DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: hefdaddy42 on January 07, 2015, 04:44:23 AM
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PREAMBLE
“On a night as I lay sleeping, in a dream I saw the shore of a distant land where promise lay in wait”
In the beginning, there was Topeka. That is where America’s first great progressive rock band had its origins. In fact, Topeka West High School, where guitarist Kerry Livgren, drummer Phil Ehart, bassist Dave Hope, and guitarist Richard Williams all attended school together, was the home of a burgeoning music scene.
After graduating high school, and spending four months playing with an otherwise all-black rhythm & blues band called The Mellotones, Livgren formed a band called Saratoga. Meanwhile, Ehart was the leader of a rival Topeka band known as White Clover (which also included Hope, as well as Williams). White Clover gained some notoriety, playing the New Orleans Pop Festival (shortly after Woodstock).
While visiting friends in Topeka, Ehart happened to listen to a Saratoga rehearsal, and recognized in Livgren a kindred spirit. They decided to form a new band using the best players from Saratoga and White Clover, including Hope. They named this new conglomeration Kansas. Some fans refer to this group as Kansas I.
That first group started out in mid 1970 with 8 members (including two keyboardists and two lead singers – one of whom quit after just a few weeks). They achieved an interesting mark on history when they opened up for the Doors on December 12, 1970 at The Warehouse in New Orleans. Phil Ehart later said, “Jim Morrison invited some of us on stage for their last song. We did an instrumental blues jam that was just great.” Of course, Morrison died shortly thereafter. The result? Not only had Kansas shared the stage with the Doors at their last concert, but some of them were actually playing during the last song the Doors would ever perform.
Neat huh?
That original group split up in fall 1971. Livgren eventually formed another group under the name Kansas (this same group of musicians re-formed 30 years later under the name Proto-Kaw), known by some fans as Kansas II, while Ehart and Hope reformed White Clover.
Eventually, Ehart decided to upgrade the talent level in White Clover, and really go for the big time. He recruited vocalist/keyboardist Steve Walsh and violinist Robby Steinhardt. Dave Hope and Richard Williams were also re-recruited into the fold.
White Clover was now a 5-piece with outstanding musicians, but only one of them (Walsh) was really a writer. Ehart knew they needed another piece to complement Walsh, so he persuaded Livgren to join. Their six-piece was complete.
Before Livgren joined, White Clover had recorded a demo. It was eventually heard by legendary producer Don Kirshner, who was starting his own record label. He sent VP Wally Gold to see the band in person to see if they could bring it live. The band wanted to make sure the crowd was full and rocking when Gold came to see them, so they charged no admission and gave away free beer. Gold was impressed with the crowd, and extremely impressed with the band.
On Gold’s recommendation, Kirshner signed the band to a record deal. But before that, the band decided to change their name from White Clover to Kansas. Livgren said, “We would tell people we were just a bunch of clowns from Kansas. What better name could we have?”
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Good read! I look forward to following along with this. It's been only a couple months since I last had a Kansas kick, but I don't mind putting them back into rotation!
-Marc.
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Guys, I love the band, but I'm no expert. I did quite a bit of research thus far, but if I get something wrong, please don't hesitate to correct me. I can take it.
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if I get something wrong...
Say it ain't so.....
I kid of course, and nice read. A band I've admired from afar, even saw live once opening for Yes. I'll be following.
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"We did an instrumental blues jam that was just great.” Of course, Morrison died shortly thereafter.
Ah, so that's what really killed Jim Morrison!
Sorry, just messin' with you. That particular shift just happened to catch my eye. I'll be watching this thread, and contributing occasionally. I've been a Kansas fan since the 70's but, apparently like a few of us here, don't know much about them.
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I'm mostly looking forward to learning more and revisiting their post-Monolith albums, as I'm already fairly familiar with everything from their debut to Monolith. It's been nearly a decade since I got into them (a couple years after I dove into prog as a whole), and back then, I listened to EVERY Kansas album with gleeful excitement, getting to know them for the first time. The first five albums are all dynamite, though, and are clearly more revered by prog fans and rock fans alike. I remember enjoying their later albums, but they didn't seem to stick to me as much as any of their earlier work, so I'm hoping this thread will help me get back into those albums when we get to them!
Looks like I'm keeping my Kansas CD-r copies in my car rotation for a little while longer!
-Marc.
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Not a big fan. Have digital copies of their first 6 albums and own the live album. Will follow, at least up till that point.
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Woohoo! One of my favorite bands of all time. The nostalgia is going to go through the roof on this one. Unfortunately, my real life just got a bit hectic so I'll need to weigh in later.
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I am so in for this Hef!
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I do like Leftoverture, so will follow this ;D
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Will follow this. I know a few of the classic Kansas albums but I haven't explored their discography too thoroughly, now is a good time to do so. :tup
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Definitely following, as Kansas is one of my all-time favorites.
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I should have the post for the debut album up tomorrow.
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...and I forgot to upload it. :lol I'll do it when I get home from work, if I remember.
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Kansas was my favorite band when I was a teenager, so I am definitely following. First time I saw them live was on Nov. 10th, 1980 at the Boston Garden...6th row!!....I still remember Steve Walsh doing handstands on his keyboard......Opening act that night was Molly Hatchet?!
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I have a best of from Kansas which I like.
I'll definetely follow
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Kansas was my favorite band when I was a teenager, so I am definitely following. First time I saw them live was on Nov. 10th, 1980 at the Boston Garden...6th row!!....I still remember Steve Walsh doing handstands on his keyboard......Opening act that night was Molly Hatchet?!
Yeah, that schtick was golden.
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He was still doing the handstands in the 90's as well.
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Kansas was my favorite band when I was a teenager, so I am definitely following. First time I saw them live was on Nov. 10th, 1980 at the Boston Garden...6th row!!....I still remember Steve Walsh doing handstands on his keyboard......Opening act that night was Molly Hatchet?!
I believe that was the tour I saw here in Nashville, Tennessee. I remember that there were 4 us that went to the concert. We started out in my apartment with a fifth of Jack, Crown and Wild Turkey along with a few joints. Of course we were stupid then and we flipped a coin on who would drive.
I was not that familiar with the band and sometime during the concert, I asked if there was 2 violin players. Seeing double that night.
My wife and I look back on those days and were sure were fortunate that we did not all get killed in car wrecks.
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Kansas was my favorite band when I was a teenager, so I am definitely following. First time I saw them live was on Nov. 10th, 1980 at the Boston Garden...6th row!!....I still remember Steve Walsh doing handstands on his keyboard......Opening act that night was Molly Hatchet?!
I believe that was the tour I saw here in Nashville, Tennessee. I remember that there were 4 us that went to the concert. We started out in my apartment with a fifth of Jack, Crown and Wild Turkey along with a few joints. Of course we were stupid then and we flipped a coin on who would drive.
I was not that familiar with the band and sometime during the concert, I asked if there was 2 violin players. Seeing double that night.
My wife and I look back on those days and were sure were fortunate that we did not all get killed in car wrecks.
Ah! Remembering the good ol' glory days! :rollin
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Kansas was my favorite band when I was a teenager, so I am definitely following. First time I saw them live was on Nov. 10th, 1980 at the Boston Garden...6th row!!....I still remember Steve Walsh doing handstands on his keyboard......Opening act that night was Molly Hatchet?!
Awesome! Boston Garden :metal
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KANSAS (1974)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/kansas_zpsd8337605.jpg)
“So much relies on the course that you take; the fool and the wise man both burn at the stake”
1. Can I Tell You (Williams, Ehart, Hope, Walsh) 3:32
2. Bringing It Back (Cale) 3:33
3. Lonely Wind (Walsh) 4:16
4. Belexes (Livgren) 4:23
5. Journey From Mariabronn (Livgren, Walsh) 7:55
6. The Pilgrimage (Livgren, Walsh) 3:42
7. Aperçu (Livgren, Walsh) 9:54
8. Death of Mother Nature Suite (Livgren) 7:43
The band headed to a studio in New York in the summer of 1973 to record their first album. They got two weeks to record, sandwiched in between sessions for Yoko Ono, the New York Dolls, and Alice Cooper. Afterwards, they went home and told all their family and friends that the album would be out soon.
But it just kept not coming out, and not coming out. They went back to playing their old circuit of venues while they waited.
Meanwhile, their recorded debut actually happened on Johnny Winter’s album Saints And Sinners in February 1974. Members of the band had recorded handclaps on one of the tracks while in New York.
Finally, after seven months, Kansas was released in March 1974.
The opening track, “Can I Tell You,” had actually been the first song written by White Clover, and was one of the songs included on the demo that got the band its big break. It was one of the two singles released for the album. As an opener, it displays some outstanding musicianship , but it wasn’t really indicative of the progressive stylings that the band would eventually become known for. Lead vocals are shared by Steinhardt and Walsh.
The second track, “Bringing It Back,” featuring Steinhardt on lead vocal, displays another side of the band, almost a bar-band honky tonk feel. The strange thing about the song is that it isn’t an original, but is rather a composition by JJ Cale, a singer-songwriter known for songs such as “After Midnight” and “Cocaine” (both covered by Eric Clapton) and “Call Me The Breeze” (covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd). So, while the style is consistent with something Kansas may have written at this time, it is the only cover that Kansas would record until 1998 (we’ll get there, don’t worry about it now).
Next is “Lonely Wind,” a ballad written by Steve Walsh, featuring beautiful violin work by Steinhardt. It starts off sounding a little “by the numbers,” but there are enough intricacies there to keep the song interesting. Starting out very mellow, by the time of the final chorus, the entire band is in, and it has a majestic feel. This wound up being the second single released for the album.
With the next track, “Belexes,” we start getting a feel for the progressive rock sound for which the band would become known. Although only four and a half minutes in length, there is a lot packed in there (even a drum solo). The instrumentation is impeccable, and features a great guitar solo as well as outstanding vocal harmonies. One of the standout songs on the album, IMHO.
“Journey From Mariabronn” is our first example of Kansas’s prog-ish exploration of longer song forms. Different time signatures are used throughout, moving through multiple keys, and this song definitely showcases one of the strengths of the band that helped separate them from other contemporary bands. Many bands only had one melodic lead instrument (the guitar); fortunate bands were also able to incorporate keyboards. Kansas had three, merging violin with guitar and keyboard. This enabled them to feature more interesting compositions, regardless of the style of music employed. The fact that they were experimenting with techniques established by progressive rock bands gave them a real individual sound; no one else sounded like Kansas. This song is one of the first to really demonstrate that fact. The lyrics by Livgren are based on the novel Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse.
After the prog outbursts of the last two songs, “The Pilgrimage” is almost a breather. It is somewhat a throwback to the bar-band roots of the band. It is interesting that this song was written by Livgren and Walsh together, like “Journey From Mariabronn,” but it sounds NOTHING like it. The songwriting influences for both men was extremely broad, as is evidenced here. It’s a fun song, but is best seen as a palette cleanser.
Next we have another epic-lenth song, “Aperçu.” Like “Belexes,” the music is influenced by the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini. At various points, the song features lead violin, galloping drums, tight syncopation, and haunting vocal delivery by Walsh over maudlin piano, as well as impeccable organ and lead guitar work. Again, wonderful vocal harmonies are featured, as are extended instrumental sections. The longest song on the album, “Aperçu” has a lot to offer to the new fan. I love this song.
Closing out the album is another progressive rock extended-length piece, “Death of Mother Nature Suite.” The lyrics feature Livgren showing an environmentally conscious point of view, and also feature the album’s harshest moments (And now she’s gonna die! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!), delivered with real emotion by Steinhardt. Musically, the song continues directly on from “Aperçu,” and I can only imagine how awesome it must have been to see both songs performed live back to back like that. For all the ferocity of the end of the stanzas, there are also mellow moments. A hallmark of the band, great dynamics are on display for this song as well. I see this as the heaviest song on the album, and a very satisfying close to the opening festivities.
The album initially sold 100,000 copies, and was in the Billboard charts for 2 weeks, rising to # 174 (it would eventually be certified Gold in 1995). While the album met with some critical success, it was considered a commercial failure. So the band hit the road, opening up for the Kinks for the rest of the year.
All in all, I find this to be an EXTREMELY satisfying album, not to mention a fantastic debut. Obviously, some songs stand out more than others, but overall, there is a lot to love here, and this album will always have a special place in my heart.
The 2004 remastered reissue featured a live version of “Bringing It Back” as a bonus track.
Fun fact: one of the assistant engineers on the album was Jimmy Iovine, who went on to become a legendary producer, co-founder of Interscope Records, co-founder of Beats By Dre, and an onscreen personality as a mentor on American Idol.
“How can we begin to describe the years of frustration and endless disappointments which suddenly turned around and culminated in this album? We won’t even try. Suffice it to say that in spite of the fact that this is our first record, we have around 50 years of combined musical experience in one of the most unmusical environments imaginable. Our music has many faces and many moods liked the land we live in. It is a fusion of energy and serenity, a melting pot of ideas. From the very beginning, we considered ourselves and our music different, and we hope we always remain so.
“Thanks and unthanks are, as usual, too numerous to mention, but we pour out both to those deserving and they know who they are. Our lives are in this music. WE ARE KANSAS! KANSAS IS A BAND!”
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My friends band opened with Can I Tell You at our local Battle Of the Bands in the 80's. To watch all the musicians jaws drop because they had to go on after them was amazing.
I will listen to this tomorrow on the road and post my thoughts.
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Been playing this in my car on my work commutes the last couple of days to gear up for this! :tup
The opening 2 tracks are pretty rocking, especially "Bringing It Back" (from Mexico, no less!) and its catchy chorus. This showed a band that could really rock out and have chops. "Lonely Wind" is a soothing and beautifully composed ballad that gives the listener some rest after the two opening songs. "Belexes" and "Journey From Mariabronn" are pretty amazing, more so the latter (one of my favorite Kansas tracks ever). "Mariabronn" features some very well composed melodies over odd meters, especially the melodic vocals in the middle of the song in the 7/8 section. I just LOVE humming along to those, and the whole song!
"The Pilgrimage" is another short, but good piece, while the last two act as a sort of duet to close the album out as they segue into each other very nicely. What a way to close a debut, with 17:37 of heavy, hard-hitting prog rock! Lots of amazing vocal deliveries, violin and guitar solos, and just very complex and well-composed playing. The dynamics of the pieces are all over the place, in a GOOD way.
This is by far one of my favorite debuts of any prog band. It's strong front-to-back and has a consistent quality to it while still offering quite a bit of variety. I imagined it would be hard to follow up an album like this, but apparently it wouldn't be THAT hard to do it...
-Marc.
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Excellent debut album. Right out of the gate, they had prog epics, shorter catchy songs, and things rather inbetween and/or combining elements of prog and pop. I always thought Kansas did that really well, combine accessible songs and songwriting with great chops and a taste for something more adventurous. The violin, right in there duking it out with the guitar and keyboards, is unique and amazing. And the folk-inspired two-part vocal harmonies of Walsh and Steinhardt are great. You're right; nothing else sounds like Kansas.
Nice writeup, too! :tup I agree with pretty much everything.
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Nice writeup, too! :tup I agree with pretty much everything.
My mission is complete.
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Even though I've been a huge fan of this band since the mid 90s, I didn't get the debut album until many years later, because the friends I had who were also big Kansas fan weren't high on it, so I took their advice. However, one day I just decided, screw it, bought it, and was pleasantly surprised. I already knew Journey from Mariabronn for years, and always loved it, but it had several other grabbers, most notably Apercu and Death of Mother Nature Suite. The album was worth getting just for those three songs (although I had Journey... as an mp3 for years already). Some of the shorter songs don't really stand out to me at all, but overall, this is a good debut record. :tup
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Gave it a listen today, and it was quite a fun experience. I really liked the violin work when it appeared.
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Didn't care for the first tunes much, felt it was pretty average for their standards, but I was hooked with Lonely Wind. Not their best ballad but really showed off their songwriting chops that they would develop later on.
Belexes is a pretty chaotic rocker, lots of cool instrumental stuff happening and I love the thunderous finish.
Great dramatic piano playing in Journey from Mariabronn. This is quite unlike some of their other epic length tracks but just as enjoyable. Love some of the vocal stuff here too. Also a nice climatic finish!
The Pilgrimage was a nice little rocker, was a good breather in between the long tracks.
The last two tracks are a great finished and could've easily been one song. Some really heavy stuff here, lyrically and musically.
Overall, an enjoyable album. Shows the promise of the band but they still have a lot of growing to do. Good stuff!
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I've always really loved this album and it's one of my favorite all time debuts. The first three songs are fun in there own right but for me the album doesn't really take off until Belexes...from then on I think it's such a fat, juicy piece of prog pie. I can't really add anything beyond what Hef said in his excellent write-up so I won't even try. :hefdaddy
I backed into this album in reverse chronology from Leftoverature sometime in the late 70's. I liked it and all but I didn't really listen to it regularly until the mid 00's when I began to obsess on my back catalog.
Kansas always brings to mind black light posters and burning a fattie with my pal Kevin. (No, not that one)
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I'm listening to this again and I was just struck by the thought that Lonely Wind has a country church hymn quality to it that is really engaging. It makes me want to throw my arms out wide and sing along during the choruses. :lol
Oooo, Belexes is just starting...gotta go.
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Sorry, meant to post the second album this morning. It will be done hopefully this evening.
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Sorry, meant to post the second album this morning. It will be done hopefully this evening.
:tup
-Marc.
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(https://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/bueller-anyone.jpg)
:P
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SONG FOR AMERICA (1975)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/songforamerica_zps3ea23cc5.jpg)
“I wonder what you'd think if all the changes didn't come, for growing old is only going back to where you're from”
1. Down The Road (Walsh, Livgren) 3:43
2. Song For America (Livgren) 10:03
3. Lamplight Symphony (Livgren) 8:16
4. Lonely Street (Walsh, Hope, Williams, Ehart) 5:42
5. The Devil Game (Walsh, Hope) 5:04
6. Incomudro - Hymn to the Atman (Livgren) 12:17
The label asked for a more radio-friendly album this time, so the band promptly went and recorded Song For America, a collection of songs including three over eight minutes in length. It wasn’t quite what the label had in mind, obviously, but the album sold 250,000 copies, fueled by the band’s relentless touring, making a name for themselves by sheer hard work.
The album opens with the short rocker “Down The Road,” which seems born out of their bar band days. It has a cool instrumental section dominated by Steinhardt’s violin, along with hand claps. Drugs are the lyrical subject, provided by Walsh. Very entertaining, but far from the meat of the album.
Up next is the title track “Song For America.” It features complex arrangements , multiple shifts in tone, key, and time signature, and all of the instruments are prominent. Opening with an overture-like intro piece, it eventually gets into an extended instrumental in 9/16 time. Lyrically, it charts the history of the land of America, beginning before the Native Americans settled the land, and continuing on through colonization and into modern times. This was the band’s most ambitious composition to date, and still holds up quite well. Definitely one of my personal favorite Kansas songs. Interestingly enough, the full ten minute song got a decent amount of airplay on FM radio, but a 3 minute single edit went absolutely nowhere on AM (as it should be).
That ten-minute epic is followed by the eight-minute “Lamplight Symphony,” which Kerry Livgren described as a “musical ghost story.” It begins as a fairly mellow keyboard-dominated song, lyrically almost a ballad, but as we approach the 4 minute mark the song starts to crank up – still featuring Walsh’s keyboard, but leaving the realm of the ballad and entering the land of heavy progressive rock, before weaving its way back to a classical-sounding piano break, and then back to the full band. This song always seems to be the “forgotten” song for Kansas, but I love it. I think it is simply gorgeous, not as “proggy” as “Song For America,” but very lush and expansive.
Next up is a seeming oddity for the band. “Lonely Street” is essentially a heavy blues song. Although not their forte, they definitely are able to handle the genre quite effectively, and Walsh’s voice is the real standout here for me. The lyrics are again by Walsh, and are about (surprise!) life on the streets.
“The Devil Game” is another blistering rocker, replete with great tasty morsels of music with a proggy flair. Probably the most high-energy song on the album, Walsh’s lyrics are about temptation, and the difficulties of resisting it. Very dark, both musically and lyrically.
The album closes with “Incomudro – Hymn to the Atman.” Lyrically driven by Livgren’s interest in Eastern philosophies, and the Hindu/Buddhist concept of the atman (soul/true self), this is Kansas’s longest recorded song, and would grow in length during live performances. Of course, size isn’t everything. Of all of their lengthier prog pieces, this is the one that just doesn’t work for me. It feels bloated, and lengthened for length’s sake. In my opinion, it would have been a more effective piece with some editing and self-censorship (and maybe eliminating that drum solo altogether). But that’s just me.
