Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Kansas
Label: Legacy Recordings
Release: 1980
Length: 43:16
Rating: 3.5/5
American progressive rock trailblazers Kansas closed the book on their classic era at the dawn of the eighties, a period in which they cooked up several outstanding albums of top-shelf art rock. Their influence on the progressive rock revival of the nineties and on progressive metal is considerable and can still be felt today. Their distinctive, technically top-notch brand of arena rock with plenty of symphonic flourishes took a years-long leave with “Audio-Visions” and, despite some well-meaning later attempts to revive the classic sound, never again got back to the level of the band’s golden years. You could easily say their evolution in terms of prog rock adventurism ended with this album, although some would put that turning point a year or so earlier.
In line with the musical trends of the day, Kansas bent even further toward the needs of AOR radio on “Audio-Visions”, though they hadn’t (yet) turned their backs completely on their symphonic prog rock legacy, which you can admire in all the brighter moments of this album. It’s a fairly interesting record from a transitional standpoint, but pretty average next to everything they did in the seventies. These days “Audio-Visions” is probably best known as the last collaboration, for more than twenty years, right up until the album “Somewhere to Elsewhere” (2002), of the core Kansas songwriting-and-playing duo: guitar virtuoso Kerry Livgren and excellent singer and occasional keyboardist Steve Walsh. As usual, Walsh handled the more compact, hard rocking numbers, while Livgren stayed devoted to epic, symphonic rock anthems and power ballads.
Unlike their hugely successful art rock peers like Journey and Styx, Kansas on “Audio-Visions” didn’t morph into inconsolable heartbreakers of teenage girls but into genuine evangelical preachers, so whether that was the better choice is a matter of personal taste. Typical American pathos was never foreign to them, but until then they’d somehow managed to keep it in good taste in the lyrics, also thanks to their devotion to the British school of progressive rock. The main “culprit” for almost all their lyrics turning into hymns to God’s salvation was none other than Kerry Livgren, who around this time went from passionate mystic to born-again Christian zealot. Over time he also brought bassist Dave Hope under his sway, and Hope even became an evangelical pastor after leaving the band. Not everyone in the band was thrilled, of course, about preaching the word of God and Kansas getting more and more tied to so-called Christian rock. Steve Walsh had the most trouble with this kind of evangelical poetry, which his rather perfunctory performance of the ballad “Hold On”, the only obvious case of religious fervor, makes plain. His relationship with Livgren soured over the pushing of religious beliefs to the point that after this album he decided to leave and start his own band, Streets.
On “Audio-Visions” Kansas beefed up their sonic lines of force even more in favor of melodic hard rock anthems and power ballads, while holding on to their trademark arena rock pomp. AOR diehards shouldn’t have a thing to complain about, since the album offers a generous dose of highly melodic charm, while prog fans will surely find it much less interesting, as the structures of the individual songs, led by the symphonic arrangements, got noticeably simpler by their past standards. Robby Steinhardt, the brilliant violinist and occasional singer, had noticeably less room for his string feats this time. Along with being exposed to daily religious fanaticism from two longtime musical comrades-in-arms, that fed his growing dissatisfaction with his status in the band and his later (temporary) departure. Symphonic elements were playing an ever smaller role in their vocabulary, which really couldn’t have been good news for their trademark sound.
Still, even though this was no longer a band that could meaningfully shape the fate of eighties prog rock, there are a few brilliant pieces on the album that stand shoulder to shoulder with the gems from their golden years. The first is the opening epic “Relentless”, which, in keeping with their tradition, is an exceptionally strong album opener. It’s also one of the last Kansas classics with Steve Walsh on vocals. This is one of those tracks where you can plainly see that Kansas laid strong foundations for the now-popular genre we call progressive metal. A dramatic, original hard rock riff is pushed up front, while there’s no shortage of epic arrangements that keep the dynamics nicely in check. Tying it all together is Walsh’s excellent singing, with the emphasis on a dramatic melodic rock chorus.
