THE BEST OF KANSAS

A compilation album from Kansas was just as much inevitable as the fact that it would be a commercial. Selling over 4 million copies in U.S. alone and featuring songs from pretty much the band's entire career up to this point, it was a definite milestone in their discography. But my question is whether The Best Of Kansas can actually serve as an excellent introduction for fans of prog music?

The album does feature all of the '70s Kansas essential Kansas hits like Carry On Wayward Son, Point Of Know Return, Song For America and Dust In The Wind. But the fact that almost 50% of this recording is comprised of the band's '80s material makes it tough on the ear on a number of occasions. Songs like Fight Fire With Fire and Play The Game Tonight might have been big hits back in the day but sound extremely dated by today's standards and do pretty much nothing for me. The only '80s numbers that do click with me are the melodic ballad Hold On and the very retro-sounding No One Together.

The original version of The Best Of Kansas is a good compilation but I would still rather listen to any of the first five albums over this one. The '80s Kansas sound simply never clicked with me.

***** star songs: Carry On Wayward Son (5:22) Point Of Know Return (3:11) Song For America (9:08) The Wall (4:49)

**** star songs: Fight Fire With Fire (3:40) Dust In The Wind (3:27) Hold On (3:52) No One Together (6:57)

*** star songs: Play The Game Tonight (3:26)

** star songs: Perfect Lover (4:19)