Kansas Somewhere To Elsewhere (CD)

Description: Further DetailsTitle: Somewhere To ElsewhereCondition: NewFormat: CDDescription: EDITORIAL REVIEWS I don't think we fit anywhere, and I'm very proud of that. Meaning that the band, to me, defies easy categorization, and that's something I personally hold very highly. I like that fact. I'd just call us an American progressive rock band, which I guess is different from the British approach because of the blues influence. A plaintive basis for discussion from guitarist and keyboardist Kerry Livgren on this crucial rock event that finds Kansas reconvening for a full-on reunion album for 2000. And the man's words ring true. Kansas, with 30 million albums sold over 30 years, prove that their unique brand of heartland art rock can, and indeed does, live on. Somewhere To Elsewhere, recorded at Grandy Zine Studios on Livgren's farm in Berryton, Kansas, underscores and emphasizes that fact in fine fashion, the band creating dynamic progressive rock that indeed takes the listener elsewhere, back to the multi-platinum strings and strains of 'Carry On My Wayward Son' and 'Dust In The Wind', and forward to the front edge of creative music-making this collective has produced since 1970. Kansas has indeed kept nearly continuously busy for the past 30 years, challenging audiences with sights and sounds with only a two year break between 1983 and 1985; and since 1991, playing a minimum of 100 dates a year. But Somewhere To Elsewhere is a big event in the long history of this esteemed progressive collective, bringing back each and all recent contributors and original members, including lead singer Steve Walsh, frontman and violinist Robbie Steinhardt (essentially the band has had a unique two frontman configuration), and chief writer of the album Kerry Livgren, back after a 17-year absence. The result is a record that flames and flares with Kansas chemistries. Seven alumni are involved, including two very different guitar minds, three lead vocalists (Steve Walsh takes most of the leads, although original frontman Robbie Steinhardt takes two, while Billy Greer takes one), rounded out with two different bassists, a drummer, and the band's signature violin, the aforementioned Robbie Steinhardt being the original at this unique post. Drummer Phil Ehart explains how the project got its start. Kerry and I discussed over the number of months leading up to this that he was writing material that sounded very much like early Kansas. So he was just as surprised as we were. The stuff was coming out of him and getting demoed and he was like 'This sounds like classic Kansas.' So that's when we took a good listen, and when we heard it we said, 'we really want to do this. This is powerful material.' The band then convened at Kerry's rural studio. Kerry speaks fondly of the sessions that ensued. Probably the most significant thing was the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere minus all the normal stresses of recording. And I think that really contributed greatly to the album's vibe. I think that's one of the reasons I like this album so much. For one thing it is a reunion. It's a bunch of guys with an incredible past that haven't worked together in a long time. I guess we got together to see if we could still do it, and not only could we still do it, but maybe in a lot of ways, we found that we could do it better than we ever did. And the finished product is rife with good wishes and vitality, while at the same time, constructed firmly with the band's '70s accomplishments in mind. AMAZON Struggling through lineup changes, public indifference and ever-slippery fashions through the 1980s and '90s, the members of Kansas have largely stayed true to their vision and a stubborn core of supporters. Somewhere to Elsewhere rewards that patience with a 20-years-after reunion of the band's original line-up. Kicking off with the would-be sequel, "Icarus II," the suitably heroic tale of a World War II bomber crew, Kansas rumbles through all their musical trademarks: Steve Walsh's soaring vocal display (though the years have slightly curtailed its cruising altitude), thunderous guitar breaks that prove guitarists Kerry Livgren and Richard Williams have indeed heard of Metallica, and some strenuous noodling by violinist Robby Steinhardt. It's a throwback to the band's original vision, one that argues you can go home again, even if that's a place that's been distinctly changed by time. In short, long-time fans should find it a pleasant return to form. --Jerry McCulley REVIEW Livgren s material on Somewhere to Elsewhere springs from matured vision. He avoids the pedantic pomp that bloated Point Of Know Return while maintaining the orderliness and sensibility of his best work. On this album Livgren becomes a kind of musical Norman Rockwell, crafting songs that are detailed, dramatic, and ultimately reassuring. At 50 years of age and settled in his faith, Livgren has no demons to exorcise through this music. There is not a hint of dissonance. Rather, he aims to create transcendent yet earthy images of life as it should be. Classically inspired, Livgren s music has a strange resemblance to that of 20th century composer Howard Hanson, the champion of American romanticism. Somewhere to Elsewhere is a haunting rock n roll equivalent of Hanson s Song of Democracy (1957). The album opens with Icarus II, an unapologetic, patriotic tribute to a B-17 pilot s self-sacrificed. Were this not based on a true story one could fancy Willie Gillis as the hero. The band dishes our heavy blues rock on When the World Was Young and Not Man Big, and Rich Williams guitar ( Grand Fun Alley ) sizzles like a 