With the pompous “Anything for You” they slow the tempo at just the right moment and bring in a pinch of sonic subtlety. This one has some interesting arrangements, though nothing about it stands out in their body of work. The pathos of the primal American school shines with full force on the love ballad “Hold On”, which was written as an evangelical ode to Livgren’s wife. This balladesque syrup is among their better-known and more beloved ballads, though it doesn’t win me over at all. Besides the rather tasteless lyrics, Walsh’s singing lacks the sincerity you can admire, say, on the immortal “Dust in the Wind”. “Loner” and “Got to Rock On” are typical Walsh hard rockers, built on spirited guitar riffs and plenty of vocal energy, which means nothing about them stands out.
On the pompous Cold War epic “Curtain of Iron”, their classic symphonic prog rock sound briefly wakes up again. This Steinhardt “star moment” has juicy string arrangements and a dramatic vocal turn from the legendary violinist, though it’s no peak, since it’s a thinly disguised attempt at a successor to the classic “Cheyenne Anthem”. “Don’t Open Your Eyes” comes off more convincingly, a great specimen of pompous symphonic prog rock with dramatic, gothic-tinged violin arrangements laid over a cranked-to-the-max tempo courtesy of drum master Phil Ehart. Sadly, it’s one of the few songs on the album where the whole band sounds inspired and pitches in at full power to build an outstanding atmosphere.
“No One Together” is a superb Livgren symphonic prog epic and, besides “Relentless”, the only track on the album that fully deserves Kansas classic status. The way they gradually build the dramatic atmosphere, the technical pretentiousness and the flow between the epic arrangements stay at an enviable level throughout, which means this one could easily sit on any of their classic seventies albums. “No Room for a Stranger” is a thoroughly average hard rock number that has a few interesting instrumental bits but goes nowhere, hanging onto the same rather boring motif the whole time. The closing “Back Door”, on the other hand, is a fairly interesting melodic rock power ballad with a seductive central melody, mighty harmonies and tasteful string arrangements. The closing Celtic keyboard arrangement is a pleasant surprise too.
“Audio-Visions” still stirs up pretty mixed feelings today, since there’s a ton of untapped potential on it for more convincing prog rock maneuvers, which easily makes it the weakest release from the classic Kansas lineup. As long as the Walsh-Livgren songwriting partnership was running, Kansas were still capable of occasionally reaching for the prog stars, but on the other hand it’s easy to feel on “Audio-Visions” that the band as a whole no longer had its heart in it, which shows in its uneven quality. With the arrival of Walsh’s replacement John Elefante, yet another born-again Christian to Livgren’s taste, Kansas finally marched into Christian-preacher AOR. Far from saying this era was bad, at least from a strictly musical standpoint if not the lyrics, but sadly it was nowhere near reflecting the true soul of this band, which had always rested on the songwriting partnership between Walsh and Livgren.
Lineup
Steve Walsh – vocals, keyboards, percussion, vibraphone
Kerry Livgren – guitar, percussion, keyboards, backing vocals
Robby Steinhardt – violin, viola, backing vocals
Dave Hope – bass guitar, backing vocals
Rich Williams – guitar, percussion, backing vocals
Phil Ehart – drums, percussion, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Terry Ehart – backing vocals
Four Bassmen – backing vocals
Joey Jelf – backing vocals
Victoria Livgren – backing vocals
Joey Self – backing vocals
Anne Steinhardt – violin, viola, backing vocals
Lisa White – backing vocals
Donna Williams – backing vocals
Production
Kansas, Brad Aaron, Davey Moire
Tracklist
1. Relentless (4:55)
2. Anything for you (3:56)
3. Hold on (3:45)
4. Loner (2:26)
5. Curtain of iron (6:08)
6. Got to rock on (3:19)
7. Don’t open your eyes (4:03)
8. No one together (6:54)
9. No room for a stranger (2:55)
10. Back door (4:20)
