Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Kansas
Label: MCA Records
Released: 1986
Running time: 39:22
Rating: 4/5
After the fiasco of their previous album “Drastic Measures” (1983), which was more or less a letdown even for longtime fans, and the band’s breakup in 1985, Kansas came back to the scene with “Power”, but this time with a radically different lineup. Born-again Christians Kerry Livgren (guitar/keyboards) and Dave Hope (bass), whose religious zeal was becoming increasingly unbearable and starting to damage the reputation of this legendary American progressive rock band, said their goodbyes and turned to solo careers and missionary work. Partly because they never expected anyone to dare carry on the Kansas story without them.
Drummer Phil Ehart and guitarist Rich Williams, the last two original members, luckily didn’t sit on their hands. They got busy rallying the troops, determined to restore the battered band’s good name. At their invitation, the charismatic Steve Walsh returned on lead vocals and keyboards, bringing along bassist Billy Greer from his own band Streets. They were joined by another American guitar virtuoso, Steve Morse (ex-Dixie Dregs, later of Deep Purple), who at the time looked, on paper at least, like the ideal replacement for the otherwise irreplaceable Livgren, and who later justified that faith at least in part, even though his playing style was quite different from his predecessor’s. As a former Dixie Dregs man, he also brought a touch of folk to the band.
It’s worth noting that by the time “Power” came together, despite the lineup shake-up, the end of the Christian preaching of the Livgren-Hope-Elefante camp and a few fresh ideas, Kansas were already more of a melodic rock band than a prog rock one, and in many ways they followed the trends of the day. Still, most of the musical ideas on this album were better than those on its predecessor, and the lyrics finally shook off the stifling preachy baggage.
A lot of the credit for the band’s successful comeback, and for briefly winning over the new MTV generation, goes to the hit single, the splendid power ballad “All I Wanted”, which got heavy rotation as a video on music TV channels. This otherwise excellent evergreen couldn’t be further from the traditional Kansas sound. It’s much more reminiscent of AOR bands like Journey, or even earlier, Rainbow with Joe Lynn Turner on vocals. No wonder the band has deliberately steered clear of it at gigs for years, but the love-song lyrics, the chorus and the video with beauties in the lead roles completely enchanted the MTV generation of the time and won the band a whole new type of fan.
The newly revived band left plenty of other quality material on “Power”, too. The opening banger “Silhouettes In Disguise”, for instance, reestablishes a somewhat harder side of the band and announces an energetic start to the album. The title track, also released as a single, didn’t do as well as the band expected despite its pompous, arena-rock chorus, though it’s far from a bad song. The only really weaker, less inventive moment on the album is “Secret Service”, whose monotonous chorus and risqué lyrics sound more like some hair metal band of the era than Kansas.
“We’re Not Alone Anymore” is a fairly basic cross between melodic and hard rock that could have turned up on any Streets album. Morse, meanwhile, keeps proving his instrumental mastery with inventive solos and witty guitar phrases. The instrumental “Musicatto” is a mini masterclass in instrumental virtuosity and a reawakening of prog-rock Kansas. Even the pastoral “Taking In The View” has quite a bit in common with some of their earlier ballads.
“Three Pretenders” will still satisfy plenty of AOR connoisseurs today, since besides its rich layers of synths it has a hypnotic chorus. The same goes for “Tomb 19”, where the rustling synthesizers add a pinch of the mystique that had been missing since Walsh’s departure. The closing power ballad “Can’t Cry Anymore”, with its brilliant symphonic arrangement and one of the most emotional performances of Walsh’s entire singing career, surprisingly didn’t make it onto the radio charts of the day, even though it had everything it needed to pull it off.
If you can keep in mind that “Power” is in many ways a product of its time (the second half of the eighties), you’ll forgive Kansas at least in part for drying up their prog rock roots and flirting with the musical trends of the day, because this is still a very good melodic rock album with art rock flashes here and there. For the American prog rock champions, it marked above all the start of a new era, when they managed to turn the musical mood of the day to their advantage and win over the hearts of a completely new generation of fans. So this is one of those albums that prog rock purists still despise to this day, while it remains a real treat for all AOR connoisseurs and listeners with a wide musical taste.
Lineup
Steve Walsh – vocals, keyboards
Phil Ehart – drums
Billy Greer – bass guitar, backing vocals
Steve Morse – electric guitar
Rich Williams – electric guitar
GUEST MUSICIANS
Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Andrew Powell
Production
Andrew Powell
Track list
1. Silhouettes in disguise (4:26)
2. Power (4:25)
3. All I wanted (3:20)
4. Secret service (4:42)
5. We’re not alone anymore (4:16)
6. Musicatto (3:30)
7. Taking in the view (3:06)
8. Three pretenders (3:50)
9. Tomb 19 (3:46)
10. Can’t cry anymore (4:01)
