PROTO-KAW – The Wait Of Glory

Proto-Kaw, the revival of the second line up of now legendary band Kansas, is back with a second album after the 2004 “debut” Before Became After. This year’s The Wait Of Glory seems to be aimed directly at the surviving Kansas fanbase, so what’s in it for anyone else?

The Music

All 10 tracks on board The Wait Of Glory have melodic qualities and the majority are even at the slower end of the tempo ladder. In this way, the music often appears ear-friendly and almost soothing. Except for a couple of more up-tempo pieces, the listener is never really challenged. So, where does this lead to?

Answer: not very far. Having been labeled a Jazz/Psychedelic Progressive band (and even: The Future of Progressive Rock), it’s hard to see Proto-Kaw making much effort to try to adhere to that, which is fair enough. True, there are moments or passages that sound familiar to the now-all-too-common conceptual perception of Progressive music, but The Wait Of Glory has more of a Soft Pop Rock vibe to it, and thus never really progresses much.

Genre talk aside, Proto-Kaw delivers music to grow fond of (not immensely, but enough to remove some of that everyday tension). Especially, “Relics Of The Tempest,” “The Vigil,” and “Picture This” are fine songs, with apparent as well as more subtle qualities. It’s obvious Kerry Livgren (credited as songwriter) knows his guild. Still, one cannot help but wonder why they chose to open the album with the more than nine-minute long ballad “Nevermore?” Seriously, this is a killer, in the sense that it demands of the average listener plenty of curiosity and patience to continue listening. Even then, one has to admit the song is not at all bad, it’s just terribly misplaced.

This leads to discussion of the production, which is technically spot on, but suffers from a lack of direction as far as the evolution of the album is concerned.

The Band

As a band, Proto-Kaw has a unified sound and all individual contributions are flawless. Standing out is singer Lynn Meredith, who has a rich and diverse voice, with sufficient drama to support the often rather pompous moods. Guitarist Kerry Livgren also offers a wide range of moods and his solos are never pretentious.

On the other hand, there are some horns dropping in now and then, which sound computer generated rather than organic… and that’s a drag… a real drag, because they tend to drop by when the music is about to peak and then simply prevent it from doing so.

The Verdict

Apart from the aforementioned Kansas fanbase, there are songs on this album that might be found worthwhile by others. The problem is that the album itself suffers from the slow mood and lack of progression. So, just do yourself a favor and think twice before buying this album, Kansas fan or not.