Customer Reviews
Hot Kansas Album
All the songs are good. This is a great album. Sure if you listen to the radio you're not going to like it. No, it's not like the radio. Thank God. Too bad, you'll have to buy it 2nd hand. I feel real lucky to have been able to obtain it. Thanks to Amazon's live play capability. I bought it thru Amazon, I think from a Marketplace Seller.
Kansas - The Violin Is Back With Mixed Results
After the departure of Steve Morse the live version of the band brought in Greg Robert on keyboards, and the multitalented David Ragsdale on violin, guitar, and keys. Kansas went on a long hiatus from putting out new studio albums in the late 80's and early 90's, but they never stopped gigging during that time. The band toured constantly and began to build back an audience. Having Ragsdale in the band brought in a fresh vitality and re-established the all important electric violin to the Kansas sound. Greg Robert freed up Steve Walsh from his keyboard duties allowing him to become more of a frontman and showman. It was this lineup that went into the studio to record "Freaks Of Nature" in 1994. This one gets mixed reviews from Kansas fans and I have a similar feeling. On the one hand it is great to have a violin back in the band and Ragsdale is a very formidable talent. On the other hand he is not always given that much to do and I think he could have been used more. Steve Walsh's voice has changed considerably since the last album in 1988 and not for the better. His once crystal clear vocals now have a definite raspiness to it. His voice is not bad, but also not what it was. The songs are for the most part good. Some favorites include "Desperate Times", "Black Fathom 4", "Freaks Of Nature", "Cold Grey Morning" and in my opinion the best song on the album the closer "Peaceful And Warm". The rest of the album is decent although "Need" is pretty much a thruway track. Overall I don't think "Freaks" was quite as good as fans were hoping for, but at the same time it was a decent effort from a band getting back on it's feet.
Didn't like this at first, but it has grown on me a bit over the years
At that time my cousin Barry loved it and I just couldn't get into it hardly at all. I bought this cd in 1995 when it first came out. It just didn't sound melodic or as musical as the many studio albums that came before. Just pretty basic and raw, but I just listened to it for the second time this year, after basically not listening to it since about 1995, and maybe because my mental healths better now, but I'm not really sure, I am starting to like at least five or six of the tracks on FREAKS OF NATURE. The only song that irritates me is the first song "I can fly". It just sounds totally stupid, when you compare it to their prog rock like POINT OF KNOW RETURN, but other than that stinker I can stomach all the rest of the tracks. Back in 1995 I would have given this a one star rating, but now it deserves about a three star rating. If you compare this with their 70's and early 80's heyday, this doesn't quite measure up, but if you let it stand alone on it's own, it's a fairly good listen. Enjoy!.
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