MONOLITH

Well, this is clearly no Leftoverture or Point Of Known Return. Still I liked it very much when it came out. Times had changed and I think it was so good to have a rock sounding album in a time rock seemed to be falling apart fast. And big names were totally out of place in 1979. It is less progressive, and more pop, ok, still the instrumentatio is great and the songs are very good. Soime are brilliant: On The Other Side, A Glimpse of Home and Away From You. Even the so maligned People Of The South Wind is a fine pop song in any way.

The strains inside the band were also starting to show: Walsh´s and Livgren visions were by this time almost opposite. That did not help the group at all, even if, as a whole, Kansas could still deliver a fine performance. Specially Steve Walsh, who is singing here better than ever.

Not a good start for someone new to the band, specially prog fans, but still a strong record.