POWER

2.5 stars, really. It took me some time to find what I really think of this album. And i guess I´ll have to agree with Clemofnazareth. If Steve Walsh (vocals and Keyboards), Phil Ehart (drums) and Rich Williams (guitars) had got together and decided to name their band after something other than Kansas then it is probable that Power would have been hailed as a fine CD by this "new super" AOR band, something similar to what Asia achieved a few years before. Certainly the presence of a terrific and famous guitarrist like Steve Morse would also help to boost the sales. But no, they decided to use the Kansas name and the comparisons killed most chances they had with this kind of sound. For Kansas is here in name only. And the name was already burnt out by the time they disbanded in 1983.

Not that the songs here were bad. Far from it. Walsh´s voice was not probalby in its prime, ok, but still have enough power (pun intended) pipes to challange any other AOR singer at the time. And some of the stuff here would probably be mistaken by bands like Journey (We´re Not Alone Anymore) or Survivor (Tomb 19). A couple of weak tunes (the pseudo hard/heavy Secret Service and the syrupy ballad Can´t Cry Anymore) doesn´t detract the rest of the material. The only real hint of prog in this CD is represented by the instrumental track Musicatto, which brings some memories of the old Kansas sound, but not much (hardly a surprise since main songwriter Kerry Livgren, and original members Dave Hope and Robbie Steinhardt were not present here).

This was also the first album to feature bassist Billy Greer, who has done a fine job in the band since then. Steve Morse also shines throughout the whole CD.

Conclusion: if you like AOR music with a few prog parts here and there, then you´ll probably like this CD a lot. if you´re looking for the progressive Kansas of the 70´s, forget it. Good stuff, ok, but not in the prog genre.