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Kerry Livgren is probably one of the most versatile talents I've had the pleasure of stocking my collection with. Of course it doesn't hurt that he cut his teeth with Kansas, the perennial American prog rock band who sold several million albums. He left Kansas (the band, he still lives in the state), and along with Dave Hope also from Kansas he formed a band called AD which released a few albums which should have secured his place in history, but were caught in the limbo land of "religious music" so those people who would have snapped up Kerry's work, probably never knew it existed. It was because of Kerry's solo
and AD work that I got in Kansas, which is probably backward from most
of his fans. Over the years I've picked up just about everything he's
put out. I've There's a natural tendency to view people who have a degree of celebrity to somehow be different from us ordinary folk. I dropped him a short note, and he replied the next day. A little thing, but very human. I guess I expected this "rock star" to be too far above the little people to reply. Here's to Kerry, with thanks for the great tunes. Jevon |
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Art
of the State by AD (©1985 Numavox)
This was the last AD album to feature Dave Hope, Warren Ham, Michael Gleason, and Dennis Holt. Although AD would stagger along for a few more albums they would be more or less solo efforts by Kerry with Michael and Warren, and later just Warren handling the vocals. I'm not complaining, all of the albums are very good. Really good. I have all of them. This album doesn't sound fifteen years old. I first bought the vinyl version, and later got a hacked up CD version from Sparrow records called "compact favorites" which featured bits and pieces from Art of the State and Reconstruction, and finally Kerry himself released the whole thing on CD, with new artwork. All Creation Sings, The Fury, and Up From the Wasteland are among the best songs that Kerry has ever written. Reviewed June 10, 2000 |
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One
of Several Possible Musiks (©1989 Sparrow)
There is something fun and weird about this disc. It's an instumental piece composed and performed entirely by Kerry. The music ranges from the inspired to the cheesy. This often feels like a soundtrack recording to a fantasy movie. Which isn't a bad thing. Like I said, this is fun and weird at the same time. I've had this one in my collection for a long time now, and I dig it out from time to time. Not my favourite album by Kerry, but one any fan should, and probably has in their collection. Reviewed July 31, 2002 |
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disc two: Time Line / Tonight / Make or Break It / Take Us To The Water / Beyond te Pale / New Age Blues / Slow Motion Suicide / High On A Hill / Life Undercover / Welcome to the War / Free Fire Zone / Bright Star / All Creation Sings / The Fury / Progress / Up From the Wasteland / No Standing If you grew up in the 70's and early 80's you've probably heard of Kansas (can I get an Amen?). Kerry Livgren wrote many of their best known songs from Carry On Wayward Son, to Dust in the Wind. This two CD set includes his amazing first solo effort Seeds of Change, which featured artists like Ronnie James Dio, David Pack, along with Phil Ehart, Robby Steinhardt, and Steve Walsh from Kansas. As well as the complete CD Timeline. There are an additional 14 songs taken from his other solo efforts. There are a lot of really good songs in this collection. Some of my favourites are Whiskey Seed, To Live for the King, Ground Zero (a phenomenal song), Tonight, All Creation Sings, The Fury, and Up From the Wasteland. If you were a fan of Kansas, and progressive rock songs this is an incredible collection. Reviewed June 2000 |
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Odyssey
Into The Mind's Eye (©1996 Numavox)
I think this is one of Kerry's best works. Admittedly it took a while to truly grow on me, and I'm somewhat hobbled by only being able to go by the audio, and not experience it with the accompanying visuals. Kerry's work on the Mind's Eye project is much more satisfying than that on the Musiks disc, but then they are very different in style. There's even a moment where I could swear he's doing his impression of Randy Bachman's guitar style on Aspen Moon. This is a rock instrumental release with some very good vocal songs thrown in for fun. I know people use the term genius freely nowadays, so I feel entitled to join the crowd. Kerry is an amazing composer (okay so I didn't use the genius word, I did say he was amazing though), and to those who feel his day came and went should pay a little more attention to this guy. Reviewed August 2, 2002 |
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This recording was captured by the bands’ sound man as “house mixes” the tapes eventually made their way back to Kerry who cleaned them up a bit. Admittedly the quality isn’t perfect, but it’s also much better than I had expected given the source material. House mixes can be notoriously uneven and fluctuate throughout as sounds are tweaked.
It’s too bad that Michael Gleason’s songs weren’t represented here. I have nothing against Warren Ham, the guy is a monster vocalist, but I’ve always like Michael’s voice. Especially the interplay between them as they play off of each other.
