POINT OF KNOW RETURN

Point of Know Return marks another step to become even more catchy and commercially viable act. No wonder, since the previous album was the record for Kansas. What do we have here then? A mixture of pop, rock and progressive tracks with the diminishing prog influence.

"Point of Know Return" is a catchy, radio-oriented track with good violin and Hammond accompaniment. Fortunately, two progressive tracks par excellence follow - "Paradox" draws the interest with unusual guitar playing and traditional violing and keyboard fiddling. "Spider" is the most extravagant Kansas track and the flagship of Steve Walsh - the guy who mostly stuck to hard-rock songs penned this short but effective masterpiece. No wonder that keyboards and drums are the dominant instruments here. "Portrait(He knew)" is a typical hard-rock AOR piece that would have caught the attention of any classic rock fan. To compensate for hard rock, keyboard instrumentation comes into play.

"Closet Chronicles" is a delicate emotional epic composition with great chord sequence. The keyboards very much correspond to the sound of mid 70's.

"Lightning's hand" is interesting because of its progressive metal taste, strong almost hard rock vocal delivery by the violin player. Definitely an enrichment in Kansas' repertoire although not from the progressive side ;-) "Dust in the wind" is a poignant short acoustic piece and hardly Kansas' trademark since they had never a had a song like this. The last two tracks are reflective and melancholic and make you think about your life. "Nobody's home" reveals a great melody and a bit cheesy violin part obviously inspired by classical music. "Hopelessly human" is the last classic Kansas epic :(. Not at the height of Magnum Opus, nevertheless it has its pompous moments and instrumental virtuosity. In contrast to Magnum Opus, the composition flow is more important here than instrumental interplays. So could the piece remain listenable to a bigger spectrum of listeners.

Another masterpiece by Kansas, although not of progressive rock. We still have to applaud Kansas for delivery such record in 1977 when the prog crisis was starting.