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Monolith - the last great Kansas album?
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Sean Trane View Drop Down
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Points: 20386 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Sean Trane Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 31 2025 at 04:58
Originally posted by Hector Enrique Hector Enrique wrote:

I was expecting a much better album after the successful “Lefoverture” and “PoKR”, and with the cover art of the proud Native American I even assumed a vindicatory conceptual theme and intense progressive developments. But except for "Angels Have Fallen" and "Away From You", and the occasional scattered spark of lucidity, the album fails to take off, at least for my taste, and especially for the expectations I personally had.


Yeah, that great gatefold sleeve (that inspired me to write SF novelas, long lost nowadays) was certainly very promising (outside), but fairly disappointing once played (inside). Not that I was ever all that convinced with their previous albums (IMHO, they never bettered their debut), but clearly, despite the imaginative imagery, their inspiration had waned after Leftoverture.

Monolith was certainly the last album I bought from the band (back then) and isn't present in my shelves (only the debut and a CDr comp of the next 5), but yes, I'd say that it is the last of their classics, but also the least of their classics (though Masque is fighting for that last place as well)


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Edited by Sean Trane - Yesterday at 01:44
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter
keep our sand-castle virtues
content to be a doer
as well as a thinker,
prefer lifting our pen
rather than un-sheath our sword
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Points: 29116 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 31 2025 at 00:34
I would second Somewhere To Elsewhere. I had the pleasure of seeing them playing live (still with Steve Walsh) around that time and they were brilliant. Fantastic band for sure. Always loved the first couple of albums where there is a fluidity to the style and the music feels more 'real' to me. You do get a sense of how good they are and I actually love the boogie tracks! I may be a contrarian but I never warmed that much to Masque and albums after that were just too over produced to my ears. You can hear the noose of 'corporate Americana' tightening its grip. They feel constricted to me. I enjoy the recent Absence of Presence and Prelude Implicit albums a lot more. Shoot me.
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Points: 808 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hector Enrique Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 16:43
I was expecting a much better album after the successful “Lefoverture” and “PoKR”, and with the cover art of the proud Native American I even assumed a vindicatory conceptual theme and intense progressive developments. But except for "Angels Have Fallen" and "Away From You", and the occasional scattered spark of lucidity, the album fails to take off, at least for my taste, and especially for the expectations I personally had.
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mellotronwave View Drop Down
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Points: 11283 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mellotronwave Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 16:07
For sure Monolith is their last good LP.
Angels have fallen is my fav song.
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Steve Wyzard View Drop Down
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Points: 2805 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve Wyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 15:32
Originally posted by verslibre verslibre wrote:

Originally posted by Steve Wyzard Steve Wyzard wrote:

I'd take Monolith over Masque every time.


Masque, the same album that contains a few of the band's very best offerings: "Icarus," "Mysteries and Mayhem," "The Pinnacle"...!?

I'm one of those fans who believe the band was finding their footing and discovering their sound on the first 3 albums. Which is in no way to imply that they do not have any good material - far from it. There are good reasons why "Song for America" is as popular as it is. Yet there is also a feeling with most of the early songs that the band is simply trying too hard to impress and showing off. Leftoverture was the first album where they were confident enough to no longer be "Lynyrd Skynyrd meets King Crimson" and just be themselves without sacrificing their virtuosity or experimentalism. Not to mention the first 3 albums were recorded with extremely low budgets, so the songs sounded much better on Two for the Show, which includes the best songs from those albums.
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verslibre View Drop Down
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Points: 18281 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 15:00
Originally posted by Steve Wyzard Steve Wyzard wrote:

I'd take Monolith over Masque every time.


Masque, the same album that contains a few of the band's very best offerings: "Icarus," "Mysteries and Mayhem," "The Pinnacle"...!?
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BasedProgger View Drop Down
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Points: 27 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BasedProgger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 14:59
I agree "Stay Out of Trouble" is the weakest song on Monolith. It feels like an obligatory bluesy hard rock track that doesn't fit with the rest of the album. I do like "No One Together" and I think it would have improved Monolith if it was included but then there wouldn't have been a song on Audio-Visions to make that album worth owning (well, maybe "Curtain of Iron").
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Steve Wyzard View Drop Down
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Points: 2805 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve Wyzard Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 13:47
The last great Kansas album is Somewhere to Elsewhere. From time to time, I've even been tempted to consider it "The Very Best" Kansas album, but at other times, not so much.

Monolith is a fabulous, wonderful album. Its only problem is that it's just not as good as Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. "Stay Out of Trouble" is the only "slightly" weak-link for this long-time listener. I'd take Monolith over Masque every time.

I'm very glad "No One Together" did not appear on Monolith, because like everything else on Audio-Visions, it seems very rushed and hastily thrown-together.
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verslibre View Drop Down
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Points: 18281 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote verslibre Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 09:53
Monolith is good, but not great. It may have been released too soon (though it went halfway between gold and platinum upon release) to capitalize on the momentum of Point of Know Return and Two for the Show. But it's a keeper, nonetheless.
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BasedProgger View Drop Down
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Points: 27 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BasedProgger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 30 2025 at 09:45
What does everyone here think of Kansas's sixth album by Monolith?

Generally the first five Kansas albums (debut, Song for America, Masque, Leftoverture, and Point of Know Return) are considered the best but some fans, myself included, include Monolith up there as one of the best Kansas albums, even if it's the worst "classic" album. Yes the album is more commercial than previous efforts and inconsistent in quality, and the two singles are both forgettable, "People of the South Wind" being the most pop song they ever wrote at that time and "Reason to Be" being a worse "Dust in the Wind" with too many synthesizers. But there's also some good stuff on here like "On the Other Side" and "A Glimpse of Home" comparable to the songs from their first five albums. Personally I see Monolith as a planned change in direction while Audio-Visions is when everything fell apart.

And something else to discuss: Should "No One Together" (a song written for this album but ended up on Audio-Visions instead) have been included on this album?
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