September 20, 1975 - Masque

Just 8 days since my last release, and a mere 7 months since "Song For America", Kansas released their third album, and second this year, with "Masque" on September 20, 1975. They have the same original line-up but Robby Steinhardt has no songs to sing of his own on this record. Half the songs feature both him and Steve Walsh while the other half are just Walsh on vocals. After a big improvement from their first to second album will Kansas continue to grow and sharpen their skills even more? Let's find out!

The album begins with "It Takes A Woman's Love (To Make A Man)" and it starts with an organ riff by Walsh and some guitar by Rich Williams. Kerry Livgren adds some pretty cool piano to this bouncin' rock riff as Walsh sings overtop. His singing isn't bad but it's also nothing special in this one. The guitar solo is also good but not great and we hear some guest saxophone that sounds pretty cool. It spices up the final verse of the song a bit but this song was clearly a "made for radio" song and it seemed like they were trying too hard to force a single. The next song is "Two Cents Worth" and Dave Hope opens this one with some decent bass as they play a soulful riff that also has some space-y synths. Walsh's singing is alright but when he's not yelling and hitting those high notes he just doesn't seem as into it. He's also playing the conga drums we hear and this riff is just a little uninspiring, a little too basic. The guitar and synths trade back and forth in a short instrumental part that's cool, then it's back for another verse to close out this second 3-minute song. Kansas are definitely at their best when they go full prog and neither song so far has had any prog elements. Track 3 is titled "Icarus - Borne On Wings Of Steel" and Walsh and Livgren both play some cool keyboards to open this one before the guitar and violin take over. Hope drives this riff with a cool bass line and Walsh's singing sounds much better in this one already. Livgren and Williams both play some cool guitar in this heavier riff and Steinhardt adds some nice violin. Then it's time for a light synth solo that leads into a pretty sweet violin solo. The guitar gets a chance to shine as well as this is easily the best stuff on the album so far. They bring it back nicely to the verse/chorus and in this song you don't mind the return to a cool heavy riff. Walsh plays some cool synths along with his high singing and Livgren's guitar sounds pretty great as well. Steinhardt plays the song out as his violin slowly fades to an end. That is more like it! The last song on this side is "All The World" and it starts with some very sad-sounding violin followed by a beautiful piano riff. Walsh sings in that uninterested low tone that I'm not a big fan of but Steinhardt's violin sounds great. It becomes a more typical rock riff that sounds OK but not great but the epic synths we hear are anything but. They sound pretty awesome as this song shifts to a heavier section. Phil Ehart gives us some pretty sweet drums as the heavy guitar starts to move to more awesome stuff. Suddenly though, it's quiet and we're back to the sad opening with violin and piano. This part isn't bad at all, it's quite well done actually, but I feel we've been teased with that awesome heavy part. They try to combine the two different parts into a new riff that has heavy guitar and drums but still the sad piano and violin and it meshes pretty well actually. Steinhardt and Walsh sing together from here until the end but it's Walsh's voice that is certainly more prominent. The two sing a capella at the end of the song and it sounds almost like a Queen song with the oohing backing vocals. I like the longer songs way better than the shorter ones as these last two improved this first side.

Side two begins with "Child Of Innocence" which opens with a cool guitar riff and some background organs. Steinhardt sings the verses and his voice fits this rock riff pretty well. Walsh joins him for the chorus and although both of them sing, Walsh's voice is the louder, clearer one. We hear some cool guitar and bass to start off a new part and we hear a guitar solo that sounds pretty good. They bring it back nicely to the opening riff as we hear another solid verse and chorus. The song slowly fades out to a decent guitar riff and for a shorter, less prog-y song this was much better than the first two on this album. The next song is called "It's You" and it opens with Walsh playing some cool piano before Steinhardt takes over with a cool violin riff. He leads this short song with some cool stuff as Walsh sings lead vocals by himself. The riff sounds cool but other than the speedy violin there isn't a whole lot happening. The violin is excellent the whole way through which keeps this song interesting. Track 7 is "Mysteries And Mayhem" and some cool violin and guitar start this song off quickly as we also hear some good bass and synths. Steinhardt sings the verse again but he doesn't sound very into it. When Walsh joins in things sound a little better in this nice rock riff. After a couple verses they play a cool instrumental bit that has lots of great guitar from both Livgren and Williams. After one last chorus the song seems to end rather quickly, but there's not a big complaint as this was another good but not great song. The album ends with "The Pinnacle" which starts off with some cool synths and some nice violin in this longest song on the album at 9 and a half minutes. We hear lots of cool keyboards from Walsh and Livgren in this extended instrumental opening that has some nice bass by Hope as well. Walsh finally sings just before 3 minutes as he sings some epic stuff that matches his epic piano playing. Guitar and organ sound good in this new part as well as everything combines very well. There is just so much room for greatness in these longer songs as they shift to a new part with a great guitar riff and some really cool synths. The keyboards sound really cool in this part as Livgren and Walsh both play some wicked stuff. Williams contributes some great guitar as well and they segue nicely back into the earlier riff. Walsh's singing and piano sound great once again as they play another verse. We're treated to another pretty good guitar solo and Steinhardt plays some cool violin while Walsh "oh oh ohs" in the background. They slow it down for one final rock and roll flourish that completes this pretty epic song.

That is the end of "Masque" and I thought it was a decent album, but it fell a little short of expectations. All three songs that are over 6 minutes on this album are pretty good and Kansas still show that they can perform, but the other shorter songs are just not as good. Their last album "Song For America" was chock full of amazing progressive songs and I don't think this new album came anywhere close to that one. "Kansas" is more similar; it's best songs are also the longer ones but I think the overall quality was better on their debut album. "Masque" may be their least best offering yet but I know that Kansas still have what it takes and hopefully they really give it their all next time!