Former Kansas vocalist and solo artist John Elefante returns with Revolution of Mind. Elefante is a complicated man as a musician. If you haven’t followed his career, he got his Prog Rock on with Kansas in the mid-eighties, his Hard Rock and Heavy Metal on with Mastedon, and commercial radio on with his solo albums. What Revolution of Mind does is bring all of that together and, while it doesn’t work on paper, it works wonderfully in reality.
The album opens with a couple of fairly progressive tracks in “Revolution of Mind” and “Slay Your Demons” before offering a Pop Rocker that really allows Elefante’s amazing voice to sail to new heights (“Nowhere Without Your Love”). It kind of reminds me of some of Boston’s best material. The band continues on with a batch of mid-tempo rockers that will probably appeal more to Kansas fans than Mastedon fans but will surely satisfy both. The Beatle’s tinged “Questions (It’s About Time)” is a highlight here as is the latter album “The Western World” which is the best song Kansas has never recorded!
Realistically, this whole album is exactly what fans have dared hope for for so many years. Revolution of Mind is a progressive thinking, extremely musical, Rock and Roll album that doesn’t shay away from the Christian aspect but also doesn’t lay it on so thick that it alienates fans. You’ll listen to this album and realize just how much you have missed John Elefante’s voice. The only misstep here was letting Big 3 Records release this album with such lame artwork. The Import version of the album is entitled Mastedon 3 and is packaged infinitely better.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