Overall, this is Kansas’s heaviest, darkest, and perhaps most progressive album. There is a lot to digest here, and repeated listenings will reveal new things in almost every song. One thing that struck me is Dave Hope’s bass playing – it is a real standout to me, very dexterous and more than a match for the dueling guitars, keys, and violin. This album also marked the start of the band’s relationship with artist Peter Lloyd, who designed the Kansas logo and painted the album cover.
As I said, the album initially sold 250,000 copies, much better than the debut album, but still not where the label would have liked to see it. It was eventually certified Gold in 1980. The 2004 remastered reissue featured the single edit of “Song For America” (3:02!) and a live version of “Down The Road” as bonus tracks.
Enjoy!
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At this spot in time, this is my favorite Kansas album. It hasn't always been. I'd always loved the tune Song for America, but a few years ago I was listening to the album while mowing the lawn and when Lamplight Symphony came on, this album finally sunk in. Previously I'd considered it light weight and emotionally thin (the song Lamplight Symphony, that is) yet the immediacy of the song, through good quality ear buds, brought the story home like never before.
I also like Hymn to the Atman...even the dated sounding effects on the drum solo! :lol Okay, it's a little cheesy in this day and age but the song is pretty cool all the same. The heaviness of Lonely Street, Down the Road and The Devil Game always takes me by surprise, but in a good way. Kansas brought the rock and roll with this record. In fact, that's what I always loved about early Kansas: yes they were art rock with symphonic elements but they never forgot to rock out!
I think both Dave and Phil are the stars of this album. Everyone always plays well in this band, and as an ensemble there is no group that has ever been better, but this album is short on virtuosity until you really listen what Hope and Ehart are doing. Man, what a terrific rhythm section and not just on this album!
Oh, and this is a awesome sounding album! Great dynamics and crystal clear. If you've never heard this record, I recommend headphones.
Is it just me or does anyone else find it strange that in Kansas they let jail inmates have guns?
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Incomudro-Hymn to the Atman probably could have used some trimming, but I still love it to death anyway. Those vocal melodies are fantastic, and that ending... :hefdaddy :hefdaddy :hefdaddy
The title track is easily one of the band's best songs ever. It was one of those songs that I thought was utterly magnificent the first time I heard back in 1990 and still think it is. Very much a :hefdaddy :hefdaddy -tune.
The other longer tune, Lamplight Symphony, is nice. I really like the organ work in this one. Not a favorite of mine or anything, but still a very good tune.
As for the three shorter songs, all are pretty good, but like the first album with songs of similar length, nothing really stands out, IMO. But they were still honing their ability to write great short songs, and they would take a pretty good leap in that regard on the next album...
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Once again, I'm with you on pretty everything here. The shorter songs are great, and probably what the suits were looking for, but the epics are where the guys got to satisfy their musical chops. Not that the shorter songs are simple. "Down the Road" and "The Devil Game" are both screamers. I think "Down the Road" is my favorite short song of theirs, and "Song for America" my favorite long song. I worked up a solo piano version of it once, including all the instrumental breaks, just for my own amusement. Great song. And "Lamplight Symphony" is a killer.
I also agree about "Incomudro". It never worked for me. I always thought maybe my attention span had been fried by then, but I've played the CD on shuffle and had it come up first, and it still didn't work. The mellow parts are nice, but don't grab me. The faster parts... are there any faster parts? The song doesn't even stick in my head.
She began to fade, and her image disappeared
So he was left alone to face another night
To me, that's the only misstep in an otherwise perfect song. I know what he's getting at, and the next line tries to make up for it, but doesn't really do it. The ending of the song is supposed to be positive and hopeful, but it comes too quickly after the image of the old man still sitting there, alone, after she leaves. The song brings tears to my eyes, and "Yeah, but it's all good because now he knows for sure" just doesn't make up for the loneliness and darkness he must be feeling, again.
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I have a live version of Incommudro that stretches to over 16 minutes. *shudders*
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Song For America is mindblowing. Just a great progression from the 1st to the second album.
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Song For America is mindblowing. Just a great progression from the 1st to the second album.
The title track just might be my favorite Kansas song.
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I'm heading to Foxboro today to pick up a few things from the pro shop so I'll be cranking this today.
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Updated album posts with images of the album covers. Meant to do that at first and totally forgot.
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Way to go, dumbass.
;) :biggrin:
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Yeah, I'm a total space cadet.
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/DTF/hef_x.jpg)
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To Infinity And Beyond!
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Pretty much what everyone else has said so far - the title track is one of my absolutely favorite Kansas tracks ever, if not my single most favorite. The other two long tracks on this album are pretty fantastic, and I love "Incomudro" as it is! As a drummer, I have always enjoyed the drum solo in the middle and never felt like it was too long or out of place. It felt just right for me.
The short tracks are more of the usual for them, but I feel they got better on this album compared to their first. This whole album is a great progression from their already amazing debut album. This is probably my favorite Kansas album, period, although the few that followed this are pretty good, too. This whole album just clicks with me and every track is so good.
-Marc.
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The album cover for Song for America is very cool. Actually all of Kansas' album covers are great.
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Second favorite Kansas album behind only Masque, but the one-two punch of the title track and Lamplight Symphony is untouchable. Great fucking album.
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Love the epics on this record. Especially Lamplight, where they really captured a haunting atmosphere.
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In fact, that's what I always loved about early Kansas: yes they were art rock with symphonic elements but they never forgot to rock out!
Yeah, Kansas was probably the most rocking of all the classic prog bands, still, even their heavier songs had a sophistication that few hard rock bands could match. If DT can be compared to anyone, I'd go with Kansas and substitute the rock for metal.
Really love the write-ups, can't wait for my favorite, Leftoverture. Like many, I'm thoroughly familiar with their first 5 albums, but haven't really listened to anything after The Point of Know return. I'll definitely check them out based on your reviews. :tup
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Following this thread, but probably not contributing much. Kansas is one of the bands where I own a few CDs and really like what I hear and want to explore further but never got around to. So I'm looking for this thread for more information on where to go next.
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I listened to Song for America all the way through today. Having listened to this album at least 50 times in the past, probably more like 100, I didn't think another listen was necessary prior to commenting, but this time was different. This was a critical listen, trying to "find the good", more or less the way I listened to albums when doing my own discography write-ups.
Down the Road - Yep, still smokes. Still my favorite short Kansas song.
Song for America - Still my favorite longer Kansas song. The overture, the changes, the awesome two-part harmonies.
Lamplight Symphony - Ha ha, the heavy part of the break is just the slow part played... heavier. I knew that, but it still makes me chuckle. Still left just a bit underwhelmed by the ending. Weird chord to end on, too.
Lonely Street - Better than I remembered, but still a bit of a drag. Not bad, just doesn't quite grab me.
The Devil Game - Better than I remembered! I remembered it being so upbeat as to be kinda hyper and almost annoying. I could handle it this time, especially the instrumental.
Incomudro - Hymn to the Atman - This one wins the award for "Most improved, if only in my mind." Not really able to remember anything about the song after reading the write-up, I was surprised to find myself scatting along with most of the song. I guess the problem for me was that a lot of it sounded like other Kansas tunes. The "overture" is rather similar to Lamplight Symphony's opening. The verse had something of a generic sound, but the words are great, again better than I remembered, and the song is actually quite pretty. I guess the break does have a fast part after all. I forgot about that whole buildup. I like it; somewhat similar to one of the songs from Leftoverture, Miracles out of Nowhere, I think. I'm not against drums solos in concerts; I'm one of the few who doesn't automatically head for the bathroom or the bar when they come up. In real time, when it's happening right in front of me, I can watch just about anything if it's well done. But on a studio recording, somehow it's different. It's only a minute and a half, shorter than I thought, but the way all the momentum comes to a halt, then has to build back up again, just doesn't quite work for me.
In case you couldn't tell, I spent a lot more time listening to Side One than Side Two back in the vinyl days, and I think I just never got to appreciate Side Two as much. All three songs were better than I remembered, even though I knew pretty much every note even after all this time. Maybe I'm mellower and more tolerant now. Or maybe I'm just more appreciative. But an album I already liked has gone up a bit, simply by being listened to again with a different ear.
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:tup
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The big thing about the second album is the big jump to the classic Kansas sound. You can here the evolution on this record.
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Oh yeah. These guys were still basically unknown, yet they put out an album with three "regular" rock songs and three epics. That takes balls, at the very least. And the epics weren't snippets of things strewn together, like a lot of bands do. These are fully formed, orchestral, compositions.
Something I forgot to mention earlier that I think is worth pointing out: Kerry Livgren is a beast. Since he plays both guitar and keyboards, they could rock out with two guitars, or get proggy with piano, organ, and synths all at once. I've never seen Kansas live, but Two for the Show is one of my favorite live albums because of the diversity of the music and what those guys were able to do in real time. Of course, six guys is a big band, so there's a lot of potential. But it takes a lot of work in the arrangements, and what they accomplish is great.
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I did see them live, but it was well after their heyday. It was the early 2000s, and they were playing at a fair or festival or something up in Virginia.
But they put on a hell of a show, even then.
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MASQUE (1975)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/51cfN-ZtHAL_zps9270c6e1.jpg)
“Sail on, sail on, I will rise each day to meet the dawn”
1. It Takes A Woman’s Love (To Make A Man) (Walsh) 3:08
2. Two Cents Worth (Livgren, Walsh) 3:08
3. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel (Livgren) 6:03
4. All The World (Walsh, Steinhardt) 7:11
5. Child of Innocence (Livgren) 4:36
6. It’s You (Walsh) 2:31
7. Myseries And Mayhem (Livgren, Walsh) 4:18
8. The Pinnacle (Livgren) 9:44
Kansas’s third album is interesting for a number of reasons. The overall sound of the album is dark, both musically and lyrically. The album continues the band’s search for identity, blending more straightforward rock tunes with progressive rock compositions. Also, while recording the album at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana, the record company really pressured the band about the need for pop hits. As you can see, that’s not exactly what they received.
However, listening today to the first track “It Takes A Woman’s Love (To Make A Man)”, it seems odd that it didn’t do well. This sounds like a prototypical hit rock song of the era – in fact, I have often thought of this as a Boston song done by Kansas. Nice hooks, great vocals, nice arrangement – nothing not to like, right? Wrong. The version released as a single was heavily edited, remixed, and rearranged, sounding little like the album version. It tanked. Way to go, executives.
Next up is “Two Cents Worth.” This is a mid-tempo rock song, and if the first song reminds me of Boston, this one reminds me a little of Steely Dan. Opening with a nice bass & drum groove, the song is tasty, although nowhere near the elite of Kansas’s catalogue. But it is a nice example of Kansas drawing on their various influences to go in a new direction. And then it ends in a fadeout (the second of the album thus far).
The album’s third track, “Icarus - Borne on Wings of Steel” would go on to become a Kansas classic, and a staple of their live performances for decades. Steinhardt’s violin is a real standout on this track. Lyrically, the song is about the joy of flying in an airplane (fighter plane?), but also carries the knowledge of death in the skies as well. The band would revisit this concept later. Oh, and the song ends in a fadeout. Really?
“All The World” is a strange song for me. It can’t decide if it wants to be a sappy 70s ballad, or a progressive rock song. It is apparently a weird hybrid of the two, but it doesn’t work for me. There are definitely some nice musical moments here, and the a capella ending is really nice to hear (especially since it isn’t a fadeout). But the song is a little too schizophrenic for me.
“Child of Innocence” would also go on to become a classic for the band. The inevitability of death is the major theme of the lyrics, and the music goes along with it, contributing relatively dark riffs and accompaniment. This song features some great vocal melodies & harmonies in the chorus, and the instrumental bits are fantastic, some really tasteful soloing here, both guitar and keys. And then it ends in a fadeout. ???
“It’s You” is a shorter rock song with some nice instrumental pieces, but overall it seems kind of like a filler track. For me, it doesn’t really get interesting until about the two minute mark, which is sad since it’s only about two and a half minutes long (the last 15 seconds or so being another fadeout!). But nice violin work from Steinhardt throughout this one.
“Mysteries and Mayhem” features lyrics of nightmarish visions, and the music is a perfect companion. It is a more straightforward rock song with dark guitar riffs throughout the verses and choruses, and while the bridge gets a little more progressive-sounding, it then comes back full circle to the pure rock. Cool song. But it ends in a fadeout. WTF
The album ends with “The Pinnacle,” which at almost ten minutes in length joins the family of Kansas progressive masterpieces. Reminiscent of earlier pieces like Journey to Mariabronn, Death of Mother Nature Suite and Song for America, this song takes you on a journey through different moods and time signatures. Although the lyrics are, well, what they are, Walsh does such a good job singing them that they are easily overlooked. Absolutely one of my favorite Kansas songs. And more importantly, it doesn’t end in a fadeout!
The album was released in October 1975, and was in the Billboard 200 for 20 weeks, topping out at # 70 in February 1976. Although it sold around 250,000 copies (which would now be a success!), it was not viewed as successful by the record company. It probably would have done better if it didn’t have all those fadeout endings (just a guess).
But the band toured furiously, appearing in theaters and small halls throughout the country, continuing to build a rabid fanbase through word of mouth and hard work, since they weren’t succeeding on the radio.
The album was eventually certified Gold in 2010. A 2001 remastered reissue features demo versions of “Child of Innocence” and “It’s You” as bonus tracks.
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I'm confused by your aggravation with the fadeouts, especially in the case of Mysteries and Mayhem, which is very neat how it fades out with main melody from the next song, The Pinnacle.
That aside, this is a great album; probably my 3rd favorite of theirs. The Pinnacle and Icarus are top 10 Kansas songs in my book, and All the World is a song I love a ton as well, thanks to some melodies that are out of this world. :P
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I'm confused by your aggravation with the fadeouts, especially in the case of Mysteries and Mayhem, which is very neat how it fades out with main melody from the next song, The Pinnacle.
In general, I don't like fadeouts; I prefer actual endings to songs. However, I understand that on an album, they can sometimes be used to good effect (see: Learning To Live).
But that many of them on one album is a travesty. And I know that was a thing on 70's albums (I've heard it on a ton of rock albums from that period), but this is the only Kansas album that seems infested with them.
It's a personal thing. If they don't bother you, then they don't bother you.
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Listening to the album now at work.
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I agree with Hef here, I don't like all the fade outs--it's especially noticeable ITaWL, Icarus, CoI and It's you. Those songs are clearly done, so just end them. I don't get the thinking there.
I love the tone of this album. At first the midrangy sounding guitars bothered me but overtime I became quite fond them as they give the record a unique sound. Of course the keyboard tones are always tasteful and uniquely Kansas. I really like the horns in ITaWL.
My favorites from this album are Icarus, Child of Innocence, Mysteries and Mayhem and of course The Pinnacle.
I'm not sure what you (Hef) don't like about the lyrics of The Pinnacle, but then I'm kind of a dolt. With glory and passion no longer in fashion/The hero breaks his blade. To me this is quite a visceral lyric and really speaks to where Livgren's head was at. He was clearly searching for meaning that he wasn't finding just by playing music and partying.
All the World is just a step below due to the spastic nature of the song as Hef mentioned. Part country church hymn, part hard rock, part prog but never at the same time. Interesting but not something I seek out.
The other three songs are pleasant enough but I wouldn't miss them if I were to never hear them again.
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I've got to say, It Takes A Woman’s Love (To Make A Man) & Two Cents Worth feel out of place on this album and It Takes A Woman is a terrible opener for an album.
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Personally, I prefer Masque to the rest of the 70s albums. The Pinnacle is my favorite out of the longer Kansas songs. There are recordings from the Masque tour where it and Mysteries and Mayhem are played as one piece as (IIRC) was originally intended. The record company wanted two separate tracks
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I'm not sure what you (Hef) don't like about the lyrics of The Pinnacle, but then I'm kind of a dolt.
TBH, I wrote that 6 months ago. I would have to go and look at them again.
I may have just been on my period that morning or something.
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There are recordings from the Masque tour where it and Mysteries and Mayhem are played as one piece as (IIRC) was originally intended. The record company wanted two separate tracks
I knew it! I always thought it was strange how there's the line "Mysteries and mayhem from the pinnacle I see" followed by the one and only appearance of the "Pinnacle theme", it fades out on that, then The Pinnacle starts with that exact same theme. It seemed like maybe it was meant to connect them in similar way to Apercu and Death of Mother Nature Suite from the first album, but they didn't want to do it the same way, so this is what they came up with. Now I want to hear a bootleg from that tour.
I do not want to hear the single version of It Takes a Woman's Love to Make a Man. I've gotten to where I can handle the song; it's pretty simplistic for Kansas, but if the suits are paying the bills (as they always did in those days) and they want a pop single, this is it. They should've just left it alone.
I'll get on board with the fade-out hate. Okay, "hate" is a strong word, but while fade-outs can be used to good effect, leaving the impression that the song goes on forever, etc., usually I find it a stronger composition if you have an actual ending. Once or twice per album I guess I can handle, but when over half the songs fade out, it feels to me like they just didn't bother finishing the songs or something.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who's a bit confused by "All the World". I mean, it's a good song, but until I listened to this album yesterday (I'm trying to do better at following along), "All the World" in my memory was just the nice simple tune that starts and ends the song. I completely forgot about the little prog adventure it takes in the middle, and yeah, it does seem to come out of nowhere. Maybe that was the idea. Hey, prog is about trying different things.
Icarus - Born on Wings of Steel is amazing. My favorite from this album and one of my all-time Kansas faves. I love singing the lower harmony part, belting it out in the car. I actually played this album twice yesterday, largely so I could do just that.
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I do not want to hear the single version of It Takes a Woman's Love to Make a Man.
No, you really don't.
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I'm not sure what you (Hef) don't like about the lyrics of The Pinnacle, but then I'm kind of a dolt.
TBH, I wrote that 6 months ago. I would have to go and look at them again.
I may have just been on my period that morning or something.
:lol
Fair enough. Lyrics are always very subjective things anyway--we tend to bring our own experiences to them. For example, I never cared for the lyric; In twenty-five years, I have used all the tears in my eyes. It just seems frightfully naive to think that life has little left to kick you in the teeth with.
edit: By the way, I really dig the album cover. I seem to remember that was an existing painting and wasn't produced specifically for the album. Is that right?
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Lyrics are always very subjective things anyway--we tend to bring our own experiences to them. For example, I never cared for the lyric; In twenty-five years, I have used all the tears in my eyes. It just seems frightfully naive to think that life has little left to kick you in the teeth with.
I was just thinking about that line. The thing is, when you're 25, you really do think you've pretty much seen it all. You've been to college (maybe), and been out in the real world a handful of years, and if your life has kinda sucked up to this point, there's really no reason to think that that's going to ever change. That's what the song is about.
When I was in my 20's, I was having the time of my life, doing things most people do not get to do. But I came from a crappy little town, and I met a lot of people in the small, dead-end towns we played, and they really didn't have a lot going for them. Kansas is the music of middle America, the working class, the regular folks. Whatever you are when you're 25, you're probably not going to change a whole lot after that.
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By the way, I really dig the album cover. I seem to remember that was an existing painting and wasn't produced specifically for the album. Is that right?
:facepalm: Godammit, I forgot the album cover again. Hang on.
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OK, there we go.
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While I admit Leftoverture is a more consistent album overall, Masque is my favorite Kansas album because it's the perfect bridge between their earlier more proggy days and the more streamlined, for want of a better word, sound that was to come. Doesn't hurt that I love Icarus to bits and actually rate All The World as a top ten Kansas song-the balance between ballad and prog, for me, is perfect and sums up why I love the album so.
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I have loved the first two, and Leftoverture, for years, but it wasn't until the last few years that I grew to love Masque. I've always enjoyed "Child Of Innocence" and "Icarus", as well as the last two tracks. I still hate that the record company pressured them to split "Mysteries & Mayhem" from "The Pinnacle", but there's a couple of tries on YouTube that splice them back together to form an epic 14-minute album closer, which it SHOULD have been from the start just by looking at their previous two albums.
The rest of the album is just as good as anything else on their first two albums, and really, I kind of see the first three as a sort of trilogy of sorts before they broke through with Leftoverture (and like their fellow North American prog rockers at the time, Rush, their fourth album also was their breakthrough).
The fade outs do bug me, but they're not horrible. Live versions have proven to sound better anyway, so at least there's that.
