Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Album of Yesterday

Kansas, by Kansas (1974): 1974 was a banner year for prog in Europe, so it's a little odd that the most successful of the American quasi-prog bands was only just getting going then (as was Canada's entry, Rush). Kansas was never really a full-on prog band, throwing in lots of AOR-style rock and blues inflected tunes. Still, when they turned their attention to the more symphonic aspects of their repetoire, like "Journey from Mariabronn" and "Apercu," lots of good things happened. Their straddling of prog and more radio-friendly genres set a template still in use today by several bands.

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