Some months ago there was a lively discussion on the Daily Vault staff writers’ e-mail list about the criteria for choosing featured artists for our monthly retrospectives. A consensus formed that the artist chosen should meet two or more of these criteria: 1) groundbreaking, 2) influential, 3) large sales, 4) longevity, 5) historical/representative of a specific era or style of music. There was also the sixth “X ingredient,” as identified by the inimitable Duke Egbert: “some damn fool is willing to do the majority of the work.”
Those factors — and the dedicated advocacy of this month’s “damn fool,” Staff Writer
Often incorrectly lumped in with more commercial AOR groups like Journey and Foreigner,
The twin guitars, Walsh’s bold organ work and dramatic vocals, and Steinhardt’s violin gave an immediate power and sweep to the band’s work, as heard on its initial trio of true American prog albums,
Point Of Know Return followed a year later and consolidated the band’s status as one of the era’s most successful acts with the #1 single “Dust In The Wind” and the hit title track. After a successful live album, things began to slide sideways, though, as the band began to splinter, with John Elefante replacing Walsh for 1982’s Vinyl Confessions and Steinhardt departing before 1983’s Drastic Measures, whose failure led to the band’s brief breakup.
Three years later, with Livgren by then established as a Christian Contemporary solo artist, the band reformed around Walsh, Williams and Ehart, with Billy Greer on bass and Steve Morse — later of Deep Purple — on guitar. By the ‘90s, violinist David Ragsdale would join, returning the band to its original six-man format. Livgren dropped in to contribute songs from time to time, and he and Hope and Steinhardt all returned briefly for 2000’s very solid Somewhere To Elsewhere. Today a
This October the Daily Vault will celebrate
Founded in January 1997, the Daily Vault has featured more than 5,600 reviews of more than 2,600 artists from all across the musical spectrum, written by a volunteer staff from around the world. Previous Artist Of The Month retrospectives have spotlighted the work of artists from Tori Amos to Frank Zappa, including the Beatles, David Bowie,