-Marc.
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I kind of look at the first three albums as a set, and the best songs from those three albums are as good, to me, as the best that any other prog rock band has to offer.
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I kind of look at the first three albums as a set, and the best songs from those three albums are as good, to me, as the best that any other prog rock band has to offer.
:tup
Definitely feel this way, too. Between Rush and Kansas, NA really showed that prog was just as strong (if a bit late) in the prog game as their counterparts across the pond.
-Marc.
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I'd go as far as to say their first five albums are as good as any prog band's output overall, ever, and I can think of no other consecutive five albums that are their equal. But, that's probably getting ahead of the thread.
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I'd go as far as to say their first five albums are as good as any prog band's output overall, ever, and I can think of no other consecutive five albums that are their equal. But, that's probably getting ahead of the thread.
You're not wrong.
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Those first five albums are definitely pretty great overall, although Monolith was still damn good even if it had a few duds on it. But there I go jumping ahead...:lol
Back to Masque, I remember when a friend made a mixed tape of Kansas back in the mid 90s (after Leftoverture destroyed me), and Icarus and The Pinnacle were the two songs from Masque on there. They were instant favorites. In fact, going from memory, I think that mixed tape looked something like this (50 minutes per side):
Side 1
Song for America
Icarus
The Pinnacle
Carry On Wayward Son
The Wall
Miracles out of Nowhere
Opus Insert
Questions of My Childhood
Side 2
Cheyenne Anthem
Magnum Opus
Point of Know Return
Portrait
Closet Chronicles
Dust in the Wind
On the Other Side
A Glimpse of Home
Hold On
I wore that mixed tape out pretty quickly. :hat
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That's a pretty killer collection (although I'm not a large fan of Cheyenne Anthem - but again getting ahead of ourselves).
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I'd go as far as to say their first five albums are as good as any prog band's output overall, ever, and I can think of no other consecutive five albums that are their equal. But, that's probably getting ahead of the thread.
I'd rank Gentle Giant's 7 album string between their debut and Free Hand even higher, but other than that, there's hardly any classic prog band with such a consistently good, massive output. (BTW, if the name of the game is excellent albums stretching over decades, DT wins the history of prog.)
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although I'm not a large fan of Cheyenne Anthem
:eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek :eek
I'll say more when we get to it, but for now I'll just say that it is not only my favorite Kansas tune, but is probably among my favorite 10-15 songs EVER. It's a :hefdaddy :hefdaddy - song.
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I am shocked.
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(https://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/thefw.com/files/2013/08/Shockied.gif)
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SHIT.
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SHIT.
:huh:
Forget to upload Leftoverture this morning? Or...did you just accidentally abandon this thread? :lol
Don't worry, this is how I felt when I did my Rush Live Tours thread last year. It's easy to forget, especially if the topic isn't very active or a few days or a week.
Will Leftoverture be up sometime this weekend, or perhaps even today?
-Marc.
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SHIT.
:huh:
Forget to upload Leftoverture this morning? Or...did you just accidentally abandon this thread? :lol
Forgot to upload.
Don't worry, this is how I felt when I did my Rush Live Tours thread last year. It's easy to forget, especially if the topic isn't very active or a few days or a week.
Will Leftoverture be up sometime this weekend, or perhaps even today?
-Marc.
Doubtful for today. I won't be home until late tonight, so it will probably be tomorrow morning.
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Doubtful for today. I won't be home until late tonight, so it will probably be tomorrow morning.
Well, however long it takes, take your time! This will give me another chance to spin the album again before the discussion tomorrow. I had listened to it in my car commutes last week thinking this discussion would happen sooner, but it'll be good to hear again.
-Marc.
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Ha ha, same here. Two complete spins of Leftoverture, and I even moved on to Point of Know Return before realizing what I was doing. It's okay, though. I like Kansas. Kansas is a band!
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Yeah, I don't want to talk about it too much before posting this entry, but if you don't like Leftoverture, you may need to pick a different band.
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LEFTOVERTURE (1976)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/leftoverture_zpsc34fea7d.jpg)
"It rises now before me, a dark and silent barrier between
All I am, and all that I would ever want to be"
1. Carry On Wayward Son (Livgren) 5:23
2. The Wall (Livgren, Walsh) 4:51
3. What’s On My Mind (Livgren) 3:28
4. Miracles Out of Nowhere (Livgren) 6:28
5. Opus Insert (Livgren) 4:30
6. Questions of My Childhood (Livgren, Walsh) 3:40
7. Cheyenne Anthem (Livgren) 6:55
8. Magnum Opus (Livgren, Walsh, Williams, Hope, Ehart Steinhardt) 8:25
a. Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat
b. Howling at the Moon
c. Man Overboard
d. Industry on Parade
e. Release the Beavers
f. Gnat Attack
As the band started preparations for their fourth studio album, Kirshner continue to pressure for hits, hits, hits. So, how did they handle the pressure? Let’s ask Kerry Livgren.
“We knew that if we didn’t do something with this album, we were gonna be permanently put on the shelf. That was such a pressure, that the way we chose to deal with it was to ignore it. And what we did was write and play the songs we wanted to do in spite of everything. And it magically worked.”
No kidding. Leftoverture put the band over in a big way. Released in October 1976, the album peaked at #5 on the charts in April 1977 where it remained for a month, as part of a run of 42 weeks on the charts. This became Kansas’s first Gold album in January, 1977. It became their first Platinum album in March, 1977. It became their first Double Platinum album in June, 1977. It would eventually go Quadruple Platinum.
Going into the writing sessions for the album, Steve Walsh hit a major dry spell. His writer’s block led to Kerry Livgren writing almost everything for the album. That need for creativity apparently caught lightning in a bottle, because the results speak for themselves.
The opening song, “Carry On Wayward Son,” was the fuel that drove the train of this album’s success. It has become ubiquitous on classic rock stations, and also in commercials, TV shows, films, and everywhere else that music can show up. It is, for me, the perfect marriage of prog and pop, and remains one of my favorite songs of all time. The memorable lyrics, great melody, instrumentation & arrangement, and that glorious chorus combined with the breakdown to the piano in the first verse all combine to make a magical moment in the history of American progressive rock. I don’t think it will ever be equaled in cultural impact, from that perspective. And it almost didn’t make it to the album at all.
Livgren wrote the song on the next to last day of rehearsals before the band would go to the studio. They were not supposed to be working on any new songs at that time, only doing touch-ups on the songs already written. He walked into rehearsal and said, “I’ve got one more song that you might want to hear.” Everybody liked it, so they learned and took it into the studio with their other new material. “By the time we got into the studio and recorded it with the a cappellavocals, everybody said it should be the opening cut.” Released as an edited single in November 1976, “Carry On” hit AM radio like a blockbuster and became the band’s first hit song, reaching # 11 in April 1977. It was eventually certified Gold.
The album’s second track, “The Wall”, is magnificent. Although not great in length, it is full of the power and majesty that was the hallmark of Kansas at their best. Livgren wrote the song sitting at his father’s Lowry organ. “It had this one setting that sounded like a big pipe organ, and the sound caused me to write in a little different veing than I might have with a guitar or a piano.” But the lyrics may be the real standout for this song. The song’s lyrics “represented maybe better than any song I’d written at that time, my personal spiritual longing to find an answer to life and who we are and why we’re here. I felt like I was just up against this invisible, impenetrable wall that wouldn’t let me get any further.” To, it’s interesting to compare the different directions that Livgren and Roger Waters went with the imagery of a wall. Livgren’s take ends in triumph, while nothing good really comes of Waters’s take. BTW, listen to the outro of “The Wall” and tell me what DT song it sounds like.
“What’s On My Mind” is another of the band’s more standard rock songs, both in length and arrangement. The guitar-driven song wound up being the second single for the album, although it failed to chart (a bit of a surprise given the overwhelming success of “Carry On”). Lyrically, each of the three verses is about a different friend that Livgren had had, with the third being the woman who would eventually become his wife.
“Miracles Out of Nowhere” is a fantastic rocker. This song has some really interesting instrumentation and production, with a cool counterpoint section during the instrumental break and a furious outro following the final chorus. On any other album, this would be one of the standout tracks, but on Leftoverture, it’s just one of the other tracks. Even so, this was a live staple for some time.
“Opus Insert” is, in the words of Livgren, “the great overlooked Kansas song.” I get what he means. The musical arrangement is really cool, and the lyrics are pretty good as well. This is another one, like “Miracles Out of Nowhere”, that would probably be better appreciated if it were on a different album. Very tasteful representation of what can be done with prog in a pop format.
“Questions of My Childhood” is, in my humble opinion, a filler track. I mean, it’s nice, I suppose, but there just isn’t much weight here, if you ask me. It definitely doesn’t hold its own with the rest of the heavyweights on this album. It’s nice, but nothing more.
The next track, “Cheyenne Anthem”, lyrically represents another link between the band and a keen interest in the imagery and narrative of Native Americans. I think this is a noble attempt on the band’s part to produce a song in honor of the Cheyenne. However, it doesn’t work for me. The verses, accompanied by a strumming acoustic guitar, just kill it for me. They are dull and dreary. And then, you have the short bridge sung by children. It’s a shame, because some of the other instrumental sections are really cool and interesting. But the whole is less than the sum of its parts. I’m sure that some of you will like this one better than I do.
The closing track, “Magnum Opus”, is a longer prog composition. It is composed of various musical sections that the band had written for other songs that weren’t used, or sections that had been cut from existing songs. They put them all together into this one extended piece. The original title of the song was “Leftoverture”, but Dave Hope suggested that would be a better name for the album as a whole, so they went with the name “Mangum Opus” which was suggested by Wally Gold.
With the success of Leftoverture, Kansas changed from opening act to headliner act. Before, they had barely made a living, but now they were making plenty of money. Also, now they could afford to invest more money in the live show with better production. And for some reason, they started to add slapstick comedy routines to their live show during extended musical passages. These would run the gamut from a roadie in a top hat, raincoat, and clown mask running on stage during “Magnum Opus” and drop the raincoat, dancing nude under a strobe light, to roadies running around in nun costumes getting disrobed. Things like this flew over the heads of most of their audience. Phil Ehart said “We just thought we were a bunch of funny bumpkins having a good time; we were just a bar band. We didn’t realize what a serious mode we had with our fans, with all these heavy songs and Kerry’s ponderings. So when we started doing funny things on stage, we noticed that no one ever laughed. They thought, ‘What do they mean by that?’”
Holy crap.
At any rate, the 2001 remaster release of the album also included live versions of Carry On Wayward Son and Cheyenne Anthem.
To quote the character Justin Hammer (brilliantly played by Sam Rockwell) from Iron Man 2, "These are the Cubans, baby. This is the Cohibas, the Montecristos. . . If it were any smarter, it'd write a book, a book that would make Ulysses look like it was written in crayon. It would read it to you. This is my Eiffel Tower. This is my Rachmaninoff's Third. My Pieta. It's completely elegant, it's bafflingly beautiful," and yes, if you don't like this album, Kansas is probably not the band for you and you should probably move on.
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Leftoverture is like Images and Words in that every song is a standout track! They are both albums with eight songs all ranging from utterly fantastic to freaking magnificent. To this day, Leftoverture remains one of my 10 favorite albums ever. I never get tired of any song from it, even the overplayed Carry On Wayward Son.
One thing a friend once told me about Kansas was they were really awesome at having great beginnings and endings of songs, and Leftoverture is a prime example of this. Carry On... obviously begins with the iconic chorus; Opus Insert begins with that infectious keyboard line that makes you want to hear where they go with it; Questions of My Childhood is one of their best intros ever, with that dazzling keyboard line bouncing back and forth over that furious rhythmic jam; Miracles out of Nowhere and Cheyenne Anthem both also beginning with catchy as hell keyboard leads; etc. And the album is full of songs with incredible endings as well, like, pretty much almost all of them. :lol :lol
Speaking of Miracles out of Nowhere, the first time I heard that song was something I still remember. Remember that mixed Kansas tape I mentioned earlier in this thread that a friend had made me? Well, when I had asked him to make me one for Kansas, I was like, "Just put most of the songs from 'The Best of Kansas' on it, and he looked at the songs and was like, "Uh, no." There would have been nothing from Masque, and only two songs each from Leftoverture (Carry On... and The Wall) and Point of Know Return (title track and Dust in the Wind). I had never heard any other Kansas songs except the ones on that best of I had, so he busted out Leftoverture and played Miracles out of Nowhere for me. Given that we are friends, to this day, he still jokes about how my jaw was on the floor for a solid six minutes. I couldn't believe a song could be that awesome, and keep in mind that this was, I believe, the summer of 1994, so it's not like I had never heard great stuff before. I was already into Rush, Floyd, DT, Yes, etc. big time, yet Miracles out of Nowhere had an effect on me that few songs have ever had. It's one of the most :hefdaddy :hefdaddy songs ever.
Cheyenne Anthem nearly had the same effect, and over time, I grew to love that one slightly more than Miracles..., but make no mistake about it that those songs are 1a and 1b for me in the Kansas pantheon of awesome tunes.
This, simply put, is one of the most perfect rock albums ever created. :coolio :hat
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No shit.
Yeah, we'll get to the "Best" of Kansas shortly. :lol
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This album is so lush! From the opening a capella to the closing violin notes, and everything in between, that's what always comes to mind for me. Every choice for keyboard sounds to the tone of the guitars to the length of the instrumental breaks is tasteful and lush. Without a doubt, this is a masterpiece of rock and roll and really shows what art rock had to offer to a much broader audience. Obviously I love this album and it's probably the quintessential Kansas record.
But here's my problem, I've listened to it too much over the years. Someone in this thread said they'd listened to a previous Kansas album, fifty to one-hundred times, and I can relate. I'd hate to even guess at how many times I've listened to Leftoverature. Two-hundred? Five...? In "Miracles Out of Nowhere" there was a skip in my vinyl record during the trippy keyboard section, just after the drums and bass join in and just shy of the 3 minute mark. I heard that skip so many times that the CD sounded wrong to me when I bought it in the early '00's. Just to get a proper sounding version, I bought a Technics turntable with a built in pre-amp and "ripped" the vinyl to Audition so I could make a 'proper' to me mp3. If you're interested, here it is. (https://home.comcast.net/~gregg-townsend/04 Miracles Out of Nowhere.mp3)
I actually find it difficult to concentrate on the music because I've heard it so many times that it quickly becomes background noise to my thoughts. For that reason alone, Leftoverature is not my current favorite Kansas album, but it was for years.
I'm always better off cranking it in my truck or car...which I did this morning while driving my son to his job. :)
Standouts to me are "Carry On Wayward Son", "The Wall", "Miracles Out of Nowhere", and "Magnum Opus." All the rest are terrific in their own right and the instrumental section of "Cheyenne Anthem" is one of my favorite prog moments ever!
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Trust me, I've listened to ALL of this albums multiple, multiple times just in the lead-up to doing this Discography. I can assure you that there are two albums in particular that I am virtually certain I will never listen to again.
This isn't one of them.
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Something that must be pointed out as well, and I suspect Orbert will go more into detail on this, is the surround sound aspect of certain parts of this album. That middle section of Cheyenne Anthem has the keyboard and violin battling back and forth between the left and right channel, and who can miss the awesomeness of the keyboard lead around 3:30ish of Magnum Opus swirling around your head when you listen to in on headphones. :tup :tup
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This is one of 20 albums that no matter how many times I play it, I never get sick of it.
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Like fellow North American proggers Rush, it seems Kansas's fourth album (also released in 1976) was their big breakthrough by doing what they wanted, the way they wanted, and without compromise, even though the commerical success was helped by "accidental" singles and great music over all.
When I first got into Kansas, this was the album that was suggested to me by many reviews and websites, so I got this first (at least, I'm sure I did get this first along with its follow-up album). Everything on this album is the perfect culmination of everything they had done up to this point, combining hard rock and blues with prog and compacting it into pop-length tunes with a couple longer songs. The previous album may have ended with "The Pinnacle" but this album was/is THE pinnacle of Kansas, almost in the same way that Rush had their success with 2112.
The opening 1-2 punch of "Carry On My Wayward Son" and "The Wall" is both powerful and beautiful. The last two tracks are also two of my favorites of the album, and they close the album in grand style! Everything else in the middle is just so good, too, especially "Miracles Out Of Nowhere".
I'm not sure if I over-spun this one when I first got into Kansas, though, but I find myself I don't reach for this one as much as their first three albums anymore, but I give it an occasional spin every now and then, and leading into this conversation about the album, I listened to it a few times, and I may spin it again in the next week or so before we get to the next album. To be fair, I don't spin 2112 by Rush (my FAVORITE band of all time) that much anymore either, even though I highly regard it (and Kansas' Leftoverture) very highly and respect what they are and what they did for the band. They're both great albums and very indicative of the prog sound that North America was pumping out, which was quite different than prog in '76 across the Atlantic.
From here on out, I've listened to the following Kansas albums less and less, so I'll definitely be revisiting albums I haven't heard in YEARS (especially after Monolith). This is going to be a great journey! :tup
-Marc.
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This is one of 20 albums that no matter how many times I play it, I never get sick of it.
Yes, this A story about the album. During the early 80's we had a cleaning a lady and every Friday the Leftoverture cassette tape would be in the tape player. She did a great job cleaning the house while rocking out to Kansas.
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Hef, I know this is your thread and you obviously like Kansas a lot, but wow. There is no filler on this album. It is 100% awesome, start to finish. "Questions of My Childhood" is great. The words are amazing, and the music, while simpler in structure, is still great. "Cheyenne Anthem" to me is the standout track of the album, on an album full of standouts. I think of it as something like "Song for America" but from the Indian's point of view. 2:31 in that song, the violin/vibes duet right after the children's break, is one of my favorite moments in music, period. I had never heard anything like it before in my life. Of course, this was 1976 so I was only 14, but still. I still get chills every time I hear that section.
Her name was LeeAnn, and she was a friend of my older sister, so I'd known her for a few years. She was a Soprano in the school choir, gifted with a beautiful voice to match her beautiful face and beautiful red hair that fell in waves and curls to the middle of her back. She was a late-bloomer, not really blossoming until high school, but when she bloomed, the good Lord gave her a chest to match that magnificent voice that so many Sopranos have. She was absolutely stunning. And yet, she was always a sweet, polite girl, always very nice to me. I crushed on many of my sister's friends, but LeeAnn was drop dead gorgeous.
She was chosen to sing a solo in the choir concert, and asked me to accompany her on piano. I accepted, of course. I don't remember the song; I just remember practicing it with her several times. Dear Lord, she was beautiful. She came over to the house to practice after school, and I was in Heaven. LeeAnn in a pretty dress, LeeAnn in jeans and a T-shirt, LeeAnn in nice slacks and a blouse. Wow, the material is kinda sheer, can I really see her bra through it? Wait... can I even see... What? Oh yeah, let's practice.
After the concert, as a thank-you, she gave me a gift. A 12" vinyl record, even wrapped, is pretty obvious, and the card said something like "Thank You! If you already have this, let me know and we can exchange it." It was Leftoverture by Kansas, and no, I did not have it already.
I'd heard "Carry On, Wayward Son" on the radio, first the edit then later in its full glory on the local FM station, but I'd never dug into Kansas. "Carry On, Wayward Son" is a great rocker, and the song definitely had some cool stuff to the arrangement, hinting at a great band behind it, but I was not prepared for what I heard when I played the album. For one thing, the violin. There's no violin on the opening track, and this was before I was into Gentle Giant or even Jethro Tull, so the idea of anything other than guitars, keyboards, bass and drums in Rock was brand new to me. I played it over and over, and when Point of Know Return came out, I played that one over and over as well, and somewhere in there, I went back and picked up the first three albums. Those first five albums are so solid, so incredible.
I never really thought about the differences between British rock and American (or North American) rock. We didn't call it Prog back then; the term hadn't been invented yet. It was still "Art Rock". A strange moniker by today's standards, but applicable at the time. Within the Rock format, whilst doing something clearly recognizable as Rock, what can you do to push it to true art, examining and exploring the limits of the genre just for the hell of it, just because you can? By this point, I was listening to Yes and Genesis, but also Rush, Kansas, and other more mainstream bands that had some game. Each of these bands, to me, is excellent at what they do. They take their chosen form of Rock as far as it can go. Showcase the chops, juxtapose light and heavy sections for effect, change up the tempo or time signature, write lyrics that mean something more than "Baby you're so hot I love you bang me now." Art Rock.
