Die Platte mit der Kansas ihren Durchbruch in USA geschafft haben.
Mit Song for America wurde der Grundstein für spätere Chartbreaker gelegt. Die Highlight LPs von Kansas sind nach wie vor Leftoverture und Point of know return.
Eine Rezension von Amazon.com:
'Down The Road is a barroom stomper with some gritty vox from Robby atop some of the meanest bass playing you'll ever hear. While this may sound like Lynyrd Skynyrd or Allman Bros., it's far scarier and much more complex than anything those bands have tried. Again, no straight 4/4 playing or simple riffs.
This is followed by the song the band has played more times than any other, their anthem, Song For America. Kerry wrote this majestic and uplifting tribute to the landscape of America while flying on a cross-country trip. Through various movements he successfully weaves a tapestry which reveals the many faces of America.
Both Lamplight Symphony, a song about reincarnation, and Incomudro, a song about an Eastern religion, are two of the best extended progressive pieces ever written by any prog-rock band. When I hear pieces like these, it baffles me as to how anyone could ever consider Kansas not to be one of the greatest of all prog-rock bands. Maybe because they're not English?
The Devil Game might be Dave's finest moment in Kansas as he piledrives this complex rocker along. One of the best out-n-out rockers Kansas has ever done.
That leaves us with Lonely Street, the most disturbing piece Kansas has ever done. The subject matter of rape, murder and revenge is dark enough but there are overtones bordering on racism (a black man is the rapist/murderer). While I don't believe Steve made a deliberate attempt at racism (none of his other songs suggest racism), I do believe he made a poor choice in telling the story. While the official lyrics say 'bad man', he clearly sings 'black man' in live bootlegs from the period. Musically, this is a slow, grinding blues piece done in 11/8 time! In fact, that was the original name of the song, 11/8 Blues!
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