KERRY LIVGREN: Several More Musicks
If you’ve been around christian music for some length of time, you will know the name Kerry Livgren, who came to fame as guitarist and lyricist for the classic rock/prog rock band Kansas, and then left the band after coming to faith and continued his music career solo and with the band A.D. Now an elder statesman in rock music, Livgren has been slowly remastering and re-releasing all his previous solo and A.D. releases. This CD was an unusual one for Livgren, being entirely instrumental. It was originally recorded in 1988 and titled One of Several Possible Musicks, winning a Dove award that year.
Remastering and some rerecording has been done, the results sounding crisp and clean. 3 new tracks have been added, “On the Waves of Kinnaret,” “Jubal’s Ark-estra,” and “Pastorale”- adding a classical touch to the album, as well as new cover art for the renamed Several More Musicks. If your musical tastes don’t extend beyond the borders of metaldom, you may politely pass, but as most headbangers also enjoy guitar instrumental albums, we thought we’d review this disc for you.
There’s a wide variety of styles on display here, all loosely under the umbrella of prog rock. Livgren is a guitarist first, and so there is a lot of guitar-work here, but Kerry passes on flexing and noodling, choosing to structure songs where the guitar is not always center stage. He paints lush and mellow pallets, with the occasional rock guitar song (“Ancient Wing”). Thankfully the keyboards have all been updated. There’s a lot of classical influence, and unexpected instruments such as trumpets; even some passages that might classify as jazz. For Kansas fans and especially fans of Phil Keaggy’s volumes of work. 3.5 out of 5 stars (Numavox)