Something that must be pointed out as well, and I suspect Orbert will go more into detail on this, is the surround sound aspect of certain parts of this album. That middle section of Cheyenne Anthem has the keyboard and violin battling back and forth between the left and right channel, and who can miss the awesomeness of the keyboard lead around 3:30ish of Magnum Opus swirling around your head when you listen to in on headphones. :tup :tup
Ahhh... listening to tunes on headphones. The full cup, over-the-ear kind that seal out the outside world and leave you alone in the universe with your music. Today, it's earphones, the soft kind that go into the ear canal but otherwise have the same effect of isolating you from the world so you can enjoy the music. Still amazing, still magical, and still my preferred way of listening to music. Well, that and the hour in the car I have every day to crank it out.
This is a great album for headphones, but also a great one for cranking out loud. This is a great album, my first Kansas album, and still my favorite, no matter how many times I play it. Thank you, LeeAnn.
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I'd heard "Carry On, Wayward Son" on the radio, first the edit then later in its full glory on the local FM station, but I'd never dug into Kansas.
Which brings up a great point, this is the only song I can think of that is just as great in a radio edit as it is in it's full glory. Of course I prefer the whole song, but when the radio edit comes on the office pop station I'm not put off in the least.
Great story Orbert! I remember crushing on my best friend's older sister, Brenda. Nothing was more glorious than sitting on the couch watching her eat her morning cereal, while the morning sun streamed through the window to reveal her nude silhouette through her thin cotton nightie.
:drool:
:lol
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Dude! The best thing about staying at your buddy's house was checking out the sisters in their nighties. And yeah, that morning sun... the relaxed atmosphere... and her attitude of "it's okay, he's a friend of my brother".
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I don't do headphones/ear buds that much, except for when I go to the gym, but Leftoverture is always a great album for such purposes. In fact, I was lifting to it earlier. :coolio
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Kansas and nighties. Two words I have never seen strung together in a sentence.
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But... you just did it yourself. ???
Anyway, a few examples:
She stood there, the lights from the stereo illuminating and backlighting her nightie, rendering it nearly transparent in the darkened room, as she put on a Kansas album.
As the sounds of Kansas filled the room, she stood before me in her tiny little nightie, with mischief in her eyes and seduction on her lips.
A few moments later, I dropped the nightie onto the floor next to the Kansas album cover, and silently thanked Kerry Livgren for making this moment possible.
Hey, it could happen.
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Now I feel like I'm reading Playboy. Ah the memories.
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I'm just familiar with the opening track, but I really like it. The rest of the album is great also. I think DT gave it some spins while working on SFAM, cause I can hear some resemblances.
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Orbert, I have already been taken to task by Kev about my non-love of Cheyenne Anthem. What can I say, I am the odd man out. The verses just bore me to tears.
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Yeah, but this is a transgression so severe that I felt the need to pile it on.
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:lol :lol
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Someone doesn't like Cheyenne Anthem? :omg:
:biggrin:
Leftoverture was one of the 20 plus prog albums I bought in July and August 1985 along with a stack of Pink Floyd, all of the four piece Genesis albums, some Yes, and Marillion's Misplaced Childhood. And it stood proud along side all of those albums. As I said before, I like Masque better, but Leftoverture is quintessential Kansas and if someone pointed at it and called it the best American prog rock album I wouldn't argue with them.
Plus, hey, it came out in 1976, The Best Year In Music Ever IMO. :lol
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Yeah, but this is a transgression so severe that I felt the need to pile it on.
I understand.
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Miracles out of Nowhere is hands off my favorite Kansas song and one of prog's finest moments ever. There is no other song where I enjoy the the changing odd time signatures as much as here. I love listening to Leftoverture while driving. One time, Miracles out of Nowhere just started playing when I arrived at my destination. I just couldn't get out of the car was compelled to stay there for good minutes, rewinding it again and again, until I had counted and nailed the time signature to the solo section and the reprise of the opening violin riff ("violin riff" - that's an ever stranger combination of words than "Kansas and nighties" - oh, what a truly unique and magnificent band we're dealing with here). Kansas also had some Gentle Giant influences, which shined through stronger here than anywhere else.
Lovely story, Orbert, got me all drooling.
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...how long...?...
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...how long...?...
to the Point of Know Return?
Friday if I remember, Saturday if I don't.
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Glad you got the hint/reference!
Also been meaning to say that it's nice to see so much love being given to one of my all-time favorite bands.
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Magnum Opus is the quintessential Kansas song. It encapsulates everything that is Kansas. That has always been my all-time favorite track by the band. The entire Leftoverture album is solid, as is PoKR and Monolith as well. To me, those three albums are teh greatest 3 albums. And i do love the new expanded version of TFTS. But Leftoverture really put the guys on the map, and to me are the original American Prog band. But Magnum Opus IS Kansas.
I am a HUGE Kansas fan from back when my older brother and I pooled together our allowances to buy the very first album on 8-track (yes, i'm old) to seeing them a dozen or so times, i even have their K tattooed on my arm. Granted, i haven't gone back to listen to much of them lately. Even the last concert i went to was pretty pitiful. They were the first opening act, followed by Styx (who sucked) and Foreigner. Kansas was just "going through the motions" for their 40-minute set (see what i did there? :biggrin:) And now without Steve Walsh, it simply isn't Kansas. Just as the Elefante years wasn't really "Kansas", but a decent band with a great young singer. But Steve is the voice of Kansas. No one else could sing like him.
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...and lack of sleep makes Hef forget to post the next album. :facepalm: :loser:
I'll get it posted either this evening or tomorrow morning. Sorry, guys.
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I've actually enjoyed the Saturday morning updates. Gives me a chance to wake up naturally, get some coffee, put on the album and collect my thoughts.
So, 'no worries' here.
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I've actually enjoyed the Saturday morning updates. Gives me a chance to wake up naturally, get some coffee, put on the album and collect my thoughts.
So, 'no worries' here.
:tup
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I'm glad you didn't move on the POKR just yet. Leftoverture is one of the quintessential prog releases of the 70s and easily my favorite Kansas CD. Kansas were one of the first prog bands I got into after discovering the prog genre through Images and Words. I obviously only knew Carry on Wayward Son up until that point and was elated to discover even better songs on Leftoverture: The Wall and Magnum Opus come to mind.
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Wasn't familiar with Magnum Opus until this thread. Wow, what a tune!!
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POINT OF KNOW RETURN (1977)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/pointofknowreturn_zps8ed9f6fd.jpg)
"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.
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I cannot spin this album enough. With great pressure comes great albums.
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First off, I will say that this is one of my favorite album covers ever. Just love how visually striking it is.
As for the tunes, it's not quite as awesome as Leftoverture, thanks to the presence of a couple of afterthoughts (Sparks of the Tempest and Lightning's Hand), and Hopelessly Human manages to be extremely proggy and good musically, while failing to really having a vocal hook, but Closet Chronicles is a top 5 Kansas tune, the title track and Dust in the Wind are phenomenal classics, and how can you not love The Spider/Portrait back-to-back? I like Nobody's Home quite a bit as well. Overall, a pretty great record. You can't expect to do an album as awesome Leftoverture again, but this is a most worthy successor. :tup :tup
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You really don't want to say that it's all downhill from here for a band in 1977, but it kind of is. There are some great songs on the next two albums, some decent ones after Walsh leaves, I think the two with Steve Morse are good to great but they're not really Kansas as we know them here, and after that...well, Somewhere to Nowhere is bloody brilliant, but it came after the band joined the cavalcade of state fair classic rock bands. So yeah, you pretty much have to say that it's all downhill from here, the last true great album of the classic Kansas era, and even it's a step down from their first four. That being said Point of Know Return would be the high point of most discographies, and it has the other iconic Kansas song in Dust In The Wind. Kansas, like a lot of prog rock bands in the 70s, had trouble figuring out how to evolve and survive with the times after this, and interesting, if there's a better blueprint for a band making accessible prog rock, it's this one.
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You really don't want to say that it's all downhill from here for a band in 1977, but it kind of is. There are some great songs on the next two albums, some decent ones after Walsh leaves, I think the two with Steve Morse are good to great but they're not really Kansas as we know them here, and after that...well, Somewhere to Nowhere is bloody brilliant, but it came after the band joined the cavalcade of state fair classic rock bands. So yeah, you pretty much have to say that it's all downhill from here, the last true great album of the classic Kansas era, and even it's a step down from their first four.
OK guys, you heard it here. No reason to carry on, thread's over.
lol
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Great album here and like other's have said the album cover is awesome and instantly invokes good memories.
The first five songs are terrific and really show Kansas' ability to cram prog sensibilities into pop length songs...and then it kinda goes off the rails with "Lightning's Hand". I know Robby was supposed to be the voice of their tough side but I don't think this song works well at all. I like "Dust In the Wind" but due to over play I'm not sure I'd ever seek it out.
I may be crazy but I really like "Sparks of the Tempest". The bouncy, funky guitar-based verses are pretty cool and I think the heavy bridge and guitar solo is an awesome musical moment. Also, Robby's voice works better here. I dig the heavy outro.
I'm not a big fan of "Nobody's Home". It's alright but it kinda has a High-school Musical vibe that I'm not really into.
Love, love, "Hopelessly Human". A terrific way to end the album and I wish we would have gotten more of this type of music earlier in the album.
Yeah, certainly not as good as Leftoverature (although it has it's moments; "The Spider" anyone?). Of the first five we've done so far, this album is about 4th for me, but that's not a bad thing considering my comment earlier in this thread about how awesome I think Kansas' first five are!
OK guys, you heard it here. No reason to carry on, thread's over.
lol
Do you think Jaq is trying to tell us that he's not going to join in on the rest of the thread? :lol
[edit] Thanks, Orbert! [/edit]
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Psst... Fifth album.
I always have mixed feeling about this album. It's great, of course. Following their breakthrough Leftoverture, the temptation was to stick more or less to the "formula" and crank out another masterpiece. And while there isn't really a formula, and this album is another masterpiece, there's also no question that stylistically it's very similar to Leftoverture. These two albums are the most similar of any two Kansas albums thus far.
So part of me wants to dismiss it as "more of the same" but I can't because it's still great stuff. When I think about songs like "Sparks of the Tempest" and "Lightning's Hand" I remember them as lesser songs, but when I'm playing them, I rock out to them. Lyrics aside, both of those songs really kick ass.
Kansas had broken through with "Carry On Wayward Son" but this was before video, so as far as most people knew, Kansas was just another rock band, albeit a good one. So when "Dust in the Wind" came out, with that awesome cello/violin duet in the break, people took notice. Whoa, an acoustic side, and strings!
I remember seeing them on some TV show doing "Dust in the Wind" and was absolutely blown away to learn that it was not a cello and violin duet. The first part is synth. Yeah, we know this now, but back then, string synthesizers just weren't that good. Of course, it wasn't a string synth, it was a regular analog synth in the capable hands of Kerry Livgren. So that was mindblower for me.
I worked in a 24-hour Greek diner on Michigan Avenue for a while, and we had an actual jukebox out in the dining room, the kind loaded up with 45's. I used to love playing obscure stuff, mostly so I could hear it, but the fact that it annoyed the waitresses was a plus. I think "Paradox" was the B-side of "Dust in the Wind", and I remember playing it one time. The waitress Liz came back to the kitchen and asked me "What in the hell is this?!" Not in a good way. She thought it was crap. Ha ha, mission accomplished. Actually no. If I'd made a prog convert, that would've been mission accomplished.
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I miss the Papa Gino's tables that had their mini juxebox's at the table. Where you could pick a Kansas, Toto, or Rush song. Good music was popular in the 70's.
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True that.
Sparks of the Tempest and Lightning's Hand fall under the same bland category for me that something like People of the South Wind does. None of those songs are bad, just bland as hell.
Even though I have heard it countless times over the years, Dust in the Wind is never not awesome when I hear it.
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OK guys, you heard it here. No reason to carry on, thread's over.
lol
Do you think Jaq is trying to tell us that he's not going to join in on the rest of the thread? :lol
Nah, while I may have seemed dismissive of the Steve Morse albums, I actually enjoyed them for what they were, and since one of my favorite Kansas songs period is Going Through The Motions (which given the source album is HILARIOUS) I'll have comments to come. :lol
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I love the chorus of Sparks of the Tempest, and the heavy guitar part at the end always gets me pumped up. I wouldn't pick on the lyrics either, for me, it was never a strong point of Kansas anyway, they had their fair share of cringeworthy lines throughout their albums (starting off with the Death of Mother Nature Suite, which is just childishly preachy and silly - not the mention how contradictory the delivery and the meaning are at "Now she's gonna die, yeah, yeah, YEAH!" - on par with "Everyone survived, ROAAARRR!").
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I love the chorus of Sparks of the Tempest, and the heavy guitar part at the end always gets me pumped up. I wouldn't pick on the lyrics either, for me, it was never a strong point of Kansas anyway, they had their fair share of cringeworthy lines throughout their albums (starting off with the Death of Mother Nature Suite, which is just childishly preachy and silly - not the mention how contradictory the delivery and the meaning are at "Now she's gonna die, yeah, yeah, YEAH!" - on par with "Everyone survived, ROAAARRR!").
Nah, that line from DOMNS is metal as hell.
I actually think a lot of Kansas's lyrics are pretty good, even on songs that I don't like very much. But these are just especially silly.
Good to hear you are still with us, Jaq. :lol
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Hef, are you gonna correct the thread title?
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Hef, are you gonna correct the thread title?
Got it, thanks.
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Thank you. I now feel that I can be a bit more forthcoming with my comments.
So this is where Kansas started to lose me. Despite putting out another great album, which I always enjoy once I make the decision to play it, it has the feel of "more of the same" of Leftoverture. More of the same, when that "same" is great, is still great. But it felt like little new ground was being broken here, despite the presence of a genuine instrumental track, and an (almost) entirely acoustic track, two firsts for them.
The formula of condensing prog down into pop-sized songs is in full force here, with generally good results, but if anything, they've taken it a bit too far. "Closet Chronicles" is the closest thing we get to an epic, but in terms of structure, it's really just a song with a slightly longer break. Same with "Hopelessly Human". A great break, some stretching out, but what's missing is a true deviation into other territory. A section in a different key or time signature, a contrasting section with vocals presenting another point of view, something like that. They used to do it all the time, now it seems like they left that behind them. Ten songs, the most yet on a Kansas album and not coincidentally the shortest average track length. For the first time, most of the songs seemed more like pop songs with a little bit of chops, rather than what we had before, which was a prog band clearly trying to contain themselves within pop songs (and often not even bothering and just going full prog). There's no "Journey from Mariabronn" or "Song for America" here.
Bands start off lean and hungry. They have something to prove, they have the fire of youth and all their years of paying their dues to channel into the first album(s). Kansas had now proven themselves; they'd broken through and made the big time. And I'm not saying that the change in their sound was intentional, that they literally made the decision to focus on pop songs in order to keep spawning hits and selling out stadiums. It's never that simple. But something clearly changed in their approach to songwriting and making albums. Before, we clearly had a prog band including a few songs they'd hoped were pop enough to make the Top 40, or at least the Top 100. Here, we have a very good pop album with hints of a great band behind it.
As much as I enjoy this album, I'll never shake the feeling that they weren't really pushing themselves anymore. The instrumental is great, but it almost feels like they're throwing us a bone, doing an instrumental just because that would be different and cool. The rest of the album is tight, solid. And somehow, it both satisfies and disappoints.
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Am I the only one who still loves "Lightning's Hand"? I love this song. The second bridge is just amazing to me.
Overall, this is the best Kansas album, IMO. Solid.
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Am I the only one who still loves "Lightning's Hand"?
Maybe. I'm glad that someone does.
I agree with everything you said, Orbert. It's really good, but doesn't compare to Leftoverture, or really to the first three albums, either.
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Interesting take, Orbert. I love this record, but I totally see where you are coming from. However, I've always thought of The Spider as being Portrait's into rather than a stand alone "throwing the prog fans a bone" instrumental.
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Yeah, it's kinda both. I always play the two together (I spliced the mp3's together on my iPod so that they'll be together even if I shuffle), but it's also pretty clear that they're separate compositions. Musically, there's nothing really connecting them.
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I have never, ever thought of The Spider as Portrait's intro. That just seems odd.
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It's the way they intentionally run one into the other, as though to say "these two tracks go together". It's always been kinduva thing in rock to have an instrumental track as an intro to a song -- there are many, many examples -- and I figured this was Kansas' entry in the category. But it's just as obvious that the two tracks are unrelated and were put together like that just because the first one's an instrumental.
I like to keep them together that way on my iPod because after listening to the album for years, I'm used to hearing them together like that. That's all.
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Yeah, but the way I was looking at it, songs from bands from that era that go together are normally played together on the radio, too. "Heartbreaker/Livin Lovin Maid" from Led Zeppelin, "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" from Queen, you know.
I've never heard "The Spider" on the radio, but I've heard "Portrait" many times. So I've always associated them as being separate things, even though they run together.
Just me. Carry on.
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Just dropping in to say, excellent album, what a terrible album/song name.
Overall, Kansas was laying it on a bit too thick occasionally with their lyrics.
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Yeah, but the way I was looking at it, songs from bands from that era that go together are normally played together on the radio, too. "Heartbreaker/Livin Lovin Maid" from Led Zeppelin, "We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions" from Queen, you know.
I've never heard "The Spider" on the radio, but I've heard "Portrait" many times. So I've always associated them as being separate things, even though they run together.
Just me. Carry on.
I was thinking more along the lines of Space Intro/Fly Like an Eagle, or Prelude 12/Suite Madame Blue. Instrumental track which is separate, but serves nicely as an intro to the "main" song which follows. Foreplay/Long Time came later, but was the same thing. That's different from two fully developed songs which happen to run into each other, to me anyway.
The FM station in Lansing used to play The Spider/Portrait (He Knew) together all the time, so to me this was the same thing. I guess if that's not in your experience, you wouldn't think of it that way.
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Yeah.
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I gave this CD a couple of good listens over the past two days. While it doesn't blow me away like Leftoverture does, it still is an amazing album. I really love The Spider as I find it to be a great example of what a prog rock instrumental should sound like. Unfortunately, it is such a short song that as soon as you are really getting into, the song is over. Also, songs like Closet Chronicles and Hopelessly Human give this album indelible praise from me.
Hef, I read this interesting write-up on Wikipedia regarding Portrait and thought you would find it interesting as well:
"The inspiration for the song came from Kerry Livgren's admiration for Albert Einstein. He wrote the lyrics in a time when he was going through a spiritual transitional phase in his life, and after converting to Christianity, he re-recorded the song with his band AD, modifying the lyrics to make them fit the life of Jesus Christ."
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what a terrible album/song name.
Yeah, in order to work, puns should exploit at least two meanings of a word. Replacing "no" with "know" doesn't add anything meaningful, it's kindergarten level. I guess they got frisky after Leftoverture, which was a more successful attempt at humor.
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Hef, I read this interesting write-up on Wikipedia regarding Portrait and thought you would find it interesting as well:
"The inspiration for the song came from Kerry Livgren's admiration for Albert Einstein. He wrote the lyrics in a time when he was going through a spiritual transitional phase in his life, and after converting to Christianity, he re-recorded the song with his band AD, modifying the lyrics to make them fit the life of Jesus Christ."
That's interesting. Maybe I can track down that version and show it to the music director at church so we can perform it lol
Other than that, I'm not that interested. But it's his song, so whatever.
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Guess what?
Go ahead. Guess.
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It's Hump day?
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Close enough.
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TWO FOR THE SHOW (1978)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/1317638817_1317563204_kansas1978x11_zps6a228eed.jpg)
1. Song For America
2. Point of Know Return
3. Paradox
4. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel
5. Portrait (He Knew)
6. Carry On Wayward Son
7. Journey From Mariabronn
8. Dust In The Wind
9. Lonely Wind
10. Mysteries & Mayhem
11. Excerpt From Lamplight Symphony
12. The Wall
13. Closet Chronicles
14. Magnum Opus
The next release from the band was their first live album, Two For The Show. Released in October 1978, it had been recorded on their sold-out tour supporting Point of Know Return, which featured their first concert dates in Europe. The album stayed on the charts for 15 weeks, reaching # 32 in January 1979. An edited version of the performance of the debut album’s “Lonely Wind” was released as a single, which reached # 60 in February 1979.
