| Musical Style: Progressive Hard Rock | Produced By: Kerry Livgren & Brad Aaron |
| Record Label: Sony | Country Of Origin: USA |
| Year Released: 1980 | Artist Website: Kerry Livgren |
| Tracks: 7 | Rating: 100% |
| Running Time: 39:54 |
"Even though Christian art and music is often plagued by mediocrity, the Christian world view supports and demands the highest level of craftsmanship."
-Kerry Livgren
The lyrical history of Kansas chronicles the spiritual pilgrimage of the bands guitarist and keyboardist Kerry Livgren. When that pilgrimage came to an end after Livgren became a Christian in the late seventies, he wanted to record a solo album communicating a Christian message to those taking seriously the spiritual matters he previously wrote about. Livgren, as a result, began to give thought to a solo project in 1979 and soon brought the idea to his manager, Bud Carr, who got the ball rolling with the record company. In the fall of the same year Livgren began work on the project and wrote a total of eleven songs: Seven made it onto Seeds Of Change and the other four on the forthcoming Kansas album Audio-Visions. The title Seeds Of Change came about when Livgren identified with each song as having a distinct personality and representing a "seed of change" in his life.
The main concern I had before listening to Seeds Of Change for the first time was whether or not it would sound too much like Kansas. Fortunately, that fear is ill-founded in that the album, while based upon a foundation of Kansas-style progressive rock, allows Livgren to experiment musically and depart from the "classic Kansas sound". For example, Seeds Of Change touches upon elements of classic rock, straightforward hard rock and the blues and combines them with some of the heaviest and most guitar driven moments of Livgren's career.
The criteria used by Livgren to make Seeds Of Change was to hand pick the best musicians for each song. As a result, the incredible Barriemore Barlow (Jethro Tull) was brought in to handle drums on four tracks, while Phil Ehart of Kansas filled in on two others. In addition to Paul Goddard (Atlanta Rhythm Section) helping out on bass, Bobby Campo (Le Roux) provided assistance on tambourine and horns and Robby Steinhardt (Kansas) violin. The multi-talented Livgren, at the same time, furnishes the albums rhythm and lead guitar work as well as handling all keyboard duties.
Instead of using one or two vocalists for the entire album, Livgren wanted to treat each song as distinct entity and match it with the most appropriate voice he could find. Jeff Pollard (Le Roux) was chosen to perform on "Just One Way" after Livgren gained appreciation for his abilities when Le Roux toured as an opening act for Kansas. (Pollard, who is a Christian, engaged in a series of theological debates with Livgren and is largely responsible for the faith of both Livgren and Kansas bassist Dave Hope.) When Kansas toured with Ambrosia several years earlier, Livgren became acquainted with the bands vocalist David Pack whom he considered to have the perfect voice for "Ground Zero". Livgren visualized Ronnie James Dio as possessing the range and power to best complement "Mask Of The Great Deceiver" and "To Live For The King". Dio was chosen due to not only being musically the right person for the job but the best messenger to deliver the message, Livgren thinking it ironic that Dio would be singing lyrics diametrically opposed to those of Black Sabbath.
Seeds Of Change showcases an impeccable production job characterized by clean and refined sounding sonics. Its heavier tracks feature a more than ample amount of crisp rhythm guitar. The albums low end sounds huge with the bass thick and heavy and the drums projecting the needed punch and power. Keyboards are used to good affect in adding just the right amount of texture.
"Just One Way" begins to a drum solo and several seconds of keyboards that drop from the mix with the onset of Jeff Pollard's bountiful classic tenor voice. After the rhythm section takes the songs through its first verse and an edgy metal flavored rhythm guitar the second, an acoustic guitar underscores a sweeping chorus driven in an emotionally charged manner. Livgren's sharp sounding lead guitar work holds sway over a minute long instrumental passage "Just One Way", the first song Livgren wrote as a Christian, details how there are hundreds of paths that lead to emptiness and destruction but only one leads to the true God:
All my life I looked for something real
Place to place I wandered restlessly
I just needed something I could feel
And when I found the Truth it set me free
Just one way, just one way, just one way
From the dark to the Light there's
Just one way...
