ALWAYS NEVER THE SAME

The least I can say, is that I am not really found of those associations. When rock meets classic has never been my cup of tea. Whether it's Yes, Purple, Tull. ELO being an exception with El Dorado but the essence of the band in this album was pure symphony s o it worked pretty well. Thinking of Kansas and their violin-oriented sound, it might be a worthy exercise.

Since Kansas was not very prolific in those days (they released only one good album three years before this one) they decided to join forces with an orchestra and re- arrange some of their This is a studio album.

I wonder why Kansas decided to feature "Eleanor Rigby" here. This version is not bad but I do not think it was relevant to play htis one on a Kansas effort, be it with a symphonic orchestra. "Dust In The Wind" works pretty well with the orchestra. Unlike the Tull (and dull) effort, this album keeps the vocals and do not replaces them with the orchestration. It has more a backing and supporting role. The band has its role to play and the combination works pretty well here. From time to time, the horn section will be a bit "too much" but these moments are rather scrace, so...

"Preamble" is a pure work of the orchestra and not a Kansas song as such. Classic music, period. Skip it. Same applies to the later "Prelude & Introduction". On the contrary, "Song For America" sounds nice (but this will be a tendancy that will prevail throughout the album). Kansas music goes along pretty well with an orchestra.

"In Your Eyes", as "The Sky Is Falling" and "Need To Know" was unknown to me. Maybe that Walsh wrote them especially for the occasion, I don't know. Anyway, they are not particularly brilliant. Don't get me wrong : they are not bad songs but they cannot compete with most of the other ones which really belong to the best of Kansas' repertoire. The last sounding at times to "West Side Story" (but that's the risk with such effort).

I guess the whole would have been better with some other Kansas epics like (Journey from "Mariabronn", "Magnum Opus", "Lamplight Symphony" or "Incomudro").

Several greatt numbers of the band are featured here. Of course, at times the orchestration might be a bit intrusive but not too much after all. Some songs as "Hold On" were not particularly brilliant in their original form, so the addition of the LSO will not change anything. One of my preferred number here is the very emotional "The Wall". It was a very good number in its original form. Just a pity that Walsh is not on par on the vocals. A great song by all means. One of the few tracks during which the orchestra takes too much place is probably "Nobody's Home".

This might well be the best ever effort of that genre (at least the ones I have heard). Even if, like me, you are not keen to listen to a symphonic orchestra, this record is worth a spin. Three stars.