POINT OF KNOW RETURN

I discovered Kansas during the Leftoverture era because of the wonderful cover paintings. I started to build up my Kansas collection with the two first albums and just when I had bought all their albums, Kansas released this 'breakthrough' LP. Suddenly Kansas was worldwide on the radio with the mellow hitsingle Dust In The Wind so in fact the title of this album matched perfectly with the situation in those days, commercially and musically: Kansas became a 'stadium rock act' that sold million albums and their sound turned into more polished. On this album you can enjoy the exciting Holy Trinity of the classical violin, the symphonic vintage keyboard sound and the harder-edged guitar work in compositions that blend in a very tasteful way progressive pop, rock, classical and symphonic prog: the catchy and propulsive i Point Of Know Return, Lightning Hand and Sparks Of The Tempest (powerful Hammond and biting guitar), dreamy in Dust In The Wind (warm acoustic guitar and violin) and Nobody's Home (beautiful classical piano and violin) and alternating and dynamic in Closet Chonicles (a big hand for the vintage keyboards) and Hopelessly Human (lots of shifting moods, strong violin work and sensational soli on keyboards and guitar), the most impressive progrock efforts on Point Of Know Return. My rating: a solid four stars for an unique sound in progrock history!