Kerry Livgren was a founder of Topeka's finest, Kansas. He was a fundamental part of the band and behind their biggest successes. So, apparently, that meant make a solo-album, in 1980, when people stopped caring about Kansas. Coincidentally, in 1980, Livgren was still an active member of the band, this LP even features the likes of Steve Walsh and Phil Ehart just to prove things were still on the up and up.
It's ambitious, but that doesn't make it good. There's all sorts of synth and prog-rock moves, but honestly, the best parts of Kansas weren't about the prog-rock. It's also got some 80's pomp-rock metal moves, but who has time for that.
It features a pretty impressive cast of fill-ins as well, Ronnie James Dio sings a couple tracks (they sound super metal, bro), there's a member of Jethro Tull, and some dudes from Ambrosia as well. So not your A-Team by any means, but for Topeka, that's pretty solid.
Apparently, there's also a book Livgren wrote surrounding the concepts found within the album. If it's about the cover, which shows a fetus being extracted from a diamond with a razor blade... it's probably the best book in the history of the world, who doesn't want to read about that, right?
Kerry Livgren with Ronnie James Dio
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