Kansas is among the forefathers and most important bands in the progressive Rock genre. "Device Voice Drum" is a live recording from Atlanta spanning through
Kansas' entire career. The setlist spans through
Belexes and
Journey from Mariabronn from the self-titled debut album from 1974 onto
Kansas' latest studio album from 2000 with the inclusion of
Icarus II.
Steve Walsh handles most of the vocal duties but also Robby Steinhardt and Billy Greer sing in concert.
Kansas's prog-rock style is typical with lots of instrumental soundscapes. The melody line is typically played on the keyboard as the most dominating instrument with the guitar and drums following the pattern.
Kansas has often been labeled as progressive arena rock, which describes the music well. The music is not as complex as similar bands making
Kansas able to reach the masses.
After listening to this performance no one can doubt the skills of the musicians. Robby Steinhardt's violin playing and Phil Ehart's technical drumming is worth highlighting.
Kansas has along with
Yes been the inspiration to most progressive bands like
Dream Theater. Despite the huge influence lots of younger prog-rock fans are not familiar with
Kansas. This is underlined by the fact that I am writing this review for a webzine, which has lots of progressive staff members. Hopefully this will encourage some to checkout the ancestor of their favorite bands.
Carry on Wayward Son should ring a bell for most fans of this style.
Dream Theater and
Yngwie Malmsteen have both done covers of this fantastic song. My point is that
Kansas has never been fully recognized for their impact on this style of music.
"Device Voice Drum" has a 60-member choir backing
Kansas on
The Preacher, which is among highlights along with the great version of
Dust in the Wind. The arrangement is very atypical for
Kansas' style since it is not multi layered with instruments. However, the version only features an acoustic guitar and a string section. The song is so well written that it holds up fine with guitars and strings only.
The whole performance builds up for the climax, which is released in the last 3 songs.
Fight Fire with Fire has a pounding rhythm and the song overlaps perfectly into the piano driven
Play the Game Tonight. Of course the show ends with the greatest hymn of progressive Rock.
Carry On Wayward Son is classic song and the
Kansas 2002 performance is well played.
Disc 2 includes a video of
Distant Vision, which is among the best tracks. The stage set up is really impressive, so if you have most
Kansas albums maybe you should get the visual aspect instead since this is a DVD release too. However, if you are fan of
Dream Theater, Spocks Beard etc. and not familiar with the band you should purchase this album as an introduction to
Kansas.
Even though the members of
Kansas are in their fifties they don't sound rusty at all. The band is still touring actively and it shows on this live recording. By quoting the comment ending disc 1 "Who says you can't rock when you are 52 years old".
Written by
Michael Saturday, February 15, 2003
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