POINT OF KNOW RETURN (1977)"It's a strange situation, there's no cause for alarm; all these hot licks and rhetoric surely do you no harm."1. Point of Know Return (Ehart, Steinhardt, Walsh) 3:13
2. Paradox (Livren, Walsh) 3:50
3. The Spider (Walsh) 2:05
4. Portrait (He Knew) (Livgren, Walsh) 4:38
5. Closet Chronicles (Livgren, Walsh) 6:31
6. Lightning’s Hand (Livgren, Walsh) 4:24
7. Dust in the Wind (Livgren) 3:28
8. Sparks of the Tempest (Livgren, Walsh) 4:18
9. Nobody’s Home (Livgren, Walsh) 4:40
10. Hopelessly Human (Livgren) 7:17
Now that the band had finally reached their goals of success in the music industry, they were under immense pressure to match that success with their next recording – so much so that Walsh briefly left the band. “It was me trying to take control things and make it all work, and other people questioning my decisions. I made a lot of enemies, and they were all my friends before the album started. I was a little bit of a prima donna. I quite the band for about three days, and then I just said, ‘What the hell is going on? I don’t know if I even wanna go out by myself.’”
The product of all this pressure was
Point of Know Return, which was released in September, 1977. This album featured much that was familiar from Kansas, although featuring some different emphases (such as heavier drums and guitars). The album has 10 songs, the most of any Kansas album to date.
The title track was the album’s first single, rising to # 28 (January 1978). It is a textbook example of Kansas’s knack of condensing prog rock sensibilities into pop-length songs, rich with hooks and melodies as well as interesting structure and musicianship.
“Paradox” is a great track, nice instrumental hooks and a ton of fun. It feels longer than its 3:50 run time. They played this one live quite a bit.
“The Spider” is a rare instrumental track from the band, short but sweet, featuring fantastic keyboard work and interweaving instrumental flourishes.
“Portrait (He Knew)” is an interesting song, and has gone on to become a Kansas classic. The lyrical inspiration was Albert Einstein. “I was always fascinated by Einstein and the fact that he went so far with mathematics and physics, that he actually crossed the line into metaphysics and philosophy,” said Kerry Livgren. “He was actually getting at the fabric of the universe, and I thought, ‘What an amazing man!’ I was so fascinated with the guy, one day I wrote a song about him. The interesting thing about ‘Portrait’ is that nobody seemed to catch on who it was about.” It was eventually released as the album’s third single on June 10, 1978, reaching # 64 the following month.
“Closet Chronicles” was another lyric with a biographical background, this time drawing inspiration from Howard Hughes. It’s one of my favorites from this album, truly a standout track.
“Lightning’s Hand” is a strange one for me. The music is, in parts, really cool, but the lyrics and vocal delivery are really cheesy for me. It’s hard for me to take this one seriously.
From the perspective of commercial, critical, and cultural impact, the album’s seventh track is far and away the standout. “Dust in the Wind” began as nothing more than a fingerpicking exercise by Livgren. His wife urged him to turn it into a song, which he did by adding lyrics inspired by Native American poetry. “I thought it was so out of character for Kansas,” said Livgren. “But the other guys wanted to do it because they thought it was different and it had a good melody. I thought the song was somewhat bleak and depressing, which it really is in the philosophy behind it, but that was what I felt at the time. And obviously, it’s something a lot of people identified with.” Phil Ehart said “Kansas had never done an all-acoustic song. That was a real risk for us. It was an all-acoustic song that was kind of depressing. ‘All we are is dust in the wind’ – hey, there’s a good thought to start the morning with.” The song was the second single from the album, released on January 18, 1978. It became Kansas’s highest charting single ever, rising to # 6 in March 1978, and became their only Gold single on July 18, 1978. The success of the single drove the sales of the album, and the popularity of the band went through the roof.
“Sparks of the Tempest” is a perfect companion piece to “Lightning’s Hand.” I dislike it for similar reasons. Feel free to enjoy it, but I really don’t.
“Nobody’s Home” is another track that kind of falls flat for me. I can’t really pinpoint anything wrong with it per se, but it just doesn’t DO IT for me.
“Hopelessly Human” is the longest song on the album (although not that long by Kansas standards). The lyrics are the standout on this song IMHO; the music is interesting, and well-composed, but for me they are just there to prop up the lyrics and give them a platform. A great song for reasons somewhat different than many Kansas compositions.
Peter Lloyd’s cover art has become iconic, and is easily my favorite album art from Kansas. It was inspired by ancient maps where monsters guarded the edge of the flat earth, showing a ship going over the edge.
Point of Know Return was certified Gold on October 11, 1977, and Platinum on November 20, 1977. It peaked at # 4 in January 1978, where it remained for 6 weeks, part of a 49-week run on the charts. It would eventually be certified Quadruple Platinum. The 2002 Remaster included two bonus tracks: a live version of “Sparks of the Tempest” (woo-hoo!) and a remix of “Portrait (He Knew).”
As far as commercial success, the band was now at their zenith. Musically, for me this one was a slight step down from
Leftoverture. The first three albums were great in their own way, and
Leftoverture showed them coalescing their prog tendencies with pop songwriting in a perfect combination. I think that is what they were still going for here, but the lightning in a bottle they had with
Leftoverture is not as consistent here. This lack is the beginning of a shift in their career.