The performances are solid throughout, and the arrangements are surprisingly close to their recorded counterparts. Not an easy task I’d imagine as the music is a little more complicated than standard pop music. The guys were rocking live band.
“We Are The Men” is a song I never really cared all that much for, but on the live version it cooks. As does “Tonight” which was one of my favourites from their debut album. Warren belts it out of the park. He’s screamed himself silly, and you can hear him reaching for the big notes. The album closes with “T.G.B.” and is over 10 minutes of nuclear notes.
AD was an actual band for a while, and although they may not have had the impact they’d have hoped, they were a pretty big deal to a lot of people for a short time.
Props to Gary Westman the sound guy who accidentally captured the band on tape.
Reviewed May 8, 2006 |
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Collector's
Sedition (©2000 Numavox)
I'm a big fan of riff rock, and Kerry has written some of the best hooks around. This CD was originally intended to be an album of "unreleased, unfinished, unheard, orphaned, lost, and previously unknown music." (lifted from the liner notes) What happened is that Kerry got really creative during the recording of this album, and a lot of the music here is new. You can hear bits and pieces of Kansas, and Seeds of Change era music here, as well as the newer styled Livgren. Cold Gray Morning makes an appearance here, and while it is a good song, it was better when it was "covered" by Kansas on their Freaks of Nature CD. Due largely to Phil's drumming, something which has been a weakness in almost all of Kerry's recent efforts (except the first two AD records with Dennis Holt). Sadly this will probably be a hard album to find, and that is a shame, as this is a very good album. Check out the Numavox site and get yourself a copy. |
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The
Best of Kerry Livgren (©2002 Numavox)
I think Kerry summed up this album when he asks in the liner notes "One can wonder why a person would want one of these "Best Of" compilations." It's always fun to take a quote and use it somewhat out of context. Although as he suspected, I got it because of the new stuff, and reworked songs. My wife would have a field day at my expense if I bought a collection of previously released songs when I already had the complete albums. Reworking familiar material is a tricky thing. Purists cry foul. Even the people who created new coke thought they were on to something. I'm not sure which camp I fall into. I like some of the new versions, and some of the others are growing on me, like the weird (not in a good way) ending of To Live for the King, what's with that? Like I said this is a tricky business. Still, hats off to Kerry for taking the chance. I get the feeling he creates for himself first, and if we like it too, great. Still, this is a "Best of" and it's interesting to see what Kerry viewed as his best work. There's no denying that a number of these songs are on my list. I'm not convinced this is Kerry's best release, but if you're unfamiliar with Kerry's solo stuff, this is probably a good place to start. Reviewed July 25, 2002 |
ordered
a number of releases directly from Kerry's label 
the
songs: All Creation Sings / We Are The Men / Lead Me To Reason / The
Only Way To Have A Friend / Games of Chance / The Fury / Progress /
Heartland / Zion / Up From The Wasteland
the
songs: Ancient Wing / And I Saw, As It Were...Konelrad / Colonnade Gardens
/ In The Sides of the North / Alenna In The Sun / Tannin Danse / The
Far Country / Diaspora / A Fistful of Drachma / Tenth of Nisan
disc
one: Just One Way / Mask of the Great Deceiver / How Can You Live /
Whiskey Seed / To Live for the King / Down to the Core / Ground Zero
/ I'll Follow You / One More Song / New Kind of Lve / Ancient Wing /
And I Saw, As It Were ... Konelrad / Colonnade Gardens / Tenth of Nisan
Tracks:
Oceanic Celebration / Unstoppable / Out Of Step / The Traveler / Volatile
Planet / The Empowering (alternate version) / Utopian Dream / Credence
Lent / One Dark World / The Empowering / Aspen Mood / Liquidity / Intelligent
Life / The Traveler
Kerry
Livgren AD Live 1: Take Us To The Water 2: Heartland 3: Intros/We Are
The Men 4: Lead Me To Reason 5: Tonight 6: Progress 7: Keyboard solos/Kerry
And Mike 8: Time Line 9: The Only Way To Have A Friend 10: Zion 11:
New Age Blues 12: Encore -- T.G.B. 
the
songs: Am Juengsten Tage / On The Air / The Sentinel / The Navigator
/ No More Time For Love / Song Du Jour / Red Money / Hindsight / The
Man With An Iron Heart / As It Should Be / At Every Turn / Safe Alone
/ Cold Gray Morning / The Dragon
Tracks:
Konelrad / Exiles / White Light / Time Line / Incantos / On the Air
/ When You Walk / Eerie Cove / To Live For the King / The Fury / Utopian
Dream / Smoke is Rising / The Navigator / Ground Zero