The album was certified Gold on November 16, 1978, and platinum on March 14, 1979. This was the band’s first self-produced album, and was the beginning of a period where the group had more control over their albums. And this one turned out fairly well. Kerry Livgren said, “On most other people’s live albums, there’s extensive re-recording. Two For The Show is pure, pristine, live Kansas. I was always real proud that we were able to take the same songs that we had done in the studio and play them live – and they sounded great.”
Overall, it is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, the songs are clearly performed very well, and are accurate translations in a live setting, which is very impressive. On the other hand, none of the live versions are better than the original studio recordings; none of these are the definitive versions of these songs. So, it is pleasant and interesting to listen to, but give me the studio albums any day. Just my two cents.
When the album was released on CD, Closet Chronicles was omitted due to time constraints. However, in 2008, the album was remastered and released as a double-disc release, with the second disc containing songs recorded for the original but never included. Closet Chronicles was on the second disc. Here is the track listing for the second disc of that version of the album.
1. Incomudro – Hymn to the Atman (intro)/Hopelessly Human
2. Child of Innocence
3. Belexes
4. Cheyenne Anthem
5. Lonely Street
6. Miracles Out of Nowhere
7. The Spider (w/drum solo)
8. Closet Chronicles
9. Down The Road
10. Sparks of the Tempest
11. Bringing it Back
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I feel pretty much the same way as you about the "value" of this album. The music is all performed well, and it's impressive that they were (and are) able to pull off some intricate arrangements in a live setting. No overdubs! Kansas shows from that period must've kicked major ass. But yeah, while it's impressive what they've done, I don't often go this album when I want to rock out to Kansas. The studio versions are still superior.
The second CD adds quite a lot. Last summer, I took a solo road trip (my annual pilgrimage to Michigan) and cranked this album out, all the way through, the CD version. That second CD is awesome! A lot of it was probably because I haven't heard it as much as the songs on the first disc, having owned the vinyl since it came out, but if you look at the track listing, you'll see that the songs are more for showing off the band and its chops, and less focused on the hits. Not that there's a lack of chops on the original release.
Anyway, this is a great chronicle of Kansas at their peak, so if you like live albums, this is a good one. I always found the sound quality a bit lacking, but it's much better on the CD version, which I assume anybody getting this album nowadays would get.
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I've actually never heard this live album, and despite my love for Kansas, I still have no urge to ever seek it out.
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I've been listening to the wrong album all this week!! :)
I've never heard this either, I'll have to find it and listen today.
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It's definitely worth a listen. There's no way to go back in time and catch a 1970's Kansas show, but this album pretty much does that. And knowing that this is all really them, no studio trickery, makes it even better.
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I'm sure you are right, but I am generally not a live album guy, and I rarely feel the need to listen or watch something just so I can say I did it. It'd probably be a "I listened to it once and never again" kind of thing.
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"Two For The Show" is my hands-down favorite live album of all time :hat
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I'm sure you are right, but I am generally not a live album guy, and I rarely feel the need to listen or watch something just so I can say I did it. It'd probably be a "I listened to it once and never again" kind of thing.
I'm not saying to listen to it just to say that you did it; I think it really is impressive what these guys could do with these complex arrangements in a live setting, and I would suggest that any fan of the band at least check it out.
But I understand not being into live albums. They can be hit or miss with me.
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I hear ya. I see the whole thing is up on YT, so maybe I'll give it a whirl this week. Maybe. :biggrin:
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I just played this last week. Remember how big live albums were around this time?
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If you were hot, it was definitely a "thing" to put out a live album. Usually, by time a band actually hit it big, they had a few albums behind them, even three or four (or in this case, five).
Of course, there was no YouTube, or Internet, or even DVDs or home video of any kind back then. If you didn't see them in concert, then the closest you could come was hoping to catch them on The Midnight Special or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert (in which case you got to see maybe two or three songs, and just the hits), or if they put out a live album. That was it. Live albums had a different meaning back then.
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They sure did. I think the only other show I remember was Night Flight on USA and The Blue Jean Network concerts. Unless HBO had a concert like the Kiss one from Budokan.
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In 2011, Sony Music released the 1974-83, ten-album box set Kansas: the Classic Albums. For around $40, these remastered discs were a steal. Two For the Show is included in this package. While this isn't the greatest live album ever made, it has its fair share of shining moments IMO. :coolio
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I've been listening to this album this week.
While I agree that the music is mostly faithful to the albums (the extra flourishes at the end of "Portrait (He Knew)" being a notable exception), the vocals really stand out as live performances, in a good way. I think this is a very worthwhile listen just for the variations and heartfelt performances of the vocals!
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I've been listening to this album this week.
While I agree that the music is mostly faithful to the albums (the extra flourishes at the end of "Portrait (He Knew)" being a notable exception), the vocals really stand out as live performances, in a good way. I think this is a very worthwhile listen just for the variations and heartfelt performances of the vocals!
:hefdaddy
One of the great live albums of the seventies was surely realized due to the extraordinary vocal talents of Steve Walsh.His performances on these recordings are without equal!
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Funny, I just came in here to post the exact opposite. I too have been listening to this album this week, and what strikes me is that the band plays very tightly, meanwhile Steve Walsh basically screams for a few hours. I'm not saying that he should just stick to the studio version, but there's got to be some middle ground between actually singing the song as people know it and changing every single line, often changing the melody in ways that just plain don't make musical sense.
I get it. It's a live album and Steve is cutting loose. I guess I just don't like how "loose" he cuts. There are places where he's supposed to be singing harmony with Robbie, and it's not even harmony because Steve has changed a lot of the notes.
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The only harmony that struck me as wrong and got my attention in a negative way was the chorus to "Carry On Wayward Son". I plan on listening through, one last time, this afternoon. So we'll see.
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"Song for America" third verse, "Point of Know Return", "Closet Chronicles", there are spots in lots of songs where those awesome tight harmonies are blown because Walsh isn't singing the original notes, meanwhile Steinhardt sticks to the original arrangements.
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Started listening to the album just now. Man, the drummer is always every-so-slightly behind in the beginning of Song For America. It's killing me.
EDIT: Holy crap, he's also really struggling with the fills in Carry On Wayward Son. You can tell the rest of the band has learned to accommodate his coming back in too early.
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Orbert,
I definitely heard what you're talking about during this latest listen. If you listen to their concerts from 1975 or so, Walsh doesn't go searching for alternate melodies/harmonies nearly as much. Maybe some of the "prima donna" he admitted to was coming out when they recorded Two For the Show?
It bothered me more than on the previous listens, now that it had been pointed out, but overall I think this is a great concert CD!
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Podaar,
Sorry, I didn't mean to ruin it for you or anything; I certainly wasn't trying to. Now that it's pointed out, it will be harder to ignore, but as long as you're still good with it, that's what counts. Steve Walsh certainly isn't the first singer to do this kind of thing, not more than I like, anyway. Heck, when Once in a LIVETime first came out, people said the same thing about James. The band, the music, was awesome, meanwhile James seemed to be wailing uncontrollably. I didn't think it was that bad, but I could see their point.
Overall, I do still think it's a good live album, but in general I prefer lead singers, and everyone else actually, to stick more to what's familiar. It doesn't have to be a carbon copy of the studio arrangement -- that would be boring -- but as I said, there's got to be some middle ground.
Rumby,
You know, there's always been something just a bit "off" about that (the beginning of "Song for America") and I could never figure out what it was. Overall, the band is tight, but if there's a weak link, it's Phil Ehart, the drummer.
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Nah, you didn't ruin anything. I appreciate the musical education you always provide in any of these discussions. Besides, my previous listens weren't proper to begin with...having it playing on my computer while talking with co-workers, customers and doing computer work isn't really listening, you know? Yesterday, I played it on the living room stereo while sipping an adult beverage and petting my labrador. Now that's a proper listen! :)
Ehart's hair probably was getting in his way while drumming. Dude had seriously long hair in those days!
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Damned hippies!
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Overall, the band is tight, but if there's a weak link, it's Phil Ehart, the drummer.
You mean overall, or just on this live release? I think he's still a great drummer, with lots of energy, memorable fills and grooves and some nice odd-time beats.
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Just on this live album. And I haven't re-listened since reading Rumby's comment, as I only saw it this morning, so I probably shouldn't even say that (yet).
On the studio albums, he's like a machine. They have some really complex arrangements, and he's right there with them.
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Yeah, I never perceived him to be a weak link on the studio albums. Just on that live release, he's really having a hard time coming back in at the right time.
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FYI Saturday morning has become the official "new album post" day. lol
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I'm neither surprised nor disappointed! :tup
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I'm neither surprised nor disappointed! :tup
You're the meaning in my life
You're the inspiration
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(https://home.comcast.net/~gregg-townsend/hef-love.jpg)
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I've been a bit absent from this thread for a couple of weeks now, but I will say that POKR has grown on me over the years. It took some time because the first three albums really struck me as being their best, with Leftoverture being just a tad under them, so I never really gave POKR much of a chance. Since my initial discovery of Kansas, I've listened to it a bit more and have come to enjoy it as much as their 4th album.
As for the live album, the original 1-disc version was pretty good, but the remaster with the 2nd disc really blew me away, and it stands as their definitive live album for me, like Genesis' Seconds Out or Yes' Yessongs. I haven't spun it in years, though, so I'm not familiar with the troubles that Phil had with his drum parts, so I'll have to revisit it sometime soon.
I'll try to be more active for the coming albums because I know these are the ones I'm the LEAST familiar with. I was really into them when I first discovered the band, but have since not spun them in years.
-Marc.
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(https://home.comcast.net/~gregg-townsend/hef-love.jpg)
Oh my dear sweet Lord
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MONOLITH (1979)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/monolith_zps33d7be0e.jpg)
"Travelling with no destination, just riding the tide"
1. On The Other Side (Livgren) 6:24
2. People of the South Wind (Livgren) 3:41
3. Angels Have Fallen (Walsh) 6:37
4. How My Soul Cries Out For You (Walsh) 5:41
5. A Glimpse of Home (Livgren) 6:36
6. Away From You (Walsh) 4:23
7. Stay Out of Trouble (Walsh, Williams, Steinhardt) 4:13
8. Reason To Be (Livgren) 3:51
Kansas entered the studio in February 1979 for their first self-produced studio album, which would become Monolith. The album was released in May 1979, and was darker and heavier than most of their previous music.
The first track on the album, “On The Other Side,” feels very much like a classic Kansas tune, and is a great opener. The lyrical theme of the song was about songwriting itself. It features lots of classic Kansas songwriting staples, with great Livgren lyrics and soaring vocals from Walsh.
The second tune, “People of the South Wind,” whose title is the literal translation of the word Kansas in the language of the Kansa Native Americans, was about “our past and the old days and all the people we knew,” according to Kerry Livgren. “We had some phenomenally interesting times when we lived back there [in Kansas]. I guress once we got successful, had sold [millions of] records and sold out Madison Square Garden, I went through a period where I was a little bit nostalgic about our earlier days – when we were younger, more idealistic, and much more interested in just being great musicians. Even though it was a song that I wrote, I remember not really wanting it to go on the album. It was a little on the light side for Kansas. It felt a lot more powerful live than it did on the original recording.” FWIW, I agree with him, it is a little “light.” This song has never really resonated with me. But at any rate, it was the album’s first single, released on June 2, 1979, and it peaked at # 23 in August.
The third track, “Angels Have Fallen,” has somewhat of a classic Kansas “epic” feel, with a piano/vocal intro, followed by a majestic full-band section/chorus, then a guitar-only section, followed by a sweet instrumental section, coming back to piano & guitar, final chorus, then piano/violin closing. A lot of the sections are nice (except the intro, which feels contrived to me), but overall this song feels like “Kansas by the numbers.” I like it, but certainly don’t love it.
Next up is “How My Soul Cries Out For You.” This is a more hard rocking song for the band, and there are some really tasty instrumental sections here, but for me, this song falls flat from a lyrical standpoint. I like what they were going for instrumentally (except for that weird non-musical section in the middle, followed by the drum solo – no need for that), but the lyrics let the song down. In other words, this song is, for me, the most glaring example of why perhaps self-producing was not the best idea in the world for this band. This song could surely have used an outsider’s perspective (and scalpel).
“A Glimpse of Home” is the next song, and is lyrically about Livgren’s continuing spiritual quest. At this point, he had been through multiple spiritual influences, always reflected in his lyrics, and he was at the time a devotee of the Urantia Book, and hadn’t yet settled on his ultimate destination, Christianity. “I’ve described it to people as if you were in a barrel and you were about to go over Niagara Falls, but you didn’t know where you were headed. You’re just headed down the river in this barrel and you know you’re moving. Then all of a sudden you can feel the spray, you can hear the rumble, and you know something really big is coming – but you’re not quite there yet. And you’re afraid to go over it, but there’s nothing you can do about it.” For my money, this is one of the most successful songs on the album. The music works well with the lyrics for a cohesive whole. In the grand spectrum of Kansas songs, it may not rank very high, but it is definitely one of the best on this album.
Up next is “Away From You.” This song is somewhat schizophrenic for me. The intro, verses, and instrumental section sound very much like something that could have come from those magical first three albums, but the chorus is problematic, sounding out of place and cheesy. I feel very good and very bad about this song. Of course, that disjointed feel makes it a perfect representation of this album.
The next track is “Stay Out of Trouble.” Unfortunately, this song doesn’t follow its own advice. This is one of the rare Kansas tracks (to this point) that work for me on no level whatsoever. The last line of the first verse is “and inside your head is an awful sound” and that is 100% accurate. By far the least satisfying song on this album, and one of the worst to date for the band IMHO.
Closing out the album is “Reason To Be,” which was also the album’s second single. This song features no real verse/chorus structure, going instead with three stanzas. It is dominated musically by acoustic guitar. This is a satisfying end to what was a rather unsatisfying album for me. The single was released September 8, 1979 and peaked at # 52 in October.
Monolith had a mixed reception upon release. It reached # 10 in July 1979, and was certified Gold on June 18. The album sold over 800,000 copies, which isn’t bad, but after three consecutive Platinum albums, the number was disappointing.
The band supported the album with an 87-city U.S. tour. They started off performing the entire album, but by the end of the tour they had dropped half of the songs in favor of older, more popular numbers. In fact, the band was so convinced that the fans didn’t like the album that after this tour, they didn’t perform any of the songs again until the mid 90’s.
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I get why this album didn't do that well, considering it has some total throwaway songs (How My Soul Cries Out and Stay out of Trouble) and a totally bland lead single (People of the South Wind), but A Glimpse of Home and On the Other Side are both absolutely tremendous, and I like Away from You and Angles Have Fallen a lot as well. This album was definitely a drop-off for the band, but the good songs on this one are so good that I can't help but defend the album from the usual criticism.
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I feel the same way as Kev. When I went into their back catalog getting into them this was a mixed album for me.
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:dunno:
I really like this album, a lot.
*hangs his head in shame and slinks away*
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It's not that i don't like it. It's a lesser album for them.
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So this is weird. After become enamored with Kansas following the receipt of Leftoverture as a gift from the unforgettable LeeAnn, I dove into the first five Kansas albums with great abandon, and ate them all up. Point of Know Return felt like the first time they weren't really breaking any new ground, and the lack of any real epics was disappointing, as this is around the time when I was getting more into Prog, and Kansas, one of the bands that had steered me in that direction, was letting me down. But I know that there are people who really love Point of Know Return, and that's fine, because it's a great album. So I thought "What if Point of Know Return was my first Kansas album?" Then it would be Leftoverture and the others which felt like "more of the same" even if they had come earlier. Your first exposure to a band keeps a very special impression, even if that album later is no longer your favorite. Like your first girlfriend, your first car, etc. Maybe not the best, but will always be special.
So anyway, Monolith never did anything for me, and the "more of the same" had actually become "more of the same, only less" which of course is even worse. But I've listened to it twice this week, once in the car and once over earphones, with this thought in mind: "What if this was the first Kansas album I'd ever heard?" What if I was some junior high kid in 1979, and got this album on a whim? Nothing that has come after exists yet, and I'm not aware of much that came before it, because I really just started listening to music other than what I catch on the radio.
I would be fucking blown away, that's what. Many have commented on how this is "lesser" Kansas album, and it is, especially when compared to what came before it. But on its own merits, yeah there are a few missteps, but this is a very good album. It rocks, it gets heavy, it gets light, it brings the acoustic, it brings the prog, it takes some chances, (some of which don't pay off -- that weird break in "How My Soul Cries Out For You" will always be a head-scratcher), but overall, this is an impressive album.
For Kansas fans, not necessarily great. They were even starting to repeat themselves. That awesome bomp-bomp, bomp, bomp rhythm from "Icarus" shows up in "A Glimpse of Home" and is quite jarring. And there was one other time I heard something which sounded just like another riff from an earlier Kansas album... I can't remember it now.
But solely on its own merits, if I didn't have any other Kansas albums and this was my introduction to the band, I would be very, very impressed. My appreciation for this album has gone up quite a bit due to this realization, and to me, that's a good thing. It's not just more of the same; they do try a few new things, and I like the darker, heavier sound which seems to crop up a bit more, making the acoustic stuff even better by contrast.
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It's funny that you should mention that, Orbert. Because I was not quite 10 years old when this album was released, and People of the Southwind was the very first Kansas song I had ever heard. I went out and bought the 45rpm right away and played it to death. But I was a "singles" kid back then, and wouldn't get into exploring albums until later.
In fact, I wouldn't truly discover Kansas until years later, and to this day I have never heard ANY of the albums after Point of Know Return. (and heck, I even have a copy of Audio-Visions on vinyl that I picked up at a garage sale...sometimes I end up buying stacks of vinyl for 25 cents a pop, and then I never get around to listening to them all. AV fell victim to that, but I'll get to that later)
I don't even own a copy of Monolith, but I'll see if I can dig it up online somewhere.
To me, THIS is the funnest part of the album discussion threads. It's interesting to hear other people's opinions about albums you already know, but for myself, it is much more interesting to hear bigger fans than myself discuss albums I never got around to hearing.
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Wow, you played the single to death, and even now, have never heard the album? You really should. I'll bet you'll like it.
My singles phase lasted about a week. When I got my first job delivering newspapers, I was making $22 a week, which in 1974 was a lot of money. I bought two 45's, which were 49 cents each at the local Walgreens, but then I bought the amazing four-LP live album Chicago at Carnegie Hall used for $5 from my friend's sister, and it was all albums from that point forward. I had more albums than anybody else I knew all throughout school, and now that I think about it, I still have more than anyone else I know. What can I say? I'm a music junkie.
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Ya...and to be honest. I'm truly fascinated by this thread because Kansas is one of those bands where I know them, I like everything I've heard, I've been meaning to hear more, I like what I've heard...but you know how some bands just seem to hang around #4 or 5 on the queue and never seem to rise to the top because you're just into other things at the moment?? Kansas is like that for me. About 4 years ago, I gave numerous spins to Masque, Leftoverture, and PoKR and I loved them. But then I never pulled them out again for whatever reason.
Those are still the only albums I've heard. I'm *DYING* to hear Song for America because it sounds like it's the most dark and proggy of the bunch. Now it sounds like I may have to dig out a copy of Monolith as well.
It's funny that most of my memories revolving around Monolith were on game shows. "Guest of our studio audience today will receive...." :rollin I think I saw this album being given away on The Price is Right and the original Make Me Laugh.
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The first I ever heard of anything off of this album was a brief stint where MTV played the videos for Dust In The Wind (yes, it had one) and People of the South Wind. And I guess it says how much rock music had been influenced by a particular subgenre that it wasn't until I bought Monolith on CD when I was going through a Kansas phase, put it on, got to the only song I knew, and thought "Holy shit, how did I not realize People of the South Wind was a disco song." :rollin
It was a thing in 1978 and 1979, though, to put out rock songs that showed off the influence of disco. Kiss did it. ELO did so many of them that Discovery was jokingly called DISCOvery, even by the band. And Kansas did it. I strongly suspect that live People did rock harder like Livgren said, but, wow, the first time I heard on CD was kind of mind blowing.
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In this thread I have learned that I have bad taste because I like; cheesy lyrics, bad harmonies, poor drumming, overly adventurous lead vocals, random party disaster effects in a song, testosterone fueled guitar based tough-guy songs, and now, finally, DISCO!
I can't take it...
It's like having someone smear feces on that blond cheerleader from the front row of second period 11th grade science class. You know, the one who would smile and flash a little leg when I went by?
Face full of shit, now.
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I guess I have a different definition of Disco than some. I don't hear the standard guitar backbeat, or the hi-hat work, or the pedestrian bass line that, to me, characterizes Disco. It has the same meter, but obviously meter alone doesn't define a genre.
