On its debut album, Kansas leavened its progressive rock complexity, with relatively concise hard-rock tunes. The follow-up, SONG FOR AMERICA, finds both elements still in play, but prog rock definitely dominates. Like its predecessor, SONG FOR AMERICA opens up with a simple, heavy rocker, but then wastes no time leaping into the Yes-influenced breach with the 10-minute epic title track. Aside from the anomalous "The Devil Game," which sounds like a Bad Company outtake, the rest of the album finds Kansas headed straight for art-rock glory, as tricky syncopation, swirling synthesizers, and fiery fiddle dart in and out of willfully dense arrangements, often following classical-inspired structure. The album's final song (followed here by a couple of bonus cuts) is one of Kansas's most accomplished pieces, a strikingly complicated suite endearingly titled "Incomudro - Hymn to the Atman" that sounds pretty European for a bunch of boys from Midwestern farm country.

• Released: 10/18/2018
• Genre: Rock
• Format: Vinyl