Time to look to the classics, and while this album may not necessarily be one of their better known or loved ones, it did gain some more traction in the wake of Kansas’s breakthrough albums
Leftoverture and
Point of Know Return.
Album title: Masque
Artist: Kansas
Nationality: American
Year: 1975
Chronology: 3
The Trollheart Factor: 2
Track Listing: It Takes a Woman’s Love (To Make a Man)/Two Cents Worth/Icarus- Borne on Wings of Steel/All the World/Child of Innocence/It’s You/Mysteries and Mayhem/The Pinnacle
Comments: Thought that was a Mellotron at the start, but looks like it’s a Moog. Hmm. I’ve always found what little I’ve heard of Kansas to be more in the AOR/Pomp Rock vein than prog, but what do I know? This certainly has more the hard rock vibe to it, as does the next one, very rocky blues. Yeah this is nowhere near prog rock, not to me. S’alright I guess but unless it gets a lot better I can see how this went by with a collective yawn when released. The violins on “Icarus - Borne on Wings of Steel” are nice, kind of an early Rush feel to it, a bit better certainly.
Quite impressive the way everything speeds up, the violins keeping pace with the rest of the band, and they add a lot to the next track, “All the World”, Supertramp-y piano here, and a lot better than the opening tracks. Back to standard blues rock then for “Child of Innocence” with some nice organ work, then I like the piano and keys driving the Irish/Scottish reel-like “It’s You” which bounces along nicely, but again, prog it ain’t. Short, however, it is, the shortest on the album at just over two and a half minutes, with “Mysteries and Mayhem” standing between it and the longest track, the closer.
There is, to be fair, no mystery and little mayhem in the song - it’s a fast boppy rocker, sure, but there’s nothing special about it. That takes us to the closing track, the nine-and-a-half minute “The Pinnacle”, which is, so far as I can see, their last chance to convince me this album should be considered any sort of prog. Big instrumental intro anyway, nearly a third of the song, and yeah I can hear it now. They’ve left it a little late to bring along their prog credentials though.
Track(s) I liked: Icarus - Borne on Wings of Steel/All the World/The Pinnacle
Track(s) I didn't like:
One standout: Nah
One rotten apple:
Overall impression: It’s a decent rock album but a very poor prog one. It recovers well on the last track, but that’s not enough to scrub out the memory of seven other tracks that have little if anything to do with prog rock. I can see why it was so poorly received when released. Doesn’t change my opinion that Kansas barely qualify as prog though. Something of a disappointment.
Rating: 5.5/10
Future Plan: I’ll try some of their other material. I know their new one is excellent so maybe this is an early blip.