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Rating:
Reviewing an album like this is difficult. How can we ignore "Carry On Wayward Son," a true anthem, which has gone down in history as the most famous and representative of the band, even if I don't consider it the best. Secondly, because when an album "captures" you like this one, it's hard to maintain objectivity without being swept away by enthusiasm. Lastly, describing it by labeling, comparing, and noting similarities and resonances is reductive, futile, and in a certain way offensive, especially when we're talking about a group like this and an album that made history across the ocean: quadruple platinum album, not just pizza and figs!
Every time I listen to it, I have the same feelings. It is liberating, airy, lively, and a bit pissed off: it's like getting into a car at dawn and driving for miles and miles through unknown landscapes, without thoughts, leaving worries behind, a true great escape indeed. Steve Walsh accompanies us on this journey, with his voice that effortlessly reaches unreachable pitches, always remaining clear, clean, sharp, never strained, with no faltering or smudges. The music is a powerful, rounded rock, never out of line. Each track has its own story, although the overall result is homogeneity. The influences are too many, and perhaps they will also influence, with this one, the works of those who will follow in the years to come, like Journey, Boston, REO Speedwagon. Certainly, there is much of the British progressive tradition fused with that of the American on-the-road rock, although in this, which is our fourth work, the former is less marked to give more space to the latter.
Unfortunately, in my opinion, the only sin committed was placing Robby Steinhardt's violin, which represents the trademark of Kansas (brief digression: if you see him in today's photos, he looks exactly the same as thirty years ago, with a beard-hair blend that makes him resemble an ogre!), in the background. The tracks are a slow, gradual crescendo without ever overdoing it, following a precise line dictated by the right calibration of times and rhythms, until reaching "Cheyenne Anthem," for me the best piece of the whole CD. It's a choral performance, sometimes masterful, in which there is ample room for everyone; the speed, in almost seven minutes, changes multiple times: accelerations, slowdowns, even making the melody pass through what seems like the notes of a children's TV program theme. A piano arpeggio from a classical music piece and here we are at the end, in the most classic prog style. "Magnum Opus" is the grand finale, almost entirely instrumental, a classic closing piece, where more than quality we find the creativity and solos of the individual musicians, all in one breath with glimpses of good pre-literal hard rock.
What is missing is the speaker announcing the lineup, so it truly seems like a live performance. Because this is truly a show. Some may find it exaggerated, but I think it's among those albums that you absolutely must have, at least if you want to truly understand what music was in 1976 and beyond. And not only...
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Carry On Wayward Son (05:23)
''Refrain:''
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
Ahhhh....
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say
''Refrain:''
Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know
On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say
''Refrain:''
Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry (don't you cry no more)
02 The Wall (04:48)
I'm woven in a fantasy, I can't believe the things I see
The path that I have chosen now has led me to a wall
And with each passing day I feel a little more like something dear was lost
It rises now before me, a dark and silent barrier between,
All I am, and all that I would ever want be
It's just a travesty, towering, marking off the boundaries my spirit would erase
To pass beyond is what I seek, I fear that I may be too weak
And those are few who've seen it through to glimpse the other side,
The promised land is waiting like a maiden that is soon to be a bride
The moment is a masterpiece, the weight of indecision's in the air
It's standing there, the symbol and the sum of all that's me
It's just a travesty, towering, blocking out the light and blinding me
I want to see
Gold and diamonds cast a spell, it's not for me I know it well
The riches that I seek are waiting on the other side
There's more that I can measure in the treasure of the love that I can find
And though it's always been with me, I must tear down the Wall and let it be
All I am, and all that I was ever meant to be, in harmony
Shining true and smiling back at all who wait to cross
There is no loss
03 What's on My Mind (03:28)
Well you told me that I was just not the one,
And you left me standing out in the cold
It's been a long time and I'm so much better now
