Unbalanced.
This record should have been what the small but rabid masses of Kansas fans had been waiting for, but for some reason it misses.
Every moment of greatness on this record is accompanied with a conspicuous flaw.
"I Can Fly" -- a revisitation of Kansas' recurrent "Icarus" theme -- opens the disc with an exciting violin line and a soaring vocal sounding strong and fresh.
Enter the drums -- precise, thick, and metrical, or in other words clunky -- invoking a feel for the song about as far from "flight" as is possible.
Other songs fall prey to the excesses of '80s anthemic rock ("Hope Once Again").
Other embarrassing tracks such as "Under the Knife" or "Black Fathom 4" make an attempt at a dark, disturbing mood but come off like B movies in execution.
Original member Kerry Livgren contributes the song "Cold Grey Morning," which, sad to say, is not one of his best.
Taken solely in terms of the performances, however, the record is astonishingly good.
Arrangements are well-layered and complex.
Each player plays with stunning virtuosity.
Notable is David Ragsdale's violin -- every bit as good as Steinhardt's playing.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I Can FlyDavid Ragsdale, Steve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 05:21 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 2 | Desperate TimesSteve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 05:24 | 12 MB | 38 MB |
| 3 | Hope Once AgainSteve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 31 MB |
| 4 | Under the KnifeDavid Ragsdale, Steve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 04:59 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 5 | NeedSteve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | Freaks of NaturePhil Ehart, David Ragsdale, Steve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 04:05 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 7 | Cold Grey MorningKerry Livgren | Kansas | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 8 | Peaceful and WarmSteve Walsh | Kansas | Play | 06:45 | 15 MB | 41 MB |
| 9 | Black Fathom | Kansas | Play | 05:53 | 13 MB | 41 MB |
| 45 mins | 103 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 306 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Cassel | Engineer |
| 2 | Phil Ehart | Composer, Drums, Group Member |
| 3 | Jeff Glixman | Engineer, Producer |
| 4 | Billy Greer | Bass, Group Member, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals |
| 5 | Marti Griffin | Photography |
| 6 | Kansas | Primary Artist |
| 7 | Zahir Khan | Assistant Engineer |
| 8 | Kerry Livgren | Composer |
| 9 | Sean Poland | Assistant Engineer, Engineer |
| 10 | David Ragsdale | Composer, Guest Artist, Guitar, Violin, Vocals |
| 11 | Greg Robert | Group Member, Keyboards, Vocals |
| 12 | Steve Walsh | Composer, Group Member, Keyboards, Narrator, Vocals |
| 13 | Ken Wells | Art Direction |
| 14 | Rich Williams | Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic) |
| 15 | Richard Williams | Group Member, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |