Customer Reviews

Vinyl Confessions

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a hard core Kansas fan for many years. As much as I like Steve Walsh in his prime (no better voice in Rock/Prog)and the classic Kansas albums that seem to be on everyone's top list such as Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, AND even think that Masque and Monolith are strong efforts, I really think Vinyl Confessions is a very solid album. Put aside any bias toward your lead vocalist of choice and listen to the strong compositions and well crafted production. Listen to some new direction in instrumentation along side the usual stellar players; Listen to some urgency, inspiration and direction in the lyrical content. I believe that a fresh, unbiased listen will reveal a very strong, cohesive work worthy of at least a few accolades.

As a Christian, I confess the worldview in the lyrics has strong appeal but the music, passion and artistry are evident the lyrics notwithstanding. Ironically, I think that it is this same worldview in the lyrics that causes many to be turned off from this very artistic offering. Why is it that some can listen to all kinds of philosophies in music, both agreeable and disagreeable, and still appreciate the artistry, but as soon as Christian lyrics come into play, all of a sudden it cannot be tolerated or at least it is relegated to a lower tier.

My honest opinion is that Vinyl Confessions is worthy of better consideration among the list of Kansas albums and certainly represents the most thematic and cohesive effort of Kansas' latter days. The only complaint I have is that the sonic quality of the current CD version is vastly inferior to the vinyl album. Remastering is greatly needed and deserved. Hopefully Sony will come through some day soon.

- Scriptor

I know a lot of people who think this album is more of a Christian album and isn't that good, but I think they did a admirable job of making an album work without the great Steve Walsh. At first I didn't like the newcomer John Elefante, but he sort of grew on me in time. He is a quite good writer in my opinion. Like their biggest hit "Dust in the wind", on POINT, I'm not really fired up about their hit "Play the game tonight", but I do like the lyrics of the song. Some are put off by the Christian lyrics, but I really think their appropriate on this cd. I was a born-again Christian so I really welcomed the change. I really like the song "Diamonds and pearls", which was the only great song on the first side of the LP. I always thought the 2nd side was amazingly good, with the songs "Face it", "Windows", "Borderline", and Crossfire". They would make one more album "DRASTIC MEASURES", before they would disband in 1984, only to reform with Steve Walsh and Steve Morse in 1986. This is a much better effort than DRASTIC MEASURES, so listen and enjoy!!!

Big changes were in the works for Kansas by the time "Vinyl Confessions" came out in 1982. Lead vocalist / keyboardist Steve Walsh had left the band over the blatantly Christian lyrics that Kerry Livgren was writing. Violinist / Vocalist Robby Steinhardt was still on board, but had been reduced to a backup role in much of the music and vocals. The band had become Kerry Livgren's animal which is reflected in the abundance of Christian oriented lyrics found throughout the album. The band brought in an unseasoned young vocalist in John Elefante who was also a Christian. Much to a lot of people's surprise the single from the album "Play The Game Tonight" bolted into the top 40 and got the band back on the radio in a big way. It is actually a great little song and one of my all time favorite Kansas singles. As a whole I don't think this album stands up to the band's earlier works, but that is not to say it is bad. Elefante had a great voice and fit in well with the band. The songs are mostly on the short side with the longest (and best track on the disc) being "Crossfire" clocking in at a little over 6 minutes. Another really strong track is the rocking "Windows" on which Elefante really shines and Robby Steinhardt is actually given some violin playing to do. The rest of the album is all ok, but I find it fairly pedestrian for Kansas standards.

As someone who has witnessed this marvelous band several times (mainly in the early and mid 90's), I had the pleasure of telling others that I was one of the fortunate ones to have seen Steve Walsh do a hand-stand on his keyboard and play it at the same time.. Needless to say, the respect I have for this man and his vocal abilities still carries to this day.. When 'Vinyl Confessions' hit my ears for the first time sometime back in 1983, I wondered whose voice had graced this very under-appreciated album as I knew it was not that of Steve Walsh's. At the time, it didn't seem to matter as each song heard here is a true progression of a band whose direction has always moved forward. "Play the game tonight" was an AOR radio favorite and from its opening, you can hear John Elefante, the new lead man, attempting to create a spirit always present in each Kansas outing. By the time I got to the very emotional but very philosophical "Chasing shadows", I found myself lost in a melody that I don't think Steve could have done any better. This song today still reaches a very deep inner part of me with its haunting, emotive guitar, piano and violin and amazing harmonies.
John's Christian influences are definitely appearing here as "Face it" reminds all of us who we exactly are if we choose not to better ourselves, while "Borderline" (another of my favorites), challenges the listener to make the decision in their own lives to keep following the ways of the world or to turn it over into the hands of a higher power. No filler here everyone.. just straight-ahead AOR with a very powerful message to change something negative in our lives, whether that would be the way of living, thinking, or the approach we take in every step of our day. As the album closes with the grandiose
"Crossfire", one cannot but question one's own existence when listening to these very evocative lyrics, and those melodies..
John Elefante was only present on 2 Kansas albums (Drastic Measures being the second), but his presence, talents, and contributions added a chapter to the band's history that was needed at the time with 'new wave' music planning its onslaught into the American music scene..
It is great to see Steve Walsh back with the band, but I am one of the thankful ones to have discovered this album at a time in my life when I was unsure of myself and where I was headed.. Kansas sure seemed to know where they were going and I thank them highly for it..

This album, the first of two Kansas recordings with John Elefante, does have some excellent material on it. It was quite a departure from their prior album Audio Visions which still had Steve Walsh on vocals and sounded more like the earlier classic Kansas. I think that if Kerry Livgren would have had some more time to compose a few more songs for this album (those darn record companies stifling creativity by rushing artists to get albums out), it would have had more of the classic Kansas sound. As it was, it was rushed to market (I think that they even bought a song a two from outside writers). Nevertheless, there are some good tracks on it. Crossfire is a great song (even better live; try to see the concert video that Kansas did on the 1983 Vinyl Confessions tour). I don't care how other fans have criticized some of John Elefante's song writing (yeah, yeah OK, that song Andi on Drastic Measures was a bit silly for Kansas), Chasing Shadows is a fantastic song. It's one of my all time favorites from any Kansas recording. John Elefante can sing (try to get the hard to find Lofcaudio recording with John's post Kansas project band Mastadon. John sings most of the tracks on Lofcaudio, and he's great. Check e-bay occassionally to try to get the out of print Lofcaudio CD. It's great, very progressive sounding). Perhaps my biggest gripe about the Vinyl Confessions recording is the production sound. I don't like the drum sound, and I think that a number of songs, especially the heavier progressive sounding songs like Crossfire or Windows, would have been much better with a different studio sound. The sound is weak and anemic. It sounds like the band recorded this album in my closet (with extra carpeting installed). Vinyl Confessions does have enough good tracks on it to make it worth adding to your CD collection; however, it does little to resemble Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. Nevertheless, it's still far better (light years better) than much of the(yawn) boring stuff that the recording industry is currently trying to pass off as good music by people who only write boring songs that require the musicianship level of a bunch of 12 year olds in a garage band.

The songs on this albumn are short and sleek and sweet. If you ever opened a dictionary and looked up the word "competence" you would see photographs of the members of Kansas at this autumnal point in their lives.
The albumn is titled "Vinyl Confessions" but the smoothe flow of the music, the beauty of the music, is not gritty and dark enough to function like the dread photograph on the cover - a stark chair shot under a stark light with cigarette butts lying on the floor.
The best song on the albumn is "Chasing Shadows". This song is written in the Kansas tradition that brought us works like "Dust In The Wind." It is bleak and full of the pathos that tells us that Kansas was in touch with the deep voodoo of the human spirit.
Kansas was one of the few acts that mattered in the 70's along with David Bowie and Roxy Music. Steve Walsh, the original lead singer, quit the band, and one might expect the quality of the music to fall to pieces. But such aint the case.
John Elefante, the new lead singer, cannot possibly replace the wild and eccentric Steve Walsh, but he was a far more competent singer. His luminous voice was full of passion and precision and who can complain about such a fine and heavenly marriage - passion and precision?
"Vinyl Confessions" is the end of the road. After this album there is only darkness.

Vinyl Confessions is a great album and it needs to be remastered with bonus tracks! This is Kansas's first album with new lead singer John Elefante and what a great singer he is! With songs like Windows, Play the game tonight, Crossfire, Borderline, Chasing shadows, Play on, and Face it this album just rocks. Just Remaster it!

1982 release. The first Kansas album since the departure of one of the main original members, Steve Walsh, is a very solid one. The new lead vocalist John Elepahnte currently known by his studio Sound Kitchen gave Kansas new direction. His vocal range and style is close to that of Tommy Shaw of Styx and Dave Vickler of early Survivor.

PLAY THE GAME TONIGHT which became Top 20 hit from this album is the ultimate result from the vocal change. This pop and dynamic song follows the very style of Styx, early Foreigner, Survivor and Journey. RIGHT AWAY and BORDERLINE has the style at which Styx is very excellent. DIAMONDS AND PEARLS is a bit surreal and has excellent melody hooks and my #1 favorite from this album. PLAY ON is the combination of Styx and Kansas style. But the ending CROSSFIRE which follow their previous style they refuse to be the Styx copycat.

Verdict: A bit different from 70s Kansas but despite the style change they made an excellent work.
Rating: 90 out of 100
Recommended for: Styx and Journey fans and early Survivor fans. Also for early 80s pop rock fans.

A lot of people don't like this album for two reasons: 1) John Elefante and 2) Christian lyrics.
Steve Walsh left the band prior to this release and was replaced by Elefante, an unknown vocalist. Since most fans are really fond of Walsh's singing, they are also extra critical of Elefante's (after all, how does one replace a legand?). Three quick points: 1) by this time Walsh's voice was not the same as it once was (you can hear it in Monolith, Audio Visions and Power), 2) Elefante was not as good as Walsh in the studio, 3) Elefante was better than Walsh live (listen to Two For The Show and you'll get an idea of how Walsh sounded live). Also, Walsh was a much better keyboardist than Elefante and they are about on par songwriting.
While Kansas really couldn't replace Walsh, Elefante did a great job as vocalist on this album.
As far as the Christian lyrics, fans don't seem to mind the religous lyrics found throughout their music from the beginning. Kerry Livgren, one of the primary songwriters, had been on a religous quest since before Kansas was a band and he tried them all, really--and wrote about it. Only when those lyrics turned to Christianity did fans start complaining. Kind of wierd, huh? The lyrics on this record are not distracting whatsoever.
OK, now about Vinyl Confessions. Recorded in 1982, this is actually a good album from Kansas. Their 8th release, this one is better than Audio Visions (1980), Drastic Measures (1983) and Power (1986) and just slightly better than Monolith (1979). Only their first five albums are better (in other words, I'd rank Vinyl Confessions as Kansas' sixth best album of all time).
Vinyl Confessions is consistant, has prog-rock influences from start to finish and is well played by the entire band. The opening track, Play The Game Tonight, is good, albeit short, and Crossfire, the ending track is the final prog-rock song the band would record for many years to come. All the songs inbetween are good, but generally short. While the band is obviously far away from, let's say, Leftoverture (1976), it still has that "Kansas" sound, which the album before and after Vinyl Confessions cannot say.
By far this is Kansas' best album of the 1980's. It appeals to longtime Kansas fans as well as to those who love all kinds of 1980's rock. If you've never listened to this album, pick it up--you'll be happy.

I agree with much of the positive sentiments related here about Vinyl Confessions. I think there are some definite "A-List" KANSAS songs on here which demonstrate moves forward. "Chasing Shadows", "Crossfire" and "Diamonds and Pearls" come to mind as true winners. "Windows", "Play On" and the hit, "Play The Game Tonight" stand up as well. One word of sonic warning. Although this is a 1982 recording, and basically well-produced, there are serious flaws in at least two prime tracks. "Chasing Shadows" and "Crossfire" reveal what sounds like tape stretch, due to age. A garbled quality is evident, and I hope that if these are remastered, the damage can be reversed. Listen to "Chasing Shadows" for the lines "All of us we are an audience, looking for evidence..." to hear what I am describing. "Crossfire" shows the same flaws towards the end of the song on the "Living Anew" lines before the closing vamp. There are more of the same here and there during other moments. On one hand, it passes by fairly quickly but on the other, it is disturbing to think that this was the best there is, sonically. I hope the sign that this album is not for sale except through a third party is more an indication of a remaster-to-come. Cheers!