Monolith - the last great Kansas album?

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?

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.

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"...!?

For sure Monolith is their last good LP.
Angels have fallen is my fav song.

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.

I think it's very good but it's spotty in some places. For example "stay out of trouble" is a total throw away track and makes typical filler look great by comparsion. One of those what were they thinking moments. There was at least one other not so good song on there but I don't remember what it was. "Reason to Be" however is probably a better song than "dust in the wind."

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - January 31 2025 at 05:47

I think Masque was when Kansas started to move towards a more commercial direction as evident in songs like "It Takes a Woman's Love (To Make a Man)", not that it's a bad thing because Leftoverture and PoKR are both classics where they figured out their sound, balanced progressive rock with arena rock in a way that worked, and didn't have any weak songs. I agree it has some of their best offerings like the ones verslibre mentioned (I'd add "Child of Innocence" to that).

In my opinion, Masque > Monlith but probably only because of "Mysteries and Mayhem" and "The Pinnacle" (should have been one song or at least segued into each other like "Apercu" and "Death of Mother Nature Suite").

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: verslibre wrote: 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. The RIAA website just says gold. Where are you getting this halfway information from?

It eventually went Platinum. Where are you getting your information?

"The platinum record featured here was awarded to Kerry Livgren as a member of Kansas when the album Monolith (1979) reached the 1,000,000 sale mark. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards gold and platinum albums after a long and rigorous process of record sales certification. The tradition of awarding gold records to artists who achieve extraordinary success began in 1958, but by the mid-1970s the distribution of records had reached such a mass audience that the platinum record award was introduced to recognize the sale of one million albums."

verslibre wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: verslibre wrote: 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. The RIAA website just says gold. Where are you getting this halfway information from?  It eventually went Platinum. Where are you getting your information? "The platinum record featured here was awarded to Kerry Livgren as a member of Kansas when the album Monolith (1979) reached the 1,000,000 sale mark. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards gold and platinum albums after a long and rigorous process of record sales certification. The tradition of awarding gold records to artists who achieve extraordinary success began in 1958, but by the mid-1970s the distribution of records had reached such a mass audience that the platinum record award was introduced to recognize the sale of one million albums."

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - January 31 2025 at 11:02

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I go by the RIAA website. https://www.riaa.com/ https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=kansas#search_section

They need to update it. As you can see right there, it states the Gold certification date is June 20, 1980.

More than enough copies shipped upon Monolith's release for it to ship Gold. They had around ¾ of a million units out the door.