "Reason to be". Stay out of trouble is very juvenile and not anywhere's near anything that was on the previous album POINT OF KNOW RETURN. That album was a blockbuster that is my favorite album of all-time. Reason to be was just too soft and not what I want to hear from Kansas. I think Steve's vocals are incredibly outstanding ( listen to how he ends his vocals on the track "On the other side" and the vocals on "Angels have Fallen") on this release of MONOLITH. "Glimpse of Home" is still one of my favorite songs overall of this group too!!!

Report this review (#1892063)
Posted Thursday, March 8, 2018 | Review Permalink
4 stars A lot of pompous twat amongst some of these 'reviews'.....looks like many have followed the 'Rolling Stone' trend of belittling fine efforts to raise one's own ego. This is a fine album.....sure, it's not up there with 'Leftoverture' or "Point Of No Return" but it is fine album nonetheless......superbly played. A departure from their full on prog of previous albums, it shows a progreesion (or regression) towards a more radio friendly style but still captures all the things which make Kansas great.....mucisianship, song craft and dynamism.....and who cares about lyrics? It's all about the music and this album delivers more than enough to entertain.....except to those pompous enough to think they can do better.....which they can't. A solid four stars from me.
Report this review (#2240421)
Posted Saturday, July 27, 2019 | Review Permalink
4 stars This one has more classic rock than prog on it (compared to previous albums) but I have no problem with this as the prog ingridient is still present (just with different proportions) and this album is full of familiar Kansas sound. So I consider it a part of Kansas classic albums run. I initialy had to use to their blend of styles. Beeing a fan of british type of prog I was struggling to like Kansas' strong american rock flavour put to it. But once I learned to like and apreciate their unique style I'm happy as long as they deliver their trademark sound. And You immediately know it's Kansas from the first note of the album 'till the last. It's true I would like to hear a smartly composed epic or two, preferably with a lot of violin (just like it was typical of them earlier), but I still like this one enough to spin it and enjoy it when I'm in Kansas mood. I may not love it but I really like it. It's still good old Kansas here, the band like no other. 3,5 stars rounded up to 4 for pulling the overall note a bit higher to make this one a justice.
Report this review (#2506363)
Posted Tuesday, February 16, 2021 | Review Permalink
3 stars It had to happen sometime?? Every band that has talent hits a spot where they have "Done it." They hit their artistic peak and what follows is usually lacking. Being a die hard Kansas fan starting with their debut, these guys were their own genre to a degree. Walsh, who has his progressive leanings is more a straight ahead rocker; Livgren was born into classical music with his grandmas old 78RPMs.

Each album from the first up through "Point Of No Return" encompassed the best of the progressive they could write. By the time this album hit there was a great deal happening in the band. Walsh and Livgren were putting together their first solo albums so one may wonder if they held back the better tracks for those and went with tracks that were not as impactful.

This is the first album that is produced by Kansas. That becomes evident to a degree to me. This album lacks the sophistication and originality that their previous albums did. They were risk takers and here they seem to be focused on more of an established formula. Upon hearing it when it first came out I was disappointed. It is hard to follow up the previous 2 albums. In retrospect years later I have grown more appreciative to the album. I normally prefer Livgren's entries more than Walsh's but in this case I think Steve had some better songs on here.

"How My Soul Cries Out" is a favorite with the hard driving beat and the ruckus in the middle followed by the 100MPH ending is good. On vinyl, side 2 starts out with the quick and faint reprise of the ending which I liked. "Away From You" and "Stay Out Of Trouble" are fair. They goofed by choosing "Southwind" as a single to start with and when it bombed they released "Reason To Be" as the next single which is the closest thing to "Dust" on the album.

Overall, the album is a signal that the band was declining. Drug use and the like had caught up to some of the members. Livgren was about to run into his conversion to Christianity which would cause a creative rift between Steve and himself. Kansas was about to hit a wall where they would never recover from. Honestly, "The Absence Of Presence", the 2021 entry that only has 2 original members is better than this album and fresher.

Report this review (#2710342)
Posted Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | Review Permalink

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