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I guess I have a different definition of Disco than some. I don't hear the standard guitar backbeat, or the hi-hat work, or the pedestrian bass line that, to me, characterizes Disco. It has the same meter, but obviously meter alone doesn't define a genre.
This. The reference to "disco" in that song caught me completely off guard.
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Oh you guys. :lol
I stand by what I said: it's a rock song influence by disco. If the Bee Gees had done it that damn keyboard part would have been strings. And hey, I still like the song (probably more than most here) but there were a lot of rock songs that may not have hit all the disco marks Orbert mentions but felt like they were written to fit in with the chart topping music of the times.
It probably helps me (or hurts depending on your viewpoint) that I grew up with two sisters who were massive disco fans, beyond the ten or so songs everyone knows from Saturday Night Fever. :rollin
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Just took a call from a customer who was blaring "Miracles Out of Nowhere" in the background. So we talked about Kansas for a few minutes. :metal
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I stand by what I said: it's a rock song influence by disco.
Ah, but that's not what you said. You said it was "a disco song" not "a rock song influenced by disco."
I'll give you that it was influenced by disco, but that doesn't make it a disco song.
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I'm not sure the guys in Kansas were hip and cool enough to intentionally write a song with disco in it. I think it's a coincidence.
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^ Exactly.
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Yeah, I love their music, but they were a bunch of goobers and rednecks. I'm not sure they would know disco if someone shoved a disco ball up their ass.
I could be wrong.
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I could be wrong.
No. No, you can't be. You found an relevant and timely use for the noun 'goober'!
You, sir, have won the internet for today and are automatically correct for the rest of the day.
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Yeah, I love their music, but they were a bunch of goobers and rednecks. I'm not sure they would know disco if someone shoved a disco ball up their ass.
I could be wrong.
Let's leave Freddie Mercury and Hot Space out of this. ;)
Also, :rollin :rollin :rollin
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I could be wrong.
No. No, you can't be. You found an relevant and timely use for the noun 'goober'!
You, sir, have won the internet for today and are automatically correct for the rest of the day.
OK
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AUDIO-VISIONS (1980)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas_Audio-Visions_zpszpwao2ap.jpg)
"As the power grows, darkness spreading
Hope is still alive, though we're dreading
What the future holds"
1. Relentless (Livgren) 4:57
2. Anything For You (Walsh) 3:58
3. Hold On (Livgren) 3:54
4. Loner (Walsh) 2:31
5. Curtain of Iron (Livgren) 6:12
6. Got to Rock On (Walsh) 3:21
7. Don’t Open Your Eyes (Walsh, Williams, Livgren, Ehart, Hope) 4:06
8. No One Together (Livgren) 6:58
9. No Room For a Stranger (Williams, Walsh) 3:00
10. Back Door (Walsh) 4:24
The band also self-produced the next album, Audio-Visions, which was released in September 1980. Kerry Livgren’s spiritual seeking came to an end, as he became a born-again Christian, (as did bassist Dave Hope), and that came out in his lyrical output on this album, which caused some contention with some other members of the band.
The album’s first track is “Relentless,” an uptempo rocker. As an opener, it is fairly uninspired, with rather bland riffing and a simplistic chorus. For me, it’s a pretty boring and disappointing song. Definitely below the band’s standards.
Up next is “Anything For You.” This is a piano-driven song which to my ears almost sounds like something Steely Dan might have written. This is a very tastefully written song, showing musicianship without unnecessary flash or pyrotechnics, with pretty good lyrics. Easily one of my favorites from this album.
“Hold On” is the track that most clearly displays Livgren’s new religious focus. “Everybody thinks it’s a boy-girl song, but it isn’t,” he says. “If you examine the lyrics, you’ll see it’s about man’s relationship to God.” It’s not a typical boy-girl song, true, but he was writing the lyrics to his wife, who at this point had yet to join him in Christian faith. It was released as the album’s first single on September 20, 1980, and peaked at # 40 in October. It would be the final Top 40 single from the band’s original lineup.
“Loner” is a weird little song. It has really generic-sounding riffage and lyrics, but has some interesting musical passages otherwise. Overall, not really satisfying; another disappointment.
“Curtain of Iron” is actually a pretty interesting song. It has some nice musical composition, with some mysterious, almost prophetic-sounding Biblically-derived lyrics. It doesn’t have a lot of “prog” characteristics, but it definitely has that big majestic feel to it. Definitely one of the best selections from this album.
The next song, “Got to Rock On,” is another rocker, obviously written to be a single. It actually starts out OK, before devolving into a cheesy, derivative chorus, with a title seemingly designed to appeal more to average music fans rather than the Kansas fanbase. Another disappointment on an album rife with them. This was the album’s second single, released on December 27, 1980, peaking at # 76 in January 1981.
“Don’t Open Your Eyes” is just not very good. Bad lyrics contained within uninspired music, other than the obligatory instrumental section, which isn’t bad. Again, the best word is probably “disappointing.”
“No One Together” was originally written for the previous album Monolith, but was dropped from that album because Kerry Livgren lost an argument with Steve Walsh about whose song should make the cut (Walsh won with “How My Soul Cries Out For You”), so this track wound up falling to this album. The song features some of the intricate musical arrangement that is the trademark for Kansas. The song overall really hearkens back to the musical foundations laid down by the band in their first three albums much more so than any other track on this album. Easily the standout from this album, but that isn’t necessarily saying much.
“No Room for a Stranger” is, well, not much. It’s a short little song that screams “filler!” Not much to say about it, really.
The song’s final track, “Back Door,” is a piano-driven song that also hearkens back to older Kansas, in a way. The music marries well with the lyrics, that are foreshadowing the immediate future of the band. A satisfying end to an unsatisfying album. The major drawback for the song is Walsh’s synthesized bagpipes. *shudders*
The album was certified Gold in December 1980, but was the last album by the band to be so certified. Reviews of the album were also not good. The band toured the USA in the fall of 1980 and spring of 1981, then headed to Europe in the summer before returning to the USA for some final tour dates.
The album marked the end of an era. With the new lyrical emphasis of faith as embodied in Christianity, Steve Walsh was decidedly uncomfortable and left the band to start his own new group, Streets. This marked a huge chink in the band’s armor, with the band losing not only its keyboard player, but also lead vocalist and second main songwriter, and laid the ground for massive changes to come. To be honest, after the last two albums, some change was probably necessary, but not necessarily the ones that actually happened.
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When this album came out, I pretty much looked at it the way you do in your write-up. I had gravitated toward heavier rock and metal by then so I kinda appreciated the band's emphasis on an edgier sound, but that's not what I really wanted from Kansas. There were other bands who rocked harder and less self-consciously. To me it's disappointing how little Livgren and Walsh wrote parts for Robby... or maybe it was the engineer who buried the violin in the mix or something. The art was definitely sparse for this art rock act. Maybe they'd been reading Rolling Stone too much and wanted appease the music press by showing their rocker side. If so, it failed miserably, Rolling Stone ripped them a new one over this record. :lol
My roommate loved this album. He was, at best, a disinterested prog fan and was much more of a rocker. I'm sure, to this day, he would tell you that Audio-visions and Monolith are Kansas' best albums. I heard it a lot back in the day, but I never bought it.
I was surprised this week when I was listening on Spotify in anticipation of this morning. My foot automatically tapped along. All the melodies sprung unbidden into my head. I'd find myself waking up with the first verse and chorus of "Loner" playing in my head. I'd start humming "Anything For You", unbidden, in the shower.
I'd say I enjoyed listening this week...perhaps more out of nostalgia than anything. I turned 19 in August of 1980 and my late teens and early twenties were great years full of transitioning to the responsibility of adulthood and being a young parent. Lots of good memories with great friends and family. This album invokes those feelings so please forgive me if I listen again and sing along joyfully.
Yeah, it's not a great Kansas album, but I think it's a good music album.
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I pretty much feel the same as Podaar. It's not a bad album, just not great by Kansas standards. I listened to it twice this week and it was rocking, catchy, and sounded like Kansas to me. I wasn't listening to the lyrics much, so they didn't bother me, and probably would not have anyway, as I too became a "Born Again Christian" around this time. (That's a term I haven't heard a lot lately.)
I also noted the lack of violin overall, which was disappointing. But again, that's only a problem if you compare the album to earlier Kansas albums, or if you're Robbie Steinhardt.
Overall, these last two albums were not nearly as bad as I'd remembered. And as I'd said about Monolith, if this was your first Kansas album, or for whatever reason this album has any particular meaning for you, I wouldn't have any problem with someone claiming it as their favorite, or just calling it a great album. It sounds great, and it rocks. But for longtime fans, it was another step down, and the band was clearly running out of gas at this point.
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No love for Relentless?? I love that tune. Great rocker, and the guitar solo is one of the best in the Kansas catalogue.
This record definitely has some throwaways, but Relentless and Hold On are both great, and I like Loner (fun little tune), Got to Rock On and No One Together all quite a bit. I guess that's only half the songs, but this CD came out way after the others (like the later 90s, a while after I had gotten into Kansas big time), and I was pleasantly surprised that Hold On and No One Together weren't the only good songs on it, since I had heard otherwise.
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No love for Relentless??
Not from me.
this CD came out way after the others (like the later 90s, a while after I had gotten into Kansas big time)
??? Do you mean you got it way after the others?
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No, what I mean is Audio-Visions literally was not available on CD until the later 90s. When I got into Kansas in the mid 90s, it simply had not been released yet.
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I have some love for "Relentless".
I think it has a cool sound to it...the opening riff is fun, then it goes into that little piano accompaniment to the opening vocals that swells into this epic 'tada'! It's right at the time that Walsh is singing, "Behind, us, now." I think that is an awesome moment!
I really enjoy the riff right after that too. Yeah, I think it's a good song. I'd just like Robbie to join somehow...
[edit] Oh, and I agree with you, the middle guitar solos are great! Both the Livgren opening and Williams closing. They really complement each other.
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No, what I mean is Audio-Visions literally was not available on CD until the later 90s. When I got into Kansas in the mid 90s, it simply had not been released yet.
That comment threw me for a second, too, but then I remembered the 80's. New albums were coming out on CD, but back catalogs were not all reissued at once. The record companies started with the classics and big-sellers. They had to sell a lot of CDs up front to pay for those new CD plants. The "lesser" albums from veteran artists came to CD later, if at all. Given that, I'm not surprised that Audio-Visions didn't get reissued on CD until later.
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Oh, I see.
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It does seem bizarre that Monolith was available on CD long before Audio-Visions, considering Hold On was pretty popular, but I guess the record company figured they could sucker fans into buying the best of, since that was the only place you could get it on CD until the late 90s.
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I have the same sentiments as most here on this album. It's been a while that I listened to it. I will crank it on the way to my dad's tomorrow
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Regular update tomorrow, but just wanted to let everyone know that the new Kansas documentary Miracles Out of Nowhere is available for pre-order here (https://www.miraclesoutofnowhere.com/), or you can catch its world premiere on VH1 Classic and Palladia on March 20 at 9pm.
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Very cool, Hef! I don't know about buying the blu-ray but I'm definitely in for watching it on VH1.
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Very cool, Hef! I don't know about buying the blu-ray but I'm definitely in for watching it on VH1.
:tup
Now the countdown is on to see how much of my thread is completely refuted by the documentary! :metal
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VINYL CONFESSIONS (1982)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/vinyl%20confessions_zpsmgr4bihq.jpg)
“How many times do I have to tell you that things just can't go on this way”
1. Play The Game Tonight (Ehart, Flower, Frazier, Livgren, Williams) 3:27
2. Right Away (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 4:07
3. Fair Exchange (Livgren) 5:02
4. Chasing Shadows (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 3:22
5. Diamonds and Pearls (Livgren) 4:51
6. Face It (D. Elfante, J. Elefante) 4:18
7. Windows (Livgren) 3:32
8. Borderline (Livgren) 4:01
9. Play On (J. Elefante, Livgren) 3:34
10. Crossfire (Livgren) 6:35
The band had come to its first major crisis. The recent conversion to born-again Christianity of Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope had brought about a new focus within the band, especially from a lyrical standpoint, that Steve Walsh could not abide. Prior to work beginning on the next album, he made his departure from the band. Kansas therefore had lost a keyboard player, a lead vocalist, and a songwriter. Therefore, they not only had to search for a singer, but someone who could contribute to the music.
They searched through over 200 applicants (including Sammy Hagar and Doug Pinnick – and both of those conjure up visions of what could have been!), before narrowing it down to three choices: Warren Hamm, Michael Gleason, and John Elefante. They eventually chose Elefante, who played keyboards. Elefante was also a born-again Christian, although the band apparently didn’t know it at the time. His brother Dino collaborated on lyrics with John.
The album they produced thereafter was Vinyl Confessions, which definitely had a different feel from their previous albums, even aside from the lyrics, which are definitely coming from a Christian perspective. There is much more “rock” and less “prog” on this album. Musicianship definitely still shines through, but it is different.
The album’s first track, “Play The Game Tonight,” isn’t bad. It has a nice hook, and a memorable lyrical melody. It is a pleasant song, for sure, but doesn’t compare to the greats of prior albums. It was released as the album’s first single, and hit # 4 on Billboard’s new Mainstream Rock chart and # 17 on the Pop Singles chart. It was the band’s first “hit” in several years.
The next song, “Right Away,” is a fairly straightforward rocker, although nothing particularly special. It was the album’s second single, making it to # 33 on Mainstream Rock but only # 73 on the Pop Singles chart.
“Fair Exchange” was a song that featured lyrics depicting life under the rule of the Anti-Christ, which is certainly uplifting material. Don’t care for it, sorry.
The album’s fourth track, “Chasing Shadows,” is a more mellow ballad, with nice vocal harmonies and a pleasant melody. Lyrically, it was about the folly of attempting to find truth and meaning anywhere outside of the Bible. This song was the album’s third and final single release, only making it to # 54 on the Mainstream Rock chart. Altogether, this is one of the best the album has to offer.
Up next is “Diamonds and Pearls.” This song is about the superiority of spiritual wealth to that of material wealth. For me, this song has perhaps the most interesting musical passages on the album, but the vocal melodies, especially on the chorus, are really dull and boring. Completely unsatisfying mixture for me.
“Face It” is another straightforward rock song (as are so many on this album). Lyrically, this is an evangelical outreach song (like so many on this album). And again, there is some interesting music on this song, but not in the chorus, which is uninspired. The instrumental section almost saves this song, but not quite.
The next track, “Windows,” is another evangelical outreach song. Again, uninspired delivery that comes across flat, with a more interesting instrumental section that can’t save the song.
Up next is “Borderline.” Stop me if you’ve heard this before: it’s a straightforward song with an ordinary arrangement, featuring lyrics coming from an evangelical viewpoint, where the chorus is by far the worst part of the song. This is getting discouraging.
“Play On” opens up with a drum fill and an almost prog-sounding intro, so hope is immediately raised, given the dreck we’ve had to slog through on this album. However, it’s not much better. The lyrics are somewhat better, with a somewhat different focus, but still not what we’re accustomed to.
At six and a half minutes, “Crossfire” is the album closing prog epic, right? Well, not quite. Another evangelically-driven song, even specifically mentioning “the One who rose,” the song definitely has an instrumental section that is pretty cool, and definitely the best part of the song (and one of the best on the album), featuring multiple movements and time signature changes, so this is really the biggest piece of prog on the album. But ultimately, we have another chorus that is unsatisfying (to me, at any rate), which eventually devalues the entire song.
All in all, Vinyl Confessions is a huge disappointment. While there are a couple of bright spots (Play The Game Tonight, Chasing Shadows, Crossfire), there isn’t much musically to separate this from any other straightforward rock band out there, and the lyrical basis is not really the kind of separation you want to see. The album feels like the emphasis was on the lyrical content, and the music and melodies were largely afterthoughts. This album is much different in tone and feel from the existing Kansas body of work. I refer to this as the first album by KINO (Kansas In Name Only).
Although much of the existing fanbase was disappointed in the album, the lyrical content found the band a new audience in the growing Contemporary Christian Music market. Christian media and magazines loved the band’s new emphasis, and CCM Magazine named Vinyl Confessions as their Album of the Year for 1982. However, the album failed to make enough sales to reach Gold, which makes it a definite letdown.
When violinist Robbie Steinhardt learned that some Christian fans of the band were printing up religious tracts featuring lyrics from Vinyl Confessions and distributing them before the band’s concerts, he became fed up with the band’s new direction and quit the band at the end of the tour, another deadly blow to the band.
Basically, I don’t like this album very much, and it doesn’t bear many repeat listens, other than the aforementioned bright spots. Anyone have a different opinion?
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I've actually never heard this album. And I have no urge to check it out. Play the Game Tonight is a decent tune. That's all I got. :lol
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It's been a long, long time since i listened to this. Like you said, they had a more rock vibe. I like John Elefante's voice. Funny how powerful he and his brother Dino became in the Christian music world after Kansas.
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I've actually never heard this album.
My advice would be to keep it that way.
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Prior to this week, I was only familiar with "Play the Game Tonight" which is decent but not a favorite. I slogged through it a couple of times this week in anticipation of this update but I found very little to like.
I like Elefante's voice but not his writing style...just a bit too soft rock for me. I thought the Livgren penned songs had potential but never quite grabbed me. Your description of "Diamonds and Pearls" is dead on. In fact, I find myself nodding at pretty much all of your write-up.
I don't think I'll ever listen to this album again.
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In 1982, "Play the Game Tonight" was on the radio a lot, so my band learned it and we played it in some of our early gigs. Unlike most every song I've ever learned and played in a band, I really cannot remember this one. I remember the chorus pretty much, but not the chords, even though I think the song was mostly piano and voice. So that's how memorable that song is to me.
We knew that Kansas had a new singer, and to be honest, I didn't really like his voice, so I seem to be in the minority on that. Something about it sounds too thin, too whiney or something. Maybe because I was comparing him too much to Steve Walsh and not judging him on his own merits. We were unaware of the politics and religion within the band, and even though I have the album on vinyl, I never really dug into the lyrics as I did in the old days, so I never realized. I just knew that Kansas continued to get weaker and less prog, and this album continued the trend. I meant to listen to it again this week, in preparation for the discussion, but I listened to Audio-Visions again instead, because that one's better than I'd remembered.
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No loss.
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The only song Ive heard from this album is Play the Game Tonight; great tune!
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I can sum up the last two albums in one post: I liked Hold On and Play The Game Tonight, and that was it. I remember there was a certain sense of Kansas being back when Play The Game Tonight blew up, and Kansas on this tour was a near miss first concert for me. But really the band had moved away from being prog and more AOR/arena rock by them, and I haven't heard either album all the way through in years.
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DRASTIC MEASURES (1983)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/drastic%20measures_zpsbjgcofcf.jpg)
“Lost the handle, what's it all been for? Tired of trying, seeing so much more”
1. Fight Fire With Fire (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 3:40
2. Everybody’s My Friend (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 4:09
3. Mainstream (Livgren) 6:36
4. Andi (J. Elefante) 4:15
5. Going Through The Motions (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 5:43
6. Get Rich (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 3:43
7. Don’t Take Your Love Away (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) 3:44
8. End of the Age (Livgren) 4:33
9. Incident on a Bridge (Livgren) 5:37
After the lukewarm response to Vinyl Confessions (except in Contemporary Christian Music circles), the dominoes falling that started with the departure of Steve Walsh, and eventually Robbie Steinhardt, continued. Rather than find a replacement for Steinhardt, they went on without him as a five-piece, which meant that the band lost what was left of their distinctive sound: the third melodic instrument.
Regardless of the quality of the last album, some critics felt that it was too repetitive of the band’s earlier work (?). John Elefante was determined not to let that happen again, so he decided to make an album that didn’t sound like previous Kansas albums, composing most of the music and writing most of the lyrics (along with brother Dino). He succeeded by making a completely non-Kansas album. At one point, no one else had sounded like Kansas; now, they would sound just like everyone else. This was Kansas in name only.
However, as a stand-alone rock song, I must say that the album’s first track, “Fight Fire With Fire” isn’t that bad. Easily the best song of this album, it was also released as the album’s first single. It would reach # 3 on the Mainstream Rock chart, but only # 58 on the Pop Singles chart. Interestingly enough, there was a video shot for this song, and it was one of the first music videos to be blown up to 35 mm and shown in movie theaters (it was a short that ran with Rumble Fish - if you don’t know that film, look it up). At any rate, it has a driving rhythmic hook, and a chorus that is fun to sing along to. Probably my favorite Elefante-era song (although I’m not sure that is saying much).
