Kansas Are Back, Nothing's Changed, And That's Fine
Relentless, Unchanging...
Kansas are many years removed from their days as a chart-topping arena act, and have taken a decade-and-a-half to record a studio album of new material. Now, having acquired a new vocalist and signed with Inside Out Music, they have announced a new album and begun releasing some teaser material.
Unsurprisingly, Kansas & Inside Out Music have chosen an upbeat ballad as the first full preview track from their upcoming album, The Prelude Implicit. To anyone who has lost touch with the band, or who simply found themselves skeptical of a new vocalist, "With This Heart" announces that Ronnie Platt and the band are quite prepared to make this new Kansas album a worthy event.
David Ragsdale and Platt are front and center here in a track that leans more toward a classic 80's Kansas sound (think Drastic Measures and In The Spirit Of Things) than it does toward "Carry On Wayward Son." But that choice may reveal a strength overlooked by casual fans, who forget that this band has been around for a long time after the 70's. There's nothing new or spectacular here, but the track is refreshingly mundane--no gimmicks needed, as Kansas simply turn in a song that is clearly Kansas and nothing else. And that's enough for now.
David Ragsdale and Platt are front and center here in a track that leans more toward a classic 80's Kansas sound (think Drastic Measures and In The Spirit Of Things) than it does toward "Carry On Wayward Son." But that choice may reveal a strength overlooked by casual fans, who forget that this band has been around for a long time after the 70's. There's nothing new or spectacular here, but the track is refreshingly mundane--no gimmicks needed, as Kansas simply turn in a song that is clearly Kansas and nothing else. And that's enough for now.
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