Description
Prime Mover is the final studio album by the American progressive rock band AD featuring Kerry Livgren of Kansas fame, released on Sparrow Records in 1988. The album was produced by Kerry Livgren for Grandyzine Productions. All songs written by Kerry Livgren except “Portrait II” co-written with Steve Walsh and “I’ll Follow You” written by Michael Gleason.
The original Prime Mover was released in 1988, but was re-done in 1998 as Prime Mover II. The album was re-recorded once again and a final version, Prime Mover (Redux), was completed and released in 2008 on Kerry Livgren’s label Numavox.
Once, a musical millennium ago, there was a band of progressive thinkers and players who showed us that more could come from America’s heartland than a continuous flow of predictable arena rock. They showed us that art was not just the simple and predictable. This group became very successful with their progressive rock sound and sold millions of records, but their true riches came in layers of sound, counterpoint, textures and the juxtaposition of ideas. The band was Kansas and their spiritual leader was Kerry Livgren.
After soaring to great heights in the late ’70s, Kansas sputtered in the early ’80s and then finally crashed. After the demise of Kansas, Livgren formed AD with some good friends and great musicians to carry on his musical explorations. Now, AD has fragmented and there are but two left, Livgren and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham (who is currently on the road with Amy Grant).
Many of Livgren’s fans were somewhat disappointed when he continued to grow and moved beyond the musical ideas he defined in the ’70s with Kansas, to new uncharted areas of progressive music.
With the release of the fourth AD record, Livgren, with Ham’s help, has gone back a step to enjoy the fruit of his labor. Pulling out some songs that were written years ago for Kansas and re-writing one Kansas classic, this is the most Kansas-like album in years (including the new, reformed Kansas). The album takes the ideas of Kansas and puts and ’80s spin on them.
This album is not a Kansas rehash, but builds on the traditions. Livgren unashamedly claims his heritage and enjoys using some of the familiar tools of his youth to build something new today. If you ever liked Kansas, or if you just enjoy progressive music, this album is a “must have.” [Devlin Donaldson, CCM, December 1988]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/prime-mover/715592400)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Don’t Pass Me By” – 4:24
A2. “Fathers and Sons” – 3:56
A3. “Portrait II” – 5:35
A4. “Children of the Shadows” – 4:49
Side Two
B1. “Wandering Spirit” – 4:04
B2. “I’ll Follow You” – 3:55
B3. “New Kind of Love” – 3:47
B4. “One More Song” – 4:09
B5. “T.G.B.” – 5:58
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Sparrow Records. The album was largely re-recorded in 1998 with additional tracks and released as Prime Mover, Vol. 2. Redone once again as Prime Mover (Redux) in 2008.
Prime Mover Album Liner Notes, “Redux” Version 2008
This album has accumulated quite a history (which is entirely my fault) The original Prime Mover album was released in 1988 on Sparrow Records. It was re-done in 1998 as Prime Mover II, and now we have the (final) version: Prime Mover (Redux), completed in 2008.
The original notes for Prime Mover II explain why the album was re-recorded in the first place:
Though any artist probably has some regrets about a portion of their recorded work, this one was the focus of most of mine. Unfortunately, it was done in a hurry, on a very low budget, and under a cloud of disappointment about the demise of AD. The thought occurred to me – they re-make movies, why not albums? Were it not for the fact that I believed the album was redeemable, and that these songs deserved a better fate, I would have left it as is. I believe the results justify the amount of effort that has been put into this collection of songs – it no longer occupies the position of my least favorite post-Kansas work, and I now have no regrets, rather a sense of fulfillment. Thanks so much to Warren Ham – he still kills me. This time I think we got it right.
What was done: All of the re-recording was done on two EMU Darwins, two ADAT XT’s, and an Apple Macintosh G3 using Digital Performer software. The original Prime Mover was recorded on 24 track analog tape, and was transferred to digital. Unfortunately, one of the two-inch master tape reels had deteriorated so badly that it was unusable. Those songs were completely redone from scratch, which had not been my original intention. Generally speaking, there is little left of the original tracks, except for some of the lead vocals and certain of the guitar solos. All of them have, of course, been re-mixed and re-mastered. The most significant change in the songs themselves is that the drum machine was removed and replaced by drums that were played. Though they are (carefully crafted) sampled sounds, they were performed, not programmed. This has quite a dramatic effect in the feel of the material.
So the question looms – why the third version of this music? Apparently we didn’t get it right….so when is enough enough? The best explanation I can offer is that, with time, the technology has taken such a leap forward that it became obvious to me that I could greatly improve both the quality of the recording, and in many cases the performances. First, all of the PMII tracks were transferred into my 24-bit Workstation. Of course, once I got rolling, some of the songs were completely transformed by adding new tracks and replacing many of the originals.
In a couple of cases, some of the guitar tracks I had done for PMII were missing, and one of Warren’s harmonica tracks, so we had no choice but to play them again. Most of the drums were re-played and greatly improved with the wonderful BFD2 program. The sampled brass and woodwind sounds were, for the most part, replaced by real players and instruments, as was the bass guitar. There are quite a few additional background vocals.
Wherever possible and appropriate, reality has replaced facsimile. I hope the listener can appreciate all the meticulous time that went into this project…..I think I am finished with it.
– Kerry Livgren
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.