Kansas - The Prelude Implicit

Kansas The Prelude Implicit cover
Kansas
The Prelude Implicit
InsideOut Music
2016
7.5
Well what can somebody say about Kansas that hasn’t already been said. They did dominate the charts for a long time both in the 70s and 80s, managing to put their stamp in the AOR and Prog Rock with their intricate yet very melodic and accessible style. Possibly the precursors to bands like Dream Theater, the band had not been terribly active in studio terms into the new millennium with just a single album right around it’s turn and now after some sixteen years an entirely new album of new material, but without some of its most important members, like guitarist and composer Kerry Livgren, as well as original singer/keyboard player Steve Walsh, who resigned the band and the music scene a couple of years ago. Now in the past the band has functioned, without one or the other, but never without either.
 
The band after attempting to reinstate their other former vocalist John Elefante (Mastedon), who did pray hard, but ultimately turned down the opportunity, decided to bite the bullet and towed in two new members, keyboard player David Manion and Ronnie Platt of Shooting Star on vocals and additional keys. The latter is a dead-ringer for Walsh, which makes sense. What however is the big wager is attempting a new album – these many years later. It’s a hard sale in many ways, but the band manages to sound like themselves, which is a half victory… but not a resounding one.
 
The album manages to have a plethora of good moments, ie the highly melodious opener “With This Heart” that’s very typical of the bands style, the epic “The Unsung Heroes”, which has plenty of Ragsdale’s violin, just like the atmospheric “Refugee”, which sees the band tackling a very contemporary issue, with humanity and dignity, just like it does on the harder edged “Crowded Isolation”. “The Voyage of Eight Eighteen” causes a minor pro-g-asm, (pun intended), while “Summer” is another exemplary tune.
 
“The Prelude Implicit” is by no means a bad album, it’s just unable to top the band’s previous achievements and that’s probably it’s Achilles heel that it apes the band way too well. Time will tell how much this latest incarnation will have a staying power and how it will measure up against the classic lineup. However if you like Kansas, these new songs should put a smirk if not a full smile on our face.