“Everybody’s My Friend” is a straightforward song with a chorus that attempts to be catchy, sounding almost Beatles-ish. It doesn’t really work. I mean, as a pop/rock song of this time period…it sounds like a lot of others that were out at that time. The album’s second single, it only made it to # 34 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
“Mainstream” is one of the few musically interesting songs on the album. The instrumental section has some cool things going on, but otherwise is a fairly straightforward typical rock song of that time period. The lyrics reflect Livgren’s being upset at the band’s new musical output (as well as the music industry in general), since they no longer really sounded like Kansas, but rather not much different than the other popular rock bands of the time (such as Loverboy).
Up next is “Andi”, a keyboard-based ballad. Musically, there isn’t much going on here; it’s very Adult Contemporary feeling. Interestingly enough, the lyrics seem to indicate a story about a transgender person (at least that’s how they read to me). Kansas is progressive once again, for a minute.
“Going Through the Motions” has some interesting things going on. The vocal track is pretty good by Elefante, and really draws me in. Definitely one of the few bright spots on the album.
“Get Rich” is an awful song. The less said about it, the better.
“Don’t Take Your Love Away” is another rock-song-by-the numbers. Nothing really sets this one apart.
“End of the Age” is the song with perhaps the most explicit Christian emphasis on lyrics. It is a keyboard-driven medium-tempo rocker that takes itself much too seriously.
The lyrics for the album’s last track, “Incident on a Bridge”, also show some Biblical roots, but nothing quite as upfront as anything on Vinyl Confessions. Musically, this is one of the least bad songs on the album. Overall, this is actually not that bad a song, but it definitely still falls short of what Kansas had been.
Most of the Christian content on the album as a whole was much less explicit than on the prior album – this confused their newfound Christian fans. The music wasn’t really progressive, which disappointed their longtime fans. This new music wasn’t anything different than what was already on the radio, and also wasn’t all that good, so there wasn’t much appeal to would-be new fans. Also, the album cover is, well, bizarre. This all resulted in Drastic Measures being the band’s lowest-charting album since their 1974 debut, only reaching # 75 on the Billboard 200 (although it did reach # 41 on the Pop Albums chart).
The dissatisfaction with the creative direction of the band, combined the poor reception of the album, led to further dissolution of the band. At the end of the album’s supporting tour, a New Year’s Eve 1983 show, Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope quit (they would form a specifically Christian band called A.D.). The five-piece was down to three, and the end was nigh.
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I remember seeing the video at least 3 times a day for "Fight Fire, With Fire". I too thought the album was good but great like I knew Kansas.
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FFWF was a cool song. Despite not doing a great deal of memorable stuff with Kansas , Elefante has one of the most pure singing voices I've heard and I wish he'd done more rock than he did. When he's not being too preachy (and I'm in the mood for some softer stuff) I also enjoy plenty of his solo stuff and Mastedon work.
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If this had been an album by a band put together by John and Dino Elefante that just happened to manage to snag Kerry Livgren to write a few songs, this would have been one of the more revered AOR albums of the 80s.
Unfortunately, it's a Kansas album, which gives it a whole different set of expectations for an audience. Expectations it didn't meet. There's some great songs here-I rate Everybody's My Friend a little higher than most, Mainstream is great in a kind of ironic way (Livgren writing the longest, most complex song of the album and calling it Mainstream gives me the giggles to this day) and Going Through The Motions is just flat out brilliant, but...it isn't Kansas. It's kind of interesting though how this period of Kansas seemed to be conflicting ways of doing AOR, with the Walsh/Morse version giving it a go next. Also interesting to consider how few bands from the 70s prog heyday were interested in playing prog in the 80s. There are times I wish Kansas had either just hung it up or gone on hiatus for a few years in the early 80s, but the latter is a bit of a rose colored glasses view of the world. Bands didn't go on hiatus back in the early 80s, and it wasn't until the mid to late 80s that you could survive cranking out albums only every three to five years. But if any band had needed to take some time off and come back, Kansas after 1980 was one of them.
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Dang, I'm two albums behind now. I do have both Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures, but haven't listened to either in a long time. I know, they're not as great as the original five or six, but I really did mean to revisit them. I consider that one of the points of a discography thread, an excuse to revisit each album and comment on them. Been too damned busy.
I do remember the chorus to "Fight Fire with Fire" and how catchy it was (just as I only remember the chorus to "Play the Game Tonight" and not much else).
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Fight Fire with Fire was the only Kansas song I knew for years, but even back then when it got played to death on MTV, while I liked it, there were tons of other songs I liked more. And when I eventually got into Kansas, this song fell by the wayside; I literally never listen to it. Like the previous album, I have never heard this one.
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If this had been an album by a band put together by John and Dino Elefante that just happened to manage to snag Kerry Livgren to write a few songs, this would have been one of the more revered AOR albums of the 80s.
If you say so. I don't think it compares very favorably with other similar bands' output of that time.
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Well, I do say so.
That's how opinions work. :biggrin:
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Well, I do say so.
That's how opinions work. :biggrin:
:tup
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If this had been an album by a band put together by John and Dino Elefante that just happened to manage to snag Kerry Livgren to write a few songs, this would have been one of the more revered AOR albums of the 80s.
Unfortunately, it's a Kansas album, which gives it a whole different set of expectations for an audience. Expectations it didn't meet. There's some great songs here-I rate Everybody's My Friend a little higher than most, Mainstream is great in a kind of ironic way (Livgren writing the longest, most complex song of the album and calling it Mainstream gives me the giggles to this day) and Going Through The Motions is just flat out brilliant, but...it isn't Kansas. It's kind of interesting though how this period of Kansas seemed to be conflicting ways of doing AOR, with the Walsh/Morse version giving it a go next. Also interesting to consider how few bands from the 70s prog heyday were interested in playing prog in the 80s. There are times I wish Kansas had either just hung it up or gone on hiatus for a few years in the early 80s, but the latter is a bit of a rose colored glasses view of the world. Bands didn't go on hiatus back in the early 80s, and it wasn't until the mid to late 80s that you could survive cranking out albums only every three to five years. But if any band had needed to take some time off and come back, Kansas after 1980 was one of them.
Speaking of J & D, have you heard the late-eighties Mastedon albums, or John's Revolution of Mind? On the Way to the Son is also a good rocker IMO. :metal
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Fight Fire w/ Fire is a great tune
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:metal :rollin
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This is leading up to a rebirth of a band that I had the pleasure of seeing live, meeting the band as we hung out at the venue to meet them. More to come when we talk about the next album.
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This is leading up to a rebirth of a band that I had the pleasure of seeing live, meeting the band as we hung out at the venue to meet them. More to come when we talk about the next album.
Looking forward to that.
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I listened to Vinyl Confessions over the weekend. It was much better than I'd remembered.
There are at least a couple of ways to approach these later albums, or any given album. One is within the context of studying the band's discography. To me, that includes considering how each album compares to its predecessor, and the entire catalogue up to that point. Also, examine how changes in personnel and/or the musical landscape at the time may or may not have affected the band's sound. Another approach is to consider each album "in a vaccuum". Don't compare it to what the band has done before, just listen to the album and judge it on its own merits. If this was the first Kansas album you'd ever bought, or your first album ever, what would you think? I try to consider both.
I spend 30 to 40 minutes, three times a week, doing cardiovascular exercise, so this is a perfect time to listen to albums. I put on Vinyl Confessions, and was very surprised at how rocking it was. It was good workout music. Also, having listened to no Kansas all week, I was able to approach the album "cold" and just enjoy it for what it was. Not a lot of prog, but that was not the goal. It was a well-produced album by a talented group, playing pretty good rock and roll. It kept me going. And I was reminded of my first impression of the band, which came from "Carry On Wayward Son", another straight-on rocker. These guys rock, but they clearly have some chops, and there's ample evidence that they're more than your standard garage rockers. Even though the songs were all pretty basic, the use of syncopation alone was almost shocking. Ehart and Hope are on fire here. The arrangements are tight, and while they're not that impressive compared to some earlier Kansas, compared to the crap that was on the radio at the time, it was still a cut above.
I didn't listen to the lyrics much, but these days I usually don't on the first time through. I had the earphones on, a TV screen in front of me with no sound (a basketball game was on, two teams I don't care about) and females in workout clothes walking past me for half an hour. So no, I didn't pay much attention to the lyrics. But the music was good, some steady rocking and rolling. I thought of the old days, back in junior high and high school, when I'd put an album on and just let it play. No, not every song was a hit single, but as long as it was a decent song and sounded alright, I'd let it play and be good with it. This isn't a bad album; it just suffers from high expectations and not comparing favorably to earlier Kansas albums. But on its own, it's pretty good.
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I listened to Drastic Measures yesterday for the first time. Not really my kind of music but it's not awful. It doesn't sound enough like Kansas for me to identify with it.
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I gave Drastic Measures a couple of spins as well over the past few days as well. The sound is similar to Vinyl Confessions but the songs aren't as strong. There are a couple moments that stand out a bit, I thought, but overall it's easily the weakest Kansas album so far.
While I thought Vinyl Confessions was still a cut above your standard early 80's radio fodder, I'm not so sure about Drastic Measures. And it's clearly getting away from the original Kansas sound more and more, especially with the loss of Robbie Steinhardt. As with the previous album, however, I did find that the rockers here had more or less the same "feel" as the straight-up rockers from the earlier albums which, oddly enough, I always associated with Robbie. Once again, Hope and Ehart keep things moving and keep things rocking.
I did find it funny that Kerry Livgren wrote a song called "Mainstream" that's about fighting with the suits to try to be different, and just to make a point, it includes a WTF breakdown that briefly reminded me of the WTF breakdown in "How My Soul Cries Out For You". And a couple of Elefante tunes, "Going Through the Motions" and "Get Rich" (back to back, even) which may or may not be saying something about the album itself, and what they're trying to do here, also gave me a chuckle.
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I gave Drastic Measures a couple of spins as well over the past few days as well. The sound is similar to Vinyl Confessions but the songs aren't as strong. There are a couple moments that stand out a bit, I thought, but overall it's easily the weakest Kansas album so far.
FWIW, I think it is the weakest of the bunch, and I doubt I will ever listen to it again.
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I barely listen to it myself. Quick questing Hef, are you doing the Greatest Hits album or just mentioning it? I was thinking of the song Perfect Lover.
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I remember seeing the video at least 3 times a day for "Fight Fire, With Fire". I too thought the album was good but great like I knew Kansas.
Did you mean to say "NOT great like I knew Kansas?"
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I barely listen to it myself. Quick questing Hef, are you doing the Greatest Hits album or just mentioning it? I was thinking of the song Perfect Lover.
For most greatest hits/compilations, I will do shorter writeups, but yes, my next full writeup is Best of, featuring that song.
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I remember seeing the video at least 3 times a day for "Fight Fire, With Fire". I too thought the album was good but great like I knew Kansas.
Did you mean to say "NOT great like I knew Kansas?"
Oops! Yes, that's what I meant.
I barely listen to it myself. Quick questing Hef, are you doing the Greatest Hits album or just mentioning it? I was thinking of the song Perfect Lover.
For most greatest hits/compilations, I will do shorter writeups, but yes, my next full writeup is Best of, featuring that song.
Cool beans.
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The wife and I watched 2/3 of the Rock Doc and man I'm loving it. The one thing out of it that pisses me of is Don Kirshner (sp?) with the writing credits. I know he put the money down to make this band but can you imagine your the writer and this guy gets the power over your songs?! I hated that about he music business.
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The wife and I watched 2/3 of the Rock Doc and man I'm loving it. The one thing out of it that pisses me of is Don Kirshner (sp?) with the writing credits. I know he put the money down to make this band but can you imagine your the writer and this guy gets the power over your songs?! I hated that about he music business.
Yep, but apparently pretty standard at the time, and may still be for all I know.
I saw it last night and thought it was fantastic. And hey, Kerry, trim that facial hair dude.
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THE BEST OF KANSAS (1984)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/The-Best-of-Kansas_zpskfigs3jz.jpg)
“It's in your head, they're telling you it's in your head,
It's a figment of your imagination.”
1. Carry On Wayward Song
2. Point of Know Return
3. Fight Fire With Fire
4. Dust In The Wind
5. Song For America
6. Perfect Lover (J. Elefante) 4:19
7. Hold On
8. No One Together
9. Play The Game Tonight
10. The Wall
OK, so the band was in a shambles, with only three members left (singer/keyboardist John Elefante, guitarist Rich Williams, and drummer Phil Ehart), the band’s reputation is going down the tubes, and there is little desire in the marketplace for any more Kansas. Perfect time for a greatest hits package!
I’m not sure who actually put this list of songs together for the purposes of calling it the “Best” of Kansas; must have been either Elefante or an executive somewhere. At any rate, if you are looking for the best of Kansas, this ain’t it; there are better collections of their music (we’ll get there), or just get the individual albums.
Having said that, this was their first greatest hits package, and still riding the coattails of their megahits “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind”, it was a huge seller, eventually being certified quadruple platinum.
Elefante managed to finagle one more of his compositions onto the album, a little ditty called “Perfect Lover.” It was performed by the three remaining members of the band, and doesn’t really deserve to be there. That would be rectified later (we’ll get there).
As a special note, the versions of “Carry On Wayward Son” and “The Wall” used were remixes done especially for this collection. Why, I don’t know; there was certainly no need for such.
By far the most interesting thing about the release was the album cover itself. It incorporates elements from the earlier album covers, including, but not necessarily limited to:
1. Abolitionist John Brown, originally featured on the artwork for the debut album (no tracks from this album are included here)
2. The sheet music and inkwell from Leftoverture are on the back cover
3. The ship tipping over is from the cover to Point of Know Return
This was the death knell of the group. Following this release, the group disbanded. John Elefante went on to a career as a performer and producer (along with brother Dino) in the Contemporary Christian market, which is probably a good place for him. And that was it.
For a while, anyway.
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I have 2 versions of this Greatest Hits. The second one is a remaster with 4 songs added. At the time I was wondering what would happen to Kansas. I never saw them live, being 16 at the time and just starting to go to concerts. I did play the hell out of this album though.
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I prefer the second version much more. The Devil Game rocks!
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Yes, the second version is better. We'll get there.
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Oh Snap! I did not know you were going there. Cool.
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Oh Snap! I did not know you were going there.
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/funny/you%20bet_zpsanhilvhx.gif)
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:lol
Your computer must be slow with all your gifs you have.
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Nah
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Other than the new song by Elefante, I don't see a problem with the track listing. I always refer to these compilations as "greatest hits things" but they usually either go by "Greatest Hits" or "Best Of" and they went with "Best Of" this time. Maybe because not all of the songs were actual hits. All the Top 40 hits are here, and the album is filled out by a couple of other good songs. I have no problem with "Song for America" or "The Wall". They're both great songs. "No One Together" is from the later years, but I seem to recall it being one of the better ones.
These compilations usually have a couple of different purposes, which pull in different directions. If they're meant to assemble all the hits so people who've heard at least a few Kansas songs on the radio and liked them and want one album that has all of them, this is it. If there aren't enough "hits" to fill out an album, add a few songs that actually got airplay or just pick a few fan favorites. That's what we have here.
If you truly make a distinction between naming the package "Best Of" versus "Greatest Hits" then no, this is not literally the best of Kansas. But no two people will ever agree on which songs are their best. With a band that had been around as long as they had by this point, dabbling in prog, folk, pop, rock, and blues, there's no one track listing that will satisfy everyone. That's why I gave up on distinguishing between "Best Of" and "Greatest Hits". A collection of album tracks that truly represent their best work would be awesome, and a great way to introduce someone to the band, but the market for it doesn't exist. In fact, the presence of the aforementioned "Song for America", and "No One Together" might even serve that purpose. Some longer tracks to maybe show the average listener that this band had some real game, in case that wasn't apparent from the Top 40 stuff.
I do think it's lame when a compilation like this has one or more new songs on it. There's no way it's a "greatest hit", not yet anyway, and it's presumptuous to consider it one of their "best" since no one's actually heard it yet. But I've conceded that this is just something that the labels do. A necessary evil.
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This was the first Kansas CD I ever owned, and I enjoy the hell out of it for years before diving deeper into their catalogue (which I went over earlier in the thread).
Having said that, I had forgotten about the song Perfect Lover, and listening to it now on YT, it's okay. Not something I'd ever seek out on its own, so I doubt I'll look for the mp3 of it to have in my collection.
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I knew a hell of a lot of people who had this album as the only album by Kansas they owned, so as a compilation it did it's job perfectly for them. A possible entry point to a band, and, failing that, your one stop shop for a band. These things, after all, weren't made for people who, at the time, owned all of the Kansas albums on vinyl. It was a way to get a LOT of Kansas songs, for the first time, on CD.
I will admit I had forgotten it had a new song on it, though. I'll have to look it up since my attempts to remember it keep sending back Jealous Lover by Rainbow :rollin
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I bought the Box set just for the song "Wheels" that I saw them play the summer before it came out but Hef will cover that as well.
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AUDIO-VISIONS (1980)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas_Audio-Visions_zpszpwao2ap.jpg)
"As the power grows, darkness spreading
Hope is still alive, though we're dreading
What the future holds"
1. Relentless (Livgren) 4:57
2. Anything For You (Walsh) 3:58
3. Hold On (Livgren) 3:54
4. Loner (Walsh) 2:31
5. Curtain of Iron (Livgren) 6:12
6. Got to Rock On (Walsh) 3:21
7. Don’t Open Your Eyes (Walsh, Williams, Livgren, Ehart, Hope) 4:06
8. No One Together (Livgren) 6:58
9. No Room For a Stranger (Williams, Walsh) 3:00
10. Back Door (Walsh) 4:24
The band also self-produced the next album, Audio-Visions, which was released in September 1980. Kerry Livgren’s spiritual seeking came to an end, as he became a born-again Christian, (as did bassist Dave Hope), and that came out in his lyrical output on this album, which caused some contention with some other members of the band.
The album’s first track is “Relentless,” an uptempo rocker. As an opener, it is fairly uninspired, with rather bland riffing and a simplistic chorus. For me, it’s a pretty boring and disappointing song. Definitely below the band’s standards.
Up next is “Anything For You.” This is a piano-driven song which to my ears almost sounds like something Steely Dan might have written. This is a very tastefully written song, showing musicianship without unnecessary flash or pyrotechnics, with pretty good lyrics. Easily one of my favorites from this album.
“Hold On” is the track that most clearly displays Livgren’s new religious focus. “Everybody thinks it’s a boy-girl song, but it isn’t,” he says. “If you examine the lyrics, you’ll see it’s about man’s relationship to God.” It’s not a typical boy-girl song, true, but he was writing the lyrics to his wife, who at this point had yet to join him in Christian faith. It was released as the album’s first single on September 20, 1980, and peaked at # 40 in October. It would be the final Top 40 single from the band’s original lineup.
“Loner” is a weird little song. It has really generic-sounding riffage and lyrics, but has some interesting musical passages otherwise. Overall, not really satisfying; another disappointment.
“Curtain of Iron” is actually a pretty interesting song. It has some nice musical composition, with some mysterious, almost prophetic-sounding Biblically-derived lyrics. It doesn’t have a lot of “prog” characteristics, but it definitely has that big majestic feel to it. Definitely one of the best selections from this album.
The next song, “Got to Rock On,” is another rocker, obviously written to be a single. It actually starts out OK, before devolving into a cheesy, derivative chorus, with a title seemingly designed to appeal more to average music fans rather than the Kansas fanbase. Another disappointment on an album rife with them. This was the album’s second single, released on December 27, 1980, peaking at # 76 in January 1981.
“Don’t Open Your Eyes” is just not very good. Bad lyrics contained within uninspired music, other than the obligatory instrumental section, which isn’t bad. Again, the best word is probably “disappointing.”
“No One Together” was originally written for the previous album Monolith, but was dropped from that album because Kerry Livgren lost an argument with Steve Walsh about whose song should make the cut (Walsh won with “How My Soul Cries Out For You”), so this track wound up falling to this album. The song features some of the intricate musical arrangement that is the trademark for Kansas. The song overall really hearkens back to the musical foundations laid down by the band in their first three albums much more so than any other track on this album. Easily the standout from this album, but that isn’t necessarily saying much.
“No Room for a Stranger” is, well, not much. It’s a short little song that screams “filler!” Not much to say about it, really.
