Kerry Livgren
Prime Mover II
Review by Scott Prinzing
It can be argued that after Kerry Livgren left Kansas in 1983, the band was never the same. Kansas produced a few enjoyable - if inconsistent - albums with Steve Morse on guitar; a few with Rich Williams handling all guitars himself; and one with Livgren back at the helm on guitar and as sole songwriter and keyboardist. The highpoints (no disrespect to Morse intended; he was hamstrung by label demand for radio-friendly material) include the Livgren-penned material on the live albums; “Cold Grey Morning” (the one Livgren composition on Freaks of Nature); and the 2000 release, Somewhere to Elsewhere, with Livgren in command. Livgren’s post-Kansas albums on the other hand, seemed to just get better and better. With one exception, 1988’s Prime Mover. The final of four releases by Livgren’s band AD, it only included the maestro himself and singer Warren Ham. That album was loaded with great songs and great performances by those two, but due to time and funding, Livgren was reduced to replacing former Kansas bassist Dave Hope and drummer Dennis Holt with programmed bass and drums. The result was an album that sounded like a high quality ’80s demo; albeit with superb guitar and vocals.
With this release, Livgren decided to upgrade the instrumentation. He re-recorded the bass and drums himself (although the drums are sampled sounds, he “played” them). The sound is much improved, making this a much better album. I miss the contributions of second singer/keyboardist/guitarist/songwriter Gleason, but AD’s previous album didn’t include Ham at all, so I guess it balances out. So, not only does Livgren write all but one song, he plays guitars, keyboards, drums and bass. Oh, and he produces and engineers everything; and does the cover art! Good thing he’s only relegated to background vocals, because Warren Ham is an amazing singer, as well as sax, flute and harmonica player (he augmented Kansas on the Vinyl Confessions tour). Ham and Gleason were two of the three finalists for replacing Steve Walsh in Kansas; John Elefante got the job, so when Livgren recorded his second solo album, he recruited those two. It evolved into the band AD. Eventually, Livgren went solo. This album went from being his weakest to one of his best. Ironically, while researching info for this review, I learned that Livgren was apparently still unsatisfied with the final product and fine-tuned it once again a decade later as Prime Mover: Redux. The primary difference is that the new album has a real bass player, and real brass and woodwinds. I imagine the overall sound has improved a bit, but this version is more than acceptable to this listener’s ears.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013 Volume 2 at lulu.com/strangesound.
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