Cletus
For something made by such an old band, this sounds surprisingly fresh throughout. Each song is creative, unique and beautiful. 8/10
Favorite track: The Song the River Sang.
W John Davidson
I'll be honest and confess I hadn't listened to. new Kansas album since Monolith, but this one blew me away. A really strong album that captures the Kansas I remember without sounding dated.
crazy_goat
I wasn’t really a Kansas fan until I heard this album. I love the sound here, much more to my liking than their other albums, even their classics.
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
Although it's certainly not going to be my favorite "Kansas" album, it's one of the better ones this band has released in the course of its long existence - with "Leftoverture" still setting the high mark. Zak Rizvi and Tom Brislin do a suprisingly good job at catching the original "Kansas" spirit, mainly created by Kerry Livgren. I'm sorry to admit that I'm a bit disappointed by Tom Brislin's contributions, since his 2012 solo album "Hurry Up And Smell The Roses" raised very high expectations.
Favorite track: Never.
With a legendary career spanning nearly five decades, KANSAS has firmly established itself as one of America’s iconic classic rock bands. This "garage band" from Topeka released their debut album in 1974 after being discovered by Wally Gold, who worked for Don Kirshner, and have gone on to sell more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Composing a catalogue that includes sixteen studio albums and five live albums, KANSAS has produced eight gold albums, three sextuple-Platinum albums (Leftoverture, Point of Know Return, Best of KANSAS), one platinum live album (Two for the Show), one quadruplePlatinum single ‘Carry On Wayward Son,’ and another triple-Platinum single ‘Dust in the Wind.’ KANSAS appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the ‘70's and ‘80's and played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. ‘Carry On Wayward Son’ continues to be one of the top five most played songs on classic rock radio, and ‘Dust In the Wind’ has been played on the radio more than three million times!
The summer of 2020 marks the release of “The Absence of Presence,” KANSAS’s sixteenth studio album. The wide-ranging progressive rock album, released by InsideOut Music, follows-up 2016’s “The Prelude Implicit,” which debuted at #14 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart.
Throughout 2016-2017, the band celebrated the anniversary of breakout album “Leftoverture” with the highly successful KANSAS: Leftoverture 40th Anniversary Tour. That tour was released in 2017 as a live album, “Leftoverture Live & Beyond.” Since 2018, KANSAS has followed that tour with the even more successful KANSAS: Point of Know Return Anniversary Tour.
The band is currently comprised of original drummer Phil Ehart, bassist/vocalist Billy Greer, vocalist/keyboardist Ronnie Platt, violinist/guitarist David Ragsdale, keyboardist/vocalist Tom Brislin, guitarist Zak Rizvi, and original guitarist Richard Williams. With no signs of slowing down, KANSAS continues to perform in front of large and enthusiastic audiences around the world.
Along with constant touring, KANSAS continues to remain a fixture of Classic Rock radio. The band has reached a whole new audience through their unmistakable presence on the popular video games Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and Grand Theft Auto; the band’s documentary film “KANSAS: Miracles Out of Nowhere” airing on AXSTV; and through their songs’ inclusion in various television shows such as ‘Supernatural,’ ‘South Park,’ ‘The Office,’ and ‘The Simpsons;’ and with films including ‘Old School,’ ‘Anchorman,’ and ‘Happy Gilmore.
credits
released June 17, 2020
Ronnie Platt – lead vocals and backing vocals
Rich Williams – electric and acoustic guitars, co-producer
Zak Rizvi – electric guitar, backing vocals, producer
Tom Brislin – keyboards, backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Song The River Sang"
David Ragsdale – violin, backing vocals
Billy Greer – bass, vocals
Phil Ehart – drums, percussion, co-producer
supported by 29 fans who also own “The Absence of Presence”
What can I say about Big Big Train that I haven’t said before?
This album took a little while to grow on me but by the time I saw it live I was in love with its humongous, over-egged pomposity! They do it all with such passion, excitement and amazing musicianship.
Essential. Crinklechips
supported by 26 fans who also own “The Absence of Presence”
The album takes off nicely with David Longdon's "The Strangest Times", but then gets into immediate free fall and deeply underwater for the next few tracks, quite unexpectedly. Fortunately, it recovers with Nick D'Virgilio's "Apollo" (hey, this guy CAN write good music, although he hides this ability most of the time) and the remaining three tracks, one of which is another Longdon masterpiece. So in the end the final impression is somewhat in the positive range. Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
Tim Arnold's latest album of lushly detailed art-pop explores the insidious ways tech surveillance has become a part of our lives. Bandcamp New & Notable May 9, 2023
Tation天聲樂隊 are a post-rock band from Tibet, whose expansive songs are meant to replicate the feel of a sprawling landscape. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 28, 2020
supported by 24 fans who also own “The Absence of Presence”
This might be the least folky of the Wobbler releases and I wasn't sure about it at all.
After a few listens however I'm loving the inventiveness and the endless melodies, all driven along by Kristian Hultgren's wonderful percussive bass. PartTimeZombie