12-ounce T-bone grilling at a 4th of July cookout. Yet, the band retains the cozy feel of the good ol boys jamming in the back of Shuffleton s Barbershop. At key points the album is punctuated by unabashed sentimentality. Livgren s piano and Robby Steinhardt s violin join to evoke the tender innocence illustrated on the 1949 Brown & Bigelow Four Seasons calendar. In years past Kansas albums were marked by an uneasy, antithetical tension between prog and classic rock. Here the strains are pleasingly integrated. Myriad, an overhauled piece Livgren originally wrote in 1970, includes all of his idiosyncrasies: introduction of themes, extended detour through unsettling jazz-inspired passages, and recapitulation. This format was employed on some of his finer early works, including Journey from Mariabronn, Song for America, and The Pinnacle. But here the flow is looser and laid-back in contrast to the nervous noodling of the past. The overtly evangelical Distant Vision is particularly potent with its elaboration of mood changes bound together by an accessible melody. Time has eroded Walsh s attitude against God-centered lyrics, but Livgren s homily has also become more personal, transparent, and less polemical. Livgren s true genius is displayed on one of the album s shorter tracks, Byzantium. Beneath a facade of liturgical chants and arabesque strings lies a country-picked acoustic guitar, hinting that this is really an allusion to the fall of the American empire. Apocalyptic themes have preoccupied Livgren s post-conversion music for years. Between tracks a disembodied voice makes the ironic assertion, Americans have never done the wrong thing for a long time, yet there is an underlying awareness that American will not fulfill her manifest destiny. --PopMatters it is a great recording that brings us back the old vintage Kansas sound that everybody thought buried forever and ever. It is actually an excellent addition to any prog collection. The album kicks off with Icarus II , which despite the references to the original Icarus track (from Masque ), it is not a revisit - beside keeping the epic touch of the former, Icarus II is more introspective and melancholy, even in the heavy rocking interlude. The next two tracks are rockier, not simplistic but nothing very special either: just nice, catchy tunes with some clever arrangements. The street rumbling ambience that closes Grand Fun Alley gives way to the first piano chords of The Coming Dawn , a most beautiful symph ballad that really seems to have been rescued from a time capsule of the Leftoverture / Point of Know Return times. Further on, we find two amazing tracks that melt the epic splendour of Livgren s most ambitious compositions and the captivating mysticism of Kansas eeriest old tracks. One of them is Myriad , actually a song that dates back from the earliest Kansas days, but never got the chance to be included in their first three albums: here, it is revamped and somewhat rearranged, according to Livgren s current strong Christian beliefs. The other one is Distant Vision , which equals the aforementioned number in beauty, complexity, orchestral finesse, and evocative passion. In both these tracks Walsh reminds us what a great messenger he is and always has been of Livgren s emotional concerns and intellectual insights. There s still some room for other less common ideas in the context of Kansas. Here we have Look at the Time , a Beatlesque meeting of I Am the Walrus and Hey Jude with a Harrison hippy feeling; Byzantium is the oddest one, with its exotic ambiences inspired in the Arabic and Turkish tradition. DST Blues is a catchy bluesy number, a bit too long maybe, but still interesting: Reinhardt s singing shines here, as well as his violin performance (but again, doesn t he always?). Not Man Big is the hard rocking closure for this album, a properly energetic ending for an album full of very intense material, both musically and lyrically --ProgArchives The 10-track collection that returned founding guitarist Kerry Livgren to full-fledged active duty while luring original bassist Dave Hope back into the fold for a pair of guest appearances. Consisting of new Livgren compositions and recorded largely at his home studio Elsewhere offered the album longtime Kansas fans had been wishing they could hear for 20 years. It was sort of a reunion. I hadn t worked with Kansas for a number of years at that point, Livgren later said of the Somewhere to Elsewhere sessions. I guess I ve been a very prolific writer and had written a lot of material that began to sound like Kansas to me, so I got in touch with the guys and told them I think I have an album sitting here. Let s do it.' With Kansas singer Steve Walsh already working with the Magna Carta label for a solo LP, the band had a natural spot to sign a new deal, and they set about recording during 1999. In a sense, they picked up where they d left off at the tail end of the 70s hitmaking run that produced fan favorites like Point of Know Return and Dust in the Wind. Kerry hasn t written like this for years, violinist Robby Steinhardt told the Topeka Capital-Journal. Ever since leaving Kansas, he s been trying to write non-Kansas music to have a signature that was all of his own, but it turns out this new stuff was tailor-made for us. --ultimateclassicrock See moreGenre: RockArtist: KansasNo Of Discs: 1Record Label: MAGNA CARTA RECORDSEAN: 0026245905023 Missing Information?Please contact us if any details are missing and where possible we will add the information to our listing.

Price: 24.13 USD

Location: 60502

End Time: 2025-02-01T11:00:10.000Z

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