That I'm looking back and seeing it all
And for the first time there's no pain in my life
Been a long hard road that I've gone
We had a good thing and it made me a man and I know
You got me goin', yeah, pardon me my feelings are showing
I'm only saying what's on my mind
Well I found you or maybe I found myself
And I think we knew it all of the time
We fit together just like a lock and a key
And we opened up each other's minds
Yeah, I was laughing 'cause there was no room to cry
There was too much growing to do
We had a good time and it ain't over yet 'cause I know
You got me goin', will you pardon me my feelings are showing
I'm only saying
You came from nowhere and you just jumped in my life,
And I know it never will be the same
You made me love you, now I'm home once again
No, I never want to leave you no more
'Cause I'm attached to the better half of myself
And there's nowhere else that I'd rather be
You filled an empty, you fixed a bad broken heart, yes I know
You got me goin',yeah, pardon me my feelings are showing
I'm only saying what's on my mind
04 Miracles out of Nowhere (06:27)
On a crystal morning I can see the dewdrops falling
Down from a gleaming heaven, I can hear the voices call
When you comin' home now, son, the World is not for you
Tell me what's you point of view
Hey there Mister Madman, wat'cha know that I don't know
Tell me some crazy stories, let me know who runs this show
Glassy-eyed and laughing, he turns and walks away
Tell me what made you that way
Here I am just waiting for a sign
Asking questions, learning all the time
It's always here, it's always there
It's just love, and miracles out of nowhere
Tell me now dear Mother, what's it like to be so old
Children grown and leavin', seems the world is growin' cold
And though your body's ailin' you, your mind is just like new
Tell me where you're goin' to
It's so simple right before your eyes
If you'll look through this disguise
It's always here, it's always there
It's just love and miracles out of nowhere
I sang this song a hundred, maybe a thousand years ago
No one ever listens, I just play and then I go
Off into the sunset like the western heroes do
Tell me what you're gonna do
Here I am, I'm sure to see a sign
All my life I knew that it was mine
It's always here, it's always there
It's just love and miracles out of nowhere
06 Questions of My Childhood (03:36)
When the sun is in the mid sky, he wears a golden crown
And he soaks the world with sunshine as he makes another round
It's been a faster year than yesterday, all the things that I had planned
And when I think I might be gaining
I'm in the sunshine once again
Well I walk the road of life among the strong, among the weak
And I ask them for the shortcut to the answers that I seek
But it seems nobody understands what is and what will be
Oh, the questions of my childhood weave a web of mystery
Can you get me through these changes?
Well I sure don't know about life, but one thing for sure
All I need is you babe, we got to get the golden key to unlock the door
I don't need to face a world of disillusion
I've come to one conclusion that I know you know is true
In the game of silent searching the cost of love is rising
And I'm just now realizing I'd be better off with you
It's a game that I've been living, now
I need to know what's real
Can you help me find the answers, can you tell the way I feel?
Will you stay with me forever, just stay with me tonight
And we can talk about tomorrow if it all works out alright
07 Cheyenne Anthem (06:52)
(Kerry Livgren)
From the mountains to the sun, life has only just begun
We wed this land and pledge our souls to meet its end,
Life has only just begun
Here my people roam the earth, in the kingdom of our birth
Where the dust of all our horses hides the sun
We are mighty on the earth, on the earth
You have come to move me, take me from my ancient home,
Land of my fathers I can't leave you now
We will share it with you, no man owns this earth we're on
Now the wheels are rolling, hear the howling winds of war
It's my destiny to fight and die
Is there no solution, can we find no other way, Lord let me stay
Under the endless sky and the earth below
Here I was born to live and I will never go, oh no
But we cannot endure like the earth and the mountains
Life is not ours to keep, for a new sun is rising
Soon these days shall pass away, for our freedom we must pay
All our words and deeds are carried on the wind,
In the ground our bodies lay, here we'll stay
08 Magnum Opus (08:24)
Instrumental:
a. Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat
b. Howling at the Moon
c. Man Overboard
d. Industry on Parade
e. Release the Beavers
f. Gnat Attack
This foolish game, oh it's still the same
The notes go flyin' off in the air
And don't you believe it's true, the music is all for you
It's really all we've got to share
Cause Rockin' and Rollin', it's only howlin' at the Moon.
It's only howlin' at the Moon.
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