Customer Reviews

Prime Mover II

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Prime Mover is a rerecording/rerelease of an album previously released by Livgren's former band, AD. I have never listened to the original Prime Mover album, but if it was half the quality of this disk, it was great material.

In his earlier AD material, Livgren's exuberance over his rebirth sometimes overpowered his work. Gone was much of the subtlety that characterized his best Kansas material. By the time Prime Mover was created, he gained that subtlety back and he's put together some really good material here.

Stand outs include Children of the Shadows, and Wandering Spirit. The remake of Fair Exchange, Kansas tune, is first rate, as are the new songs, Incantos and Out of Opus.

New Kind of Love, a new kind of song for Livgren is the only tune that rubs me wrong. Just not my style, thats all.

Production, material, performance all first rate, pick Prime Mover II up!

Questions regarding this review, email me.

I must say PM(Redux) is the the best sounding of all the prime mover projects. I own all of them and have to say I was very reluctent to buy a third copy. I took a chance and bought it anyway and was very pleased with the overall remix and recording process. If you have either of the first two cd's I would highly recommend this version, I believe you would thoughrly enjoy it!

From my review first posted on Progressiveears. com:
Back in the 1980's Kerry Livgren would have been called a "Renaissance Man", when men were dabbling in new interests of music, poetry, woodworking and taking care of the kids. A summary of his long resume and is many pursuits is on his website, and worth reading to understand this influential and creative artist.

On Prime Mover, Livgren re-releases and re-records an album previously released by his former band, AD. The gruesome details are available in the liner notes. The songs are mostly big band blues numbers, although the symphonic touches on "Out of Opus" and "Portrait II" still makes it feel like a Kansas album. "Don't Pass Me By" is a real R&B killer, with Hall and Oates style vocals and arrangements to delight any fan of great 70's rock. Livgren's vocals are clear and forceful throughout. He has a diversity of voices he uses including a gospelly scat singer, a blues belter hitting the incredible high notes,a big band crooner, and a rock impresario.

On some parts of the album, the older songs do not hold up as well. "I'll Follow You" and "Fair Exchange" are not as sure footed and pull the album down. He uses a reggae beat to a 70's anthem with blues in "New Kind of Love" but returns to add some Kansas symphonic touches in "Brave Hearts" Then toward the end of the album, Livgren cranks up the blues again and sends it off with some memorable music.

Even though the music on this album has been around for a long time, Livgren shows how to update it and make it relevant again.

For someone who is a die-hard Kansas fan, finding this gem was a pleasant surprise. Livgren is a great musician, and this remake of an older solo release is top notch. Great songs and arrangements. Only wish there was a follow-up recording.

One listen to Prime Mover II and it will be obvious to see who the composing mastermind was behind those great Kansas recordings. This CD continues to demonstrate Kerry Livgren's ability to write and perform excellent, well thought out music. Warren Ham is one of my all time favorite singers, and he continues to shine on the new and reworked material on Prime Mover II. It would be nice to see (hear) Kerry Livgren and Warren Ham work together again sometime. Prime Mover II is a good example of Kerry Livgren's outstanding song writing skills, and I hope that he continues to produce excellent music for years to come. He definitely has something worth singing about, and thankfully, he does it like no other. The five stars are well deserved for this recording.

Remake/update of A.D.'s original Prime Mover album with some new tracks. Liner notes explains the changes to the original tracks and the origin of the new tracks, which include a new version of "Fair Exchange" from Vinyl Confessions. Turns out, according to the liner notes, that Warren Ham originally sang the vocals for this song while he was trying out for Kansas after Walsh's departure, and Livgren never forgot his performance. Anyway, with the new tracks this is a good addition to devoted Livgren fans. All songs are by Livgren except for one, "I'll Follow You," by Michael Gleason.

This is a great album. I'm glad to see that it's out on cd. Listening to the fresh, newly recorded material sounds great. This album ranks right along up there with "Seeds Of Change." Kerry's new interpretation of "Portrait II" is great. Almost the same lyrics, but changes in the music. "Fair Exchange" off the Kansas album "Vinyl Confessions" is a great re-make. The music is interesting and reflects some styles that were used with Kansas. I recommend this album!

I had the original Prime Mover album and I thought it was good. The thing with me is this, the songs themselves may be great.... the lyrics might be first rate....the musicianship fantastic.... the vocals a joy to hear.....but if the drums sound like an electronic machine, it's very hard for me to enjoy any album to its fullest.

On the first Prime Mover album all I could think was how much better the album would have been with a real drummer playing a real drum kit. The bass also was not a real bass guitar and had that phony electronic bass sound. This is another thumbs down. So, here was a very good album (the first Prime Mover from 1988) with very emotionless machine-like sounding drums and bass. So when I heard that the newer Prime Mover 2 was re-recorded, I was delighted! I assumed I would hear real drum sounds and a good sounding bass guitar. Well, I was disappointed once again. I'll admit that there probably is some actual real bass guitar on many of the tunes. But, there are songs that obviously have that machine-bass sound I detest.

On Prime Mover 2 the songs are wonderful, and Livgren is probably one of the best songwriters of all time. But, the sound production still lets me down every time I hear it. I still long for the "Art of the State" sound Livgren, Warren Ham and the boys from AD produced back in the mid 80s. This is what I'd hoped I'd hear on this reworked version of Prime Mover. But it sounds very close, too close, to the original.

When I had read Livgren's liner notes of PM 2, I was so excited when he stated, "THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE SONGS THEMSELVES IS THAT THE DRUM MACHINE WAS REMOVED AND WERE REPLACED WITH DRUMS THAT WERE PLAYED." Yippee! I couldn't wait to hear this album without that lousy drum machine! But, the new drums that were "played" were still electronic "sampled sounds!" Yuck! What a downer.

This CD could have been a four or five star album. Instead, the sometimes lifeless and plastic sounding rhythm section keeps it at three stars. Mr. Livgren, how about a Prime Mover 3? But, could you please record some real drums and bass throughout the whole album next time around?