Kenso - Ken-Son-Gu-Su. 2000 Japan

As if the band was responding to the criticism of the three previous studio albums, Kenso released the dynamic live album Ken-Son-Gu-Su - showcasing the band's enormous talents at their most raw and energetic. No gloss or production tricks here. Just the band's compositions played live and served up for judgment by a live audience, who appear to be lapping up every minute of it.  Recorded on April 30, 2000 for the band's 25th anniversary at On Air East in Tokyo. Starting with none other than the band's defining track 'Umi' (The Sea) from the debut, Kenso go on to lay the concert hall to waste. This is followed by 'Anasthesia Part 2' (aka Masui), with its devastating keyboard runs and melodic lines, taken from their most arguably progressive album Kenso II.  Following this is the moody and Japanese indigenous sounding 'Hyoto' (Frozen Island), just as it is on the Kenso II album - the two tracks forever linked like Santana's 'Black Magic Woman' and 'Oye Como Va'. Kenso II's opener 'Sora ni Hikaru' (Shining in the Sky) follows, putting the concert goers back on their feet, while engaging their brains in overtime. Moving along in chronological fashion, the fusionesque 'Beginnings' from Kenso III is presented, demonstrating an entirely different sound and outlook from the band. A pretty song in its own right, one very much worth including in this greatest hits live show - as it were. It's nice to see Kenso not shy away from their various style experiments over the years. And now for the first break on the linear curve, as Kenso looks back to their smoldering Kenso II closer usually known as 'Sayanora Proge' (aka Goodbye Prog), but here called by its Premiata Forneria Marconi styled name 'Arrivederci', which is appropriate considering the musical reference. Since the band was rocking out, time to get the audience grooving on their (at the time) new hard rocking and Led Zeppelin influenced Esoptron album with a track they call 'Festivity', which appears to be a much shortened version of the album's opener 'Kojinteki Kikyū'. This is followed by two more progressive, yet no less rocking, fusion cuts 'Gips' and 'Negai Kanaeru Kodomo Tsurete Yukō' from the same album. I was hoping Kenso weren't going to overlook their very fine Yume No Oka album, and of course they don't, playing for the crowd the album's lovely piano laden and expressive guitar closer 'Les Phases de la Lune II' followed by a rousing rendition of the superb 'The Ancient in My Brain', arguably one of Kenso's best compositions to date. After this, the band takes one more shot at their hard rocking current album with 'Zaiya Kara no Kikan'. The concert closes, oddly enough, with the first two tracks from their least rated 1989 album Sparta. If there's ever an album where the live experience will likely improve upon the original, it's Sparta. Both tracks demonstrate the compositions were solid, but that the production castrated the potential. Overall Ken-Son-Gu-Su works as both a fiery live concert and as a greatest hits album - and is an excellent place to start with the band if you're new to them.

Ownership: CD: 2000 Pathograph

9/18/14 (new entry)