Kansas – Audio-Visions (1980) Review | I Must Tear Down the Walsh and Let It Be
Kronomyth 8.0: The ellipsis of know return.
For years, I was ambivalent about Audio-Visions and felt it got off to a weak start. Listening to it again lately, the opening pair (Relentless, Anything for You) blew me away and, of course, once Hold On rolled around, Audio-Visions had me in the palm of its hand. It’s the last of the classic Kansas albums, with Steve Walsh departing the following year, citing artistic differences with Kerry Livgren. Now, obviously, those artistic differences had been there from the beginning. Walsh was a rocker while Livgren preferred prog. The strange thing is that Walsh and Livgren have rarely worked so well together. “Relentless” rocks and Walsh bringing in the vibes for No One Together is inspired genius. Likewise, “Anything for You” has its proggy passages and Back Door is surprisingly sentimental for Walsh. Audio-Visions also features stellar performances from Phil Ehart and Rich Williams. There’s not a bad song on the album. Loner nearly rocks as hard as Dio, Curtain of Iron is classic prog, and the remaining songs never feel like filler. Honestly, I’m at a loss to explain why it took so long for me to really appreciate this album. My initial review was “past the point of no return as it pertained to prog.” My follow-up review was kinder, acknowledging that half a good prog album was hiding underneath its ugly cover. But after listening to this again for half a dozen times, I believe it to be one of their best albums—not on the pedestal of Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, but a fair match for Monolith at least. And it seemed to me that Kansas had finally discovered a way to sound consistent from song to song. The tension between Walsh and Livgren, it turned out, was the secret ingredient to their success, as Drastic Measures made painfully clear.
The Product
A1. Relentless (Kerry Livgren) (4:55)
A2. Anything for You (Steve Walsh) (3:56)
A3. Hold On (Kerry Livgren) (3:45)
A4. Loner (Steve Walsh) (2:26)
A5. Curtain of Iron (Kerry Livgren) (6:08)
B1. Got to Rock On (Steve Walsh) (3:19)
B2. Don’t Open Your Eyes (Steve Walsh/Rich Williams/Kerry Livgren/Phil Ehart/Dave Hope) (4:03)
B3. No One Together (Kerry Livgren) (6:54)
B4. No Room for a Stranger (Rich Williams/Steve Walsh) (2:55)
B5. Back Door (Steve Walsh) (4:20)
Original 8-track version
A1. Relentless
A2. Loner
A3. Got to Rock On
B1. Hold On
B2. Don’t Open Your Eyes
B3. No Room for a Stranger
C1. Anything for You
C2. No One Together
D1. Curtain of Iron
D2. Back Door
The Players
Phil Ehart (drums, percussion, vocals), Dave Hope (bass, vocals), Kerry Livgren (guitars, keyboards, percussion, vocals), Robby Steinhardt (violins, violas, lead vocals), Steve Walsh (keyboards, vibes, percussion, lead vocals), Rich Williams (guitars, percussion, vocals) with Terry Ehart (additional vocals & sounds), The Four Bassmen (additional vocals & sounds), Joey Jelf (additional vocals & sounds), Vicci Livgren (additional vocals & sounds), Lisa White (additional vocals & sounds), Donna Williams (additional voices & sounds). Produced by Kansas; co-produced and engineered by Brad Aaron and Davey Moire.
The Pictures
Album design & art direction by Tom Drennon. Illustration by Peter Lloyd. Inner sleeve photography by Exley. Additional illustration by Tom Drennon and Wild Studios.
The Plastic
Released on elpee, cassette and 8-track in September 1980 in the US (Kirshner, FZ/FZT/FZA 36588), the UK and the Netherlands (Kirshner, SKIR 84500) and Canada (Kirshner, XFZ/XFZT 36588) with lyrics innersleeve. Reached #26 on the US charts (RIAA-certified gold record).
- Re-issued on remastered compact disc on February 27, 1996 in the US (Columbia Legacy, ZK 66417) and in 1996 in Europe (Sony, 481161).
- Re-issued on remastered compact disc on August 24, 2011 in Japan (Epic, EICP 20079).