Introduced to keyboards that fade from the right to the left channel, "Mask Of The Great Deceiver" moves forward to a punchy bass line accentuated by keyboards until Livgren adds several seconds of tasteful lead guitar work. The bass guitar and a crisp rhythm guitar trade off during the songs verse portions until the rhythm guitar takes over and leads the way to an epic flavored chorus bolstered by Dio's powerful vocal delivery. Livgren's stylish work on keyboards highlights a sweeping instrumental section. "Mask Of The Great Deceiver" explains how Satan seeks to spiritually oppress and deceive humanity:
He will fill up your ears
And he'll dazzle your eyes
But don't believe what he's saying
'Cause he's the father of lies
In your heart, don't you know that he'll betray you
And in the end he will drag you away
Till all the world is cryin' for the judgment day
And he's fallen how he's fallen
From the height of the morning star
Though his light's still shining brightly
It's the mask of the great deceiver
Kansas lead vocalist Steve Walsh lends his talents to the keyboard based classic rock of "How Can You Live". An organ helps initiate the song before it slows to the combination of acoustic guitar and piano that reinforces its first verse. Picking up in pace, "How Can You Live" attains a good catchy chorus carried at an upbeat tempo. Synthesizers drive the first half of a minute long instrumental passage ending to a fitting organ solo. "How Can You Live" questions how people can be satisfied in life without a relationship with God:
Does the picture you have in your mind never turn out right
Do the things you do leave a hole in your soul
Is the best you can do always short of the goal
And the way it's supposed to be just never is
How can you live when nothing's there
Something is gone inside you now
Look to the Word that says it all
Everything will turn out fine
The blues influenced "Whiskey Seed" opens to a blend of harmonica and acoustic guitar that gives way to an abundance of soulful vocal harmonies (the "moaning multitudes"). Livgren handles lead vocals as the song slows to a near crawl for its first verse until the rhythm guitar kicks in as it gains momentum for a chorus fortified by Mylon Le Fever's blues soaked voice. After Livgren cuts loose with several seconds of gritty lead guitar work, the rhythm guitar moves to the songs forefront in a heavy and driving manner. "Whiskey Seed" describes one form of human bondage:
Well the gutter's my bed, the paper's my sheet
You can find me lyin' out in the street
It's the devil's own so brother take heed
Don't go plantin' that ol' Whiskey Seed
"To Live For The King" is a slower paced progressive rock number in which Dio's emotionally charged vocal delivery perfectly complements its majestic feel. After the song gets underway to a quietly played guitar passage, a crisp rhythm guitar fades in and out of the mix before a prominently placed bass line leads the way to a sublime chorus with a worshipful feel. Livgren steps forward with over a minute of stylish work on lead guitar. I love how "To Live For The King" ends to a trade off between choir like vocal harmonies and Dio's improvisation vocal performance. "To Live For The King" talks abut devotion to Christ as King and Lord:
So lift me up, the time has come to sing
And give up everything
To live for the King
The gritty hard rocker "Down To The Core" is accentuated by the horns of Bobby Campo (Le Roux). Kansas sound man Davy Moire fills in on lead vocals, his raspy voice carried over a thick blend of rhythm guitar and bass as the song advances at a mid-tempo pace to a smooth sounding chorus bolstered by female vocal harmonies. Subsequent to its second chorus, "Down To The Core" abruptly picks up in pace for an instrumental passage driven by a blistering guitar solo. "Down To The Core" points out that the source of true fulfillment is not in wealth or material possessions but rather in the Lord:
There's no relief in your possessions
There's no relief in what you own
And what you reap in the coming future
Don't you know it's only what you have sown
Down to the core, it's an empty hole
Down to the core, and there's nothin' at the bottom
Down to the core, you're an empty soul
You'll never make it alone
A combination of synthesizers and piano carries the eight minute progressive rock anthem "Ground Zero" its entire extent. The song fades in to several seconds of keyboards before David Pack takes over with his immaculate melodic flavored voice. Once the keyboards drop from the mix, a piano propels "Ground Zero" during its first verse until it gains momentum for an atmospheric chorus backed by angelic vocal harmonies and a gritty voice stating "(We are) waiting for Ground Zero". The piano opening a two minute instrumental passage gives way to several seconds of keyboards and Livgren's emotionally charged guitar solo. Ground zero is a term in nuclear physics describing the point of ignition of a nuclear blast, Livgren creating a parallel between that and the magnanimity of the return of Christ:
Across the sea and far away, the eyes of all the world
Await the Passion play
The final act at last has begun, the new is born
The old is bound to pass away
No more turn of the pages
And now the hope of the ages
For all the bondage is broken, all who see
The day is coming when men will look to the skies
The consummation of all who realize
(We are) Waiting for Ground Zero
I might describe Seeds Of Change as not so much a "Christian album" but rather an album by a Christian reflecting in its lyrics the new found faith and reality of Livgren. From a musical standpoint, it represents the pinnacle of Livgren's work outside of Kansas, Seeds Of Change proving nothing less than a true work of art in giving prominence to excellence in the key areas of musicianship, songwriting, performance and production.
Please note that Seeds Of Change was not re-issued on CD until 1992 when it was part of a boxed set entitled Decade that included the album Time Line by Livgren's post-Kansas band AD in addition to several noteworthy tracks from the AD albums Art Of The State and Reconstructions. Seeds Of Change was later re-issued on CD in 1996 with a twenty minute interview with Livgren as a bonus track.
Review by: Andrew Rockwell
Track Listing: "Just One Way" (5:45), "Mask Of The Great Deceiver" (7:34), "How Can You Live" (4:12), "Whiskey Seed" (5:33), "To Live For The King" (4:56), "Down To The Core" (5:18), "Ground Zero" (8:33)
Musicians
Kerry Livgren – Guitars, Bass, Piano, Organ, Synthesizers, Percussion, Mongo Drums, Clavinet, Fender Rhodes & Vocals
Jeff Pollard, Ronnie James Dio, Steve Walsh, Mylon LeFevre, Davy Moire & David Pack – Lead Vocals
Paul Goddard, Gary Gilbert & Phil Ehart – Bass
Barriemore Barlow & John Thompson – Drums
Bobby Campo – Trumpets, Percussion, Tambourine & Horns
Darryl Kutz - Harmonica
Robby Steinhardt – Violins
John Thompson - Gong
Also Reviewed: Kerry Livgren - Collector's Sedition (Director's Cut), AD – Time Line, Kansas – Vinyl Confessions, Kansas – Somewhere To Elsewhere, Proto-Kaw – Before Became After, Proto-Kaw - The Wait Of Glory
Also See: A Musical And Lyrical History Of Kansas
Reference List
Kerry Livgren and Kenneth Boa, Seeds Of Change (Nashville: Sparrow Press, 1991), 149-158.
Van Pelt, Doug. "The Future According To Kerry Livgren." Heaven's Metal 26 (1990): 17-19.
"Interview With Dave Hope Of Kansas." Cornerstone 53 1981): 39.
"Interview With Kerry Livgren." Renaissance Records (1996): Compact Disc.
