Song-by-Song analysis
Following the relative commercial failure of Kansas's ambitious In the Spirit of Things album, the band was effectively pronounced dead by the music industry. Of course, it wouldn't be long before Kansas was actively touring again. But they have yet to return to the charts and probably never will. In the initial aftermath of the "Spirit" disaster, Steve Walsh briefly tried a new band. The driving force of this new trio was the vastly underrated keyboard sensation Vince DiCola. I first became aware of Vince from the film Rocky IV. His awesome, dexterious, adrenaline pumping progressive rock euphoria helped make that perhaps the best the best audience participation movie ever (when I saw the movie in a theater, when the title character knocked down his seemingly invincible Soviet opponent, the audience wildly cheered as if it was an actual sporting event that they were seeing in person!). Sadly, much of Vince's material that appeared in the movie did not make it to its soundtrack album. So rent or buy the movie so you can hear it! Especially the tear-jerking finale to "Heart's on Fire," presented when the title character is running up a mountain and his opponent is running up a mountain simulator (and repeated in the closing credits). That is quite possibly my favorite musical moment of all time. The soundtrack version of the song fades out before that section. Prior to "Rocky IV," DiCola contributed to the 1983 film Staying Alive (the sequel to Saturday Night Fever), including the sensational Far From Over (credited to the song's lead vocalist, Frank Stallone), a top 40 single that is one of the definitive fusions of progressive rock and pop music. In 1986, he contributed music to yet another film, The Transformers - The Movie. His "Transformers" work is solid, but not up to the phenomenal "Rocky IV" level. Oh yeah, there was another guy in this group. Doane Perry. Drummer for Jethro Tull. Drummer on one song by my favorite new artist of the 1990s, Magellan. And a great song, too, Waterfront Weirdos, from the album Impending Ascension. Great new prog piece. So anyway, the three men - Walsh, DiCola and Perry - formed a new band that was a phenomenal new prog-pop sensation, promising to be one of the greatest bands ever. They made three songs before Steve abandoned the project. But the three songs have circulated for years and I like them so much that I'm reviewing them for this page! And if you're a member of Kansas, please take me seriously as someone who's as extreme a Kansas fan as there is, anywhere in the world! You MUST put these songs on your next album! They're better than anything from "Freaks of Nature" or the new material from "Always Never the Same"! Seriously! I promise! And by the way, Vince and Doane have continued to work together. In 1997, the pair, along with vocalist Ellis Hall (Tower of Power), released an album under the name Thread. Vince and Doane were also involved in the studio project Storming Heaven>. So far, I haven't heard an album from either, but I look forward to that in the near future and will include them on my page!
1. Only Time Will Tell - This one picks up where Vince left off in "Rocky IV." The opening keyboard cadenza, indeed, takes one back to the harsh Russian winter that provided a backdrop for that film's stunningly effective traning scenes. And the song never lets up, making numerous surprisingly smooth transitions between the sorrowful and the joyous. The verses are prevented in a bleak, balladic style with a harpsichord-type keyboard. But the chrouses shine with glorious optimism, amid heavy rhythm tracks and aggressive acoustic guitar strumming (a first for Vince, to my knowledge). The keyboard solo that follows the second verse moves into double time drama and builds into a thrilling climax. With just a sympho keyboard repeating a single bass note, a deep spoken voice (whose, I don't know) says "I'd like to think that somebody, someday, could stand up and say...," which leads into the final chorus and a beautiful double time outro, on which the lead synth uses common lead guitar effects including the pitch bender, topped off by a fanfaric trumpet style keyboard finale. By the the that the final note cuts off, I'm usually grinning from ear to ear! It's just awesome with a capital A!
2. Broken Glass - This is a remake of a song from the second and last Streets studio album, Crimes in Mind. When the original, a potential smash hit on three formats, failed to get significant notice, it proved the total ineptitude of programmers and album oriented, top 40 and adult contemporary radio, as well as the music industry in general. Apparently, Steve really belived in this song, as he recorded it again. To begin with, this was my favorite Streets song - an unusually effective power ballad, capturing the emptiness of a broken relationship. But naturally, Vince's involvement improved it! This version opens with interesting futuristic synth effects, almost science fiction type, before the first verse, which features just vocals and soft, echo laden keyboard chords. In another really cool transition, Vince switches to a hard hitting piano for the bridge. The chorus is the most conventional part of the song, but still very powerful. And the instrumental break is enhanced by Vince's trumpet synth sound. And the fadeout contains what sounds like vocal samples of Steve. Very unusual, but it works well with the song. Hopefully it will get a real chance at the big time someday. Don't hold your breath waiting for it, though.
3. Suffer the Children - This is my least favorite of the three songs that Steve, Vince and Doane recorded together, but it's still quite good. It's keyboard intro is very similar to that of The Bells of St. James which isn't surprising, considering that this was the year after that song came out. But the intro soon gives way to Vince's keyboard heroics and this builds into a very dark, drama oriented piece that is the most prog oriented of their three songs. The lyrics deal, very touchingly, as the title implies, with the suffering of children and the need that they have for love and assurance. And the music goes along quite well with that theme. Very piano chord dominated. The chorus builds up into a driving, steady rhythm. The best moment of the song is the sudden keyboard frenzy that breaks out dramatically after a pause late in the song. This leads into the last chorus and outro. So all you Kansas people reading this - remember, these three songs on your next album! It's for your own good!