Kerry Livgren
Seeds Of Change

"All of us have dreams and secret yearnings, and recording this album meant fulfilling many of mine. I had the chance to work with people I have admired for a long time, to explore different musical directions, to experience complete independence, and above all, to find new sources of inspiration... but most of all, to have a lot of fun! I hope you find listening to the album as enjoyable as it was for me to make it." 

This is what this talented American musician wrote in the cover notes of his first self-titled album, released in 1980 when he was still the lead guitarist, second keyboardist, and main composer for Kansas. The admirable people mentioned above include Barriemore Barlow, the drummer of Jethro Tull, Ronnie James Dio, who at the time was the frontman of Black Sabbath, Paul Goddard, the bassist of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, David Pack, the leader of Ambrosia, Christian singer-songwriter Mylon LeFevre, and others. Some of his bandmates are also present here and there.

Upon closer examination, the "different musical directions" explored by our artist do not have a great impact: we are essentially faced with forty-three-plus minutes of pure and inspired proto-progressive metal (then referred to as pomp-rock), decidedly in the Kansas model, of which the blond Kerry was, after all, a primary member.

"Just One Way" opens with a beautiful synthesizer fanfare, alternated by the somewhat colorless interpretation of Jeff Pollard, then the singer of the little-known LeRoux but now a fervent evangelical pastor, who was engaged in indoctrinating Livgren and making him fully convert to the more devout religious practices. Paul Goddard's characteristic Rickenbacker bass immediately stands out for its competence, taste, and effectiveness.

"Mask Of The Great Deceiver" follows closely, deploying the sonorous, powerful, and emphatic voice of the late Ronnie James Dio: a thick, significant voice, certainly disliked by many due to its pomposity, yet unmatched in its genre. Magnificent, here as in the opening track, the imaginative drummer Barlow, a true inspiration for future musicians like Mike Portnoy.

On "How Can You Live?" Kansas' frontman Steve Walsh is called to the microphone, and the distinctions with the parent group disappear entirely: this is typical epic rock in the Kansas style, reminiscent of recent episodes contained in their albums, especially regarding the melody of the refrain.

"Whiskey Seed" plays the card of Southern rock, complete with harmonica and dobro (a partially metal guitar) played with a slide. The drawling voice of Mississippi-born Mylon LeFevre comforts everything and temporarily validates the diversification announced by the album's creator.

The epic and epochal voice of Ronnie James Dio returns in the excellent "To Live For The King", clearly constructed with his style in mind, even regarding the title and lyrics. It is played on a hypnotic and filamental electric guitar arpeggio, wrapped in chorus and delay, over which the entrancing singing of the talented little fellow liberates itself, followed by an extended and meticulous solo by Livgren, as always highly distinguishable in style, and especially in the tone he loves to maintain on the electric guitar, very compressed with maximum pick attack (the so-called edge, as the English-speakers succinctly put it).

"Down To The Core" is a styled and orthodox rock blues, almost in the Cream school, in the midst of which is embedded an instrumental guitar fugue over a rhythm grappling with an impenetrable odd time, vaguely King Crimson in feel.

The concluding, triumphant "Ground Zero" is decidedly in the form of a suite, left to the interpretation of David Pack, supported by the stentorian choruses of a multitude of people. There are over eight symphonic minutes, a true kaleidoscope of musical situations created by the exquisite work of Kansas' violinist Robby Steinhardt, by keyboard fanfares hitting chords up and down,  by the romantic piano in Wakeman style, and finally by the metallic and heavy lead guitar, which occasionally bursts in to harden the atmosphere.