KANSAS

1. Can I Tell You
Fast and furious song with straightforward lyrics that could be a reference to the USA national anthem lyrics "...the land of the free and home of the brave". Well, Kansas tells you "prove that you deserve it, help us to preserve it, or being free will just be words and nothing more". Spot on! A nice, catchy and meaningful song.

2. Bringing It Back (J. J. Cale cover)
Wow, what a way to introduce yourself mr Steinhardt! The late, great vocalist and violinist sings the lead vocals and gives a stunning virtuoso violin performance, showing his intentions early on. Very impressive cover!

3. Lonely Wind - worst song of the album
Religious ballad by Steve Walsh, typical for Southern Americans who usually have a strong connection with God. The most interesting thing musically is Dave Hope's bass lines. Otherwise it's a rather irrelevant song for my taste.

4. Belexes - a Kansas classic
A truly impressive song which sounds like a solid jamming session, with fast pace and skillful individual performances from every member. By far the best song so far, to me this one would be a better album opener than "Can I Tell You"! Judging by the times they played it live, this is the most popular song of the album with more than 225 live performances to this day.

5. Journey from Mariabronn - a Kansas classic - my favorite song of the album
A song inspired by the book Narcissus and Goldmund by author Hermann Hesse, this is the first time we notice the sheer prog brilliance that Kansas are capable of. Excellent performances by every member of the band and a very interesting story. They are not nearly as tight as they would be in the following years but this is definitely a Kansas classic. The outro might be the best part of the song, what a majestic way to end it! This is the best way to finish the album, they should put this song last!

6. The Pilgrimage
Not the Wishbone Ash epic of course, but it begins in kinda similar way. A religious song too, but this one is boogie and fun. Not a particularly great song but much more tasteful than "Lonely Wind".

7. Aperçu - a Kansas classic - best song of the album - most Prog song of the album - most underrated song of the album
A divine song which vividly displays the essence of Kansas, still raw but utterly brilliant. It consists of 5 acts with yet again religious lyrics, this time about the rather interesting topic of death and reincarnation. The construction of the song is as follows:
0:00 - 3:18 Act 1: preparation for the trespass
3:19 - 4:44 Act 2: trespass and preparation for reincarnation
4:45 - 6:34 Act 3: instrumental
6:35 - 8:32 Act 4: reincarnation
8:33 - 9:36 Act 5: instrumental outro
Whether you're religious or not, there is no way you can overlook that fantastic piece! It's also a criminally underrated song, as it was never performed live by Kansas and it's the least streamed song by the "Kansas" album on Last.fm

8. Death of Mother Nature Suite - a Kansas classic
Both a hard rocker and a soft ballad with clever prog dynamics, this is a song with ecological concerns that uses it's dark and menacing tone to highlight the troubled state we brought our planet to. At 4:30 we have a clear tribute to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man", as Kansas play the riff of it's chorus! The utilization of every instrument according to the dynamics Kansas want to express on each part of the song is brave and unexpectedly mature for a band on it's debut, but we shouldn't forget that Kansas members already played several years with other groups before they got together. This song is underrated too, as Kansas only played it 4 times live during their entire career.

RATING:
4 Kansas classics in this album, one of the best debut albums a classic prog band had the pleasure to release. With a very strict rating logic it's a solid 3,5 stars album, but closer to 4 than 3 so I will indeed go with 4. I consider it either the 3d or the 4th best album Kansas ever released, the others being Song For America, Leftoverture and Point of Know Return.

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