The song’s final track, “Back Door,” is a piano-driven song that also hearkens back to older Kansas, in a way. The music marries well with the lyrics, that are foreshadowing the immediate future of the band. A satisfying end to an unsatisfying album. The major drawback for the song is Walsh’s synthesized bagpipes. *shudders*
The album was certified Gold in December 1980, but was the last album by the band to be so certified. Reviews of the album were also not good. The band toured the USA in the fall of 1980 and spring of 1981, then headed to Europe in the summer before returning to the USA for some final tour dates.
The album marked the end of an era. With the new lyrical emphasis of faith as embodied in Christianity, Steve Walsh was decidedly uncomfortable and left the band to start his own new group, Streets. This marked a huge chink in the band’s armor, with the band losing not only its keyboard player, but also lead vocalist and second main songwriter, and laid the ground for massive changes to come. To be honest, after the last two albums, some change was probably necessary, but not necessarily the ones that actually happened.
Last night I found an old program on YouTube where Ronnie James Dio and Kerry Livgren were interviewed separately about the songs that Dio sang on Livgren's Seeds of Change album. Ronnie claimed that Kerry was "one of the biggest black magic guys on the planet," and that the reason he became a Christian is because he had a "black magic experience that really scared him and chased him all around."
Has anyone on here besides me read KL's book, also called Seeds of Change? in addition to some interesting details about the history of the Kansas Band, he also goes into great detail about his spiritual quest, which ultimately lead him to Christ. But he said that he converted from a religion called urantia, with no mention whatsoever of having experimented with any kind of satanism, witchcraft, black (or any other kind of) magic, etc. I suppose some details could have gotten left out, but what this seems to suggest is that one of them lied.
Anybody know anything about this?
Hef?
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I know some things about his spiritual journey, because it has a direct impact on the history of the band, but I've never heard of him having any ties to black magic /satanism.
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In 1985, Kansas was no more. Steve Walsh and Robbie Steinhardt had left for philosophical reasons, and Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope had left and formed a new band. The Elefante experiment had been a disastrous failure, and the once mighty name of Kansas was left in ruins.
In the meantime, Walsh had formed a band called Streets. They had some limited success, but ultimately it just didn’t work out. So Walsh decided to reform Kansas.
He called up former Kansas bandmates Rich Williams and Phil Ehart to play guitar and drums in this new incarnation. For bass, he brought over Billy Greer, who had played bass with Walsh in Streets. And on lead guitar, Walsh was able to recruit the great Steve Morse, who Walsh had first met when Morse contributed some guitar work for Walsh’s 1980 solo album Schemer-Dreamer. They got together and recorded a new album, Power, which was released in November 1986.
POWER (1986)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/kansas-power_zpsoic1h5mq.jpg)
“Sometimes the answers you fear are there on the face in the mirror
Something the world needs to hear but no one is even listening”
1. Silhouettes in Disguise (Morse, Walsh) 4:26
2. Power (Goodrum, Morse, Walsh) 4:25
3. All I Wanted (Morse, Walsh) 3:20
4. Secret Service (Aclin, Miller, Morse, Walsh) 4:42
5. We’re Not Alone Anymore (Morse, Walsh) 4:16
6. Musicatto (Morse, Walsh) 3:30
7. Taking in the View (Morse, Walsh) 3:06
8. Three Pretenders (Greer, Morse, Walsh) 3:50
9. Tomb 19 (Morse, Walsh) 3:46
10. Can’t Cry Anymore (Smith, Temple) 4:01
The first track, “Silhouettes in Disguise,” gives a good indication of the musical direction of this new version of Kansas. For the most part, it isn’t really progressive rock, in quite the same way that marked so many of the compositions of the first 3 albums, or the more focused pop prog of Leftoverture and Point of Know Return. Instead, this is a perhaps more accessible form of rock music, featuring hints and elements of prog rock, somewhat like the music of Toto (although it didn’t sound like Toto). Rock music with a flair. And this song definitely shows that, featuring blistering work by Morse. Different, but very nice.
“Power” begins very mellow, almost like a ballad, but the chorus takes into more palatable rock territory. The chorus has a pleasing hook and nice vocal work by Walsh. The bridge is cool as well. Lyrically, the song is basically a huge motivational speech, but a nicely done one. Another welcome addition.
The album’s third track, “All I Wanted,” sounds like a generic 80s ballad at first listen, but that can be deceptive. The lyrics are really nice, and although “lite rock” sounding, the music is quite nice, and the chord progressions are interesting. Kansas wasn’t previously known for doing love songs, but as those go, this one wasn’t bad. It was released as the album’s first single, and hit number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the last Kansas single to hit the Top 40.
Up next is “Secret Service.” This is a more mid-tempo rocker. Lyrically, I have no idea what the hell is going on here. This is the first song on this album that doesn’t quite do it for me. There is some really interesting stuff going on in the instrumental section, but unfortunately, there isn’t a better song wrapped around that section. Overall, it’s OK, I suppose.
And that song leads directly into the next track, “We’re Not Alone Anymore.” I would expect something with that title to be another ballad, but that isn’t the case here. This is a tasty piece of rock music, a nice uptempo rocker. For what it is, this song is really done well. Nothing to complain about here.
“Musicatto” is a rare Kansas instrumental track. This is a really cool piece, showcasing the talents of Morse on guitar. It also features elements of the older progressive Kansas sound. Definitely one of my favorite tracks from this album.
“Taking in the View” begins with gorgeous acoustic guitar and Walsh’s voice. The lyrics are mysterious and enigmatic, and the chord progressions are interesting and unusual. The bridge features children singing. All in all, a nice piece, somewhat of a pallet cleanser.
“Three Pretenders” is a medium tempo rock song. Nice instrumentation and arrangement, with an interesting instrumental section. Lyrically, I have no idea what this song is about. But it’s a fun song, well done.
Up next is “Tomb 19”, the lyrical precursor to “The Dark Eternal Night.” This is seemingly a strange topic for Kansas lyrics, but hey, the song isn’t bad. It’s not great, but it has some good features. Walsh sounds great on this, really getting to sing in his upper register. He has some cool keyboard work here as well.
The album closes with “Can’t Cry Anymore”, a keyboard-based song of lamenting lost love. Again, this is unusual lyrical territory for Kansas, but it isn’t badly done. Another band would have produced a generic power ballad with this material, but Kansas is here able to take it up a notch with a really nice instrumental section that sets it apart. It actually also features a key change, and the whole thing has a bit of the majestic feel that was a feature of older Kansas. A nice way to close out the album.
Overall, Power was fairly well-received critically, but it certainly didn’t set any sales records. It is clear that the name “Kansas” didn’t carry the same weight that it once had; too much damage had been done to the brand. And while the argument could certainly be made that this incarnation is just as much “Kansas in name only” as the Elefante version due to the absence (in this case) of Kerry Livgren, this album is definitely a step up from that version of the band, so I will take it. And while it doesn’t feature as much of the trademark Kansas sound from days of old as many would like, this is a solid rock album with good songwriting and wonderful musicianship. Again, definitely an improvement in quality over the last two albums.
After the success of “All I Wanted”, “Power” was the album’s second single release. It only made it to # 84 on the Billboard Hot 100, and would be the last Kansas song to rank on that chart. “Can’t Cry Anymore” was also later released, but failed to chart at all.
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I love this album. Yes, it's not a normal Kansas album but I just played the hell out of it. Got to see them on this tour in Boston and met all the members in the band. I wish I could find the picture we took of Steve Walsh talking to us. He was very nice and we talked music! It was a great experience for this 18 year old.
I tend to love We’re Not Alone Anymore, Power, Tomb 19, Three Pretenders & Silhouettes in Disguise.
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Nice!
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I'm gonna have to give this one a spin, too. I have it, but I don't really remember it, and didn't know the history behind it. I seem to remember thinking that it sounded very different with Steve Morse, who was great and who I knew from The Dixie Dregs, but that's about it.
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I've never heard this album, but checking out the single on YT, holy crap, I had totally forgotten about All I Wanted. I definitely remember that from the 80s, but I don't think I had heard it in close to 30 years. Crazy.
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This is a great album. Great to hear Steve Morse rock out properly.
I'm not a big Kansas fan (though by coincidence I listened to Leftoverture and Power this morning) but this album is a big favourite.
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This is a great album. Great to hear Steve Morse rock out properly.
I'm not a big Kansas fan (though by coincidence I listened to Leftoverture and Power this morning) but this album is a big favourite.
Pretty much this. I don't like Morse in a band situation as a rule but this is the exception.
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It was certainly different seeing Steve play all the violin parts live on that tour with his guitar. Synth guitar parts were very new in the mid 80's but it worked.
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I've never heard this album, but checking out the single on YT, holy crap, I had totally forgotten about All I Wanted. I definitely remember that from the 80s, but I don't think I had heard it in close to 30 years. Crazy.
Wow, really? It's not one of their best, but definitely has some good stuff.
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I heard that Steve Morse approached the band, or specifically Phil Ehart, and asked to join.
I also understand that he took a lot of criticism for it, because Kansas supposedly wasn't a good enough band musicianship-wise for him to be in.
Which I say is bullshit.
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Well, at the time, Kansas was on hiatus, and their recent work was less than stellar. I think that Steve might be slightly better on a technical level than the rest of the guys in this lineup (I've heard Steve do some really amazing things), but it's not like he's too good for them or they're not good enough to play with him.
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Right.
My point exactly.
When I first heard the Dregs, I thought they kind of sounded like an instrumental version of Kansas.
But as good as he is, I don't necessarily think that Steve Morse is a better guitarist than Kerry Livgren.
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Listened to Power once through today. Not bad! Steve Morse definitely brings a different sound but also a whole lot of energy. There were a couple of times I thought I heard a little Dixie Dregs in there, but that's to be expected. I don't think I've ever thought of the Dregs as an instrumental version of Kansas, but I can see how one could make the comparison.
Right out of the gate with some good, uptempo rocking. That's the way to start an album; that's how you announce that Kansas is back. The only thing missing would've been some tasty violin work, but hey, you can't have everything. Too bad, because there's some great fiddling on the early Dregs' albums. If only Morse could've Allen Sloan along...
As I mentioned, I wasn't aware of the history behind this album (or really of the band at all) at the time. I'd heard that Steve Walsh was back. That makes it sound like Kansas as an entity still existed and Steve literally came back to it after an unsuccessful solo career. What really happened was that he put a new band together and called it Kansas. The fact that it had a few Kansas alumni in it certainly helped, but let's face it; this is a new band. Not "Kansas in name only" -- it definitely has a legitimate claim to the name and certainly sounds like "new Kansas".
I'd also heard that while Steve Walsh was back, Kerry Livgren had left, but Rich Williams is still in. Confusion. For some reason I'd always thought that Rich was basically the lead guitarist and Kerry was mostly rhythm. Since Kerry played both keyboards and guitar with Kansas, I guess in my mind he was "mostly keyboards and some guitar" although there was really no reason to think that. Since Steve Morse's style and sound is so familiar to me, I can hear him all over this album. So was Rich mostly the rhythm guitarist? Or were the duties more evenly divided? Why bring in another guitarist when you still have Rich, an original member? Because Steve Walsh only plays keys and they felt that Kansas needed two guitars? Or maybe because Steve Morse... well, he's Steve Morse, and could add so much to the band. According to Wiki, Morse joined at Phil Ehart's invitation. So it seems there are different versions of the story.
Anyway, I only gave it one spin so far, but it sounds good. A step up from the previous two for sure. Unlike many here, apparently, I never really liked Elephante's voice, so it's great to hear Steve Walsh back.
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Listened to Power once through today. Not bad! Steve Morse definitely brings a different sound but also a whole lot of energy. There were a couple of times I thought I heard a little Dixie Dregs in there, but that's to be expected. I don't think I've ever thought of the Dregs as an instrumental version of Kansas, but I can see how one could make the comparison.
Right out of the gate with some good, uptempo rocking. That's the way to start an album; that's how you announce that Kansas is back. The only thing missing would've been some tasty violin work, but hey, you can't have everything. Too bad, because there's some great fiddling on the early Dregs' albums. If only Morse could've Allen Sloan along...
As I mentioned, I wasn't aware of the history behind this album (or really of the band at all) at the time. I'd heard that Steve Walsh was back. That makes it sound like Kansas as an entity still existed and Steve literally came back to it after an unsuccessful solo career. What really happened was that he put a new band together and called it Kansas. The fact that it had a few Kansas alumni in it certainly helped, but let's face it; this is a new band. Not "Kansas in name only" -- it definitely has a legitimate claim to the name and certainly sounds like "new Kansas".
I'd also heard that while Steve Walsh was back, Kerry Livgren had left, but Rich Williams is still in. Confusion. For some reason I'd always thought that Rich was basically the lead guitarist and Kerry was mostly rhythm. Since Kerry played both keyboards and guitar with Kansas, I guess in my mind he was "mostly keyboards and some guitar" although there was really no reason to think that. Since Steve Morse's style and sound is so familiar to me, I can hear him all over this album. So was Rich mostly the rhythm guitarist? Or were the duties more evenly divided? Why bring in another guitarist when you still have Rich, an original member? Because Steve Walsh only plays keys and they felt that Kansas needed two guitars? Or maybe because Steve Morse... well, he's Steve Morse, and could add so much to the band. According to Wiki, Morse joined at Phil Ehart's invitation. So it seems there are different versions of the story.
Anyway, I only gave it one spin so far, but it sounds good. A step up from the previous two for sure. Unlike many here, apparently, I never really liked Elephante's voice, so it's great to hear Steve Walsh back.
Well, I think the two bands sound alike because they have a lot of the same instrumentation. Of course they both used the violin in a lot of their music. They both have that "progressive" sound. I think they both have a lot of the same influences, such as from classical music, as well as rock.
I used to have the Kansas concert video from the Vinyl Confessions tour (it can be seen on YouTube, by the way), and while there were some songs where Livgren would only or mostly play keyboards and Williams would play the guitar solos, there were other songs where they would BOTH play guitar, but Livgren appeared to take the lead/solo spots.
Also, If you like the guest musician in that video, Warren Hamm, and if you like Christian music, specifically Livgens AD band, I recommend Prime Mover, on which Hamm did all of the vocals, and he and Livgren played all of the instruments. That's the album that has the "Jesus remake" of "Portrait" on it. Also, right after that, Kerry put out an all-instrumental album called "One of Several Possible Musiks," on which he played ALL of the instruments
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I heard that Steve Morse approached the band, or specifically Phil Ehart, and asked to join.
I also understand that he took a lot of criticism for it, because Kansas supposedly wasn't a good enough band musicianship-wise for him to be in.
Not sure where you heard any of that. Morse was invited by Walsh to join. And Kansas was noted for their musicianship. Like them or not, those guys could PLAY, and always had that reputation.
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Well, Steve has mentioned several times that he was approached by Ehart to join Kansas. Ehart himself has confirmed it too. Here's an excerpt from an interview where he mentions it:
"There's not enough paper to talk about Steve. He's such an extraordinary talent, and that's an understatement. To have him on board was a lot of fun. He's a good guy. We had known him long before. He lived in Atlanta and was part of the Dixie Dregs. They opened for us many times. It was just a fluke. I ran into him at a Robert Plant concert and he said, "I hear you guys are looking for a guitarist," and I said, "Yeah, why don't you come by and see how things sound." So he did and we made a couple of albums together. He really brings a special sound and attitude to anything he plays on. It was really an honor to have him." (Taken from: https://vintagerock.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=399)
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It appears that there was combination of things. Ehart definitely talked to Morse, and Walsh also definitely knew Morse from before. Guess I missed that.
At any rate, Morse joined Kansas.
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I love Power to bits, one of my favorite albums of the 80s period. I remember, though, an interview with Steve Morse in one of the guitar mags that was taking him to task for how simplistic the music was and how it was kind of beneath him and he just shredded the guy pointing out how complex some of his parts were. Especially on We're Not Alone Anymore, which has a lot going on under the hood for such a simple seeming rocker. That happened a lot with this album. Me and my best friend used to air guitar to this album's rockier songs a lot back in the day. Great, great album.
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Don't we all have that best friend who will air guitar or drum in public with you! :lol
Another little story about meeting the guys. Steve Walsh is so short man! I never knew that until I shook his hand.
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I remember, though, an interview with Steve Morse in one of the guitar mags that was taking him to task for how simplistic the music was and how it was kind of beneath him and he just shredded the guy pointing out how complex some of his parts were.
That's probably the same interview that I was talking about. I think it was in Guitar Player.
The "journalist" who interviewed Mr. Morse was a condescending jackwad!
But he turned it around by explaining that he was also playing keyboards and violin, and doing some backing vocals.
But I don't think he should have had to justify himself or his decision to join one of the greatest bands ever to this dink of an interviewer.
What great contribution did HE ever give to the world of music?
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It appears that there was combination of things. Ehart definitely talked to Morse, and Walsh also definitely knew Morse from before. Guess I missed that.
At any rate, Morse joined Kansas.
It may have been that Steve Morse was asked to join prior to this time, but what I remember reading (it was in "some magazine," sorry I can't be more specific.) was that he approached Phil Ehart, probably at the Robert Plant concert, and said "I hear you're looking for a guitarist-what are the chances?"
I'm not arguing, mostly because I have no way of knowing if that was the first time it came up.
That's just what I remember reading about it.
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That's what it says on Wikipedia (so it must be true!) ;)
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It appears that there was combination of things. Ehart definitely talked to Morse, and Walsh also definitely knew Morse from before. Guess I missed that.
At any rate, Morse joined Kansas.
It may have been that Steve Morse was asked to join prior to this time, but what I remember reading (it was in "some magazine," sorry I can't be more specific.) was that he approached Phil Ehart, probably at the Robert Plant concert, and said "I hear you're looking for a guitarist-what are the chances?"
I'm not arguing, mostly because I have no way of knowing if that was the first time it came up.
That's just what I remember reading about it.
I would imagine that the person who he heard from that they were looking for a guitarist was Steve Walsh, because Walsh is who basically put the band together.
But that's just speculation.
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I listened to Power today and enjoyed it. While I'm not inclined to purchase it, I can definitely imagine I might occasionally queue it up on Spotify in the future.
:tup
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HUGE Kansas fan! Power is a great record. Saw the tour. Also a big Steve Morse fan. The thing about Steve not thinking the musicianship may not be good enough maybe one of the silliest things I have heard. Kansas are AMAZING musicians and I'm sure Steve knew it.
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IN THE SPIRIT OF THINGS (1988)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas_-_In_the_Spirit_of_Things_zps2kippvea.jpg)
“We all gotta come to the light together”
1. Ghosts (Bob Ezrin, Steve Morse, Steve Walsh) 4:18
2. One Big Sky (Phil Ehart, M. Ehmig, Ezrin, H. Kleinfeld, Walsh) 5:17
3. Inside of Me (Morse, Walsh) 4:42
4. One Man, One Heart (Dann Huff, Mark Spiro) 4:20
5. House on Fire (Ehart, Ezrin, Morse, Walsh) 4:42
6. Once in a Lifetime (Antonina Armato, Albert Hammond, Dennis Morgan) 4:14
7. Stand Beside Me (Bruce Gaitsch, Marc Jordan) 3:28
8. I Counted on Love (Morse, Walsh) 3:33
9. The Preacher (Morse, Walsh) 4:18
10. Rainmaker (Ezrin, Morse, Walsh) 6:44
11. T.O. Witcher (Morse) 1:39
12. Bells of Saint James (Morse, Walsh) 5:39
After the meager success of Power showed that there was still gas left in the tank, the band wanted to harness that for the next release and really tried for more commercial success. To that end, they hired megaproducer Bob Ezrin and even brought in some outside songwriters to help them craft some hits. The result was In The Spirit of Things, which is a kind-of-but-not-really loosely organized concept album about a flood occurring in Neosho Falls, Kansas in 1951. Let’s just say that the results of the endeavor were uneven.
We start with “Ghosts,” on which Ezrin gets a writing credit. It’s the scene setter in many ways. A ballad, mellow, pleasant, but not much really to talk about.
Things crank up a little with “One Big Sky.” This is a typical mid-to-late 80s AOR rocker. It is pleasant, and I really like the vocal melodies on the chorus, and there is some good guitar work by Morse. However, the song suffers a little with the production. There is a background track of percussion (again, typical 80s) that makes it hard to distinguish what is actually Phil Ehart playing at points of the song (maybe it's just me). But still, not bad.
Next is “Inside of Me.” Not much to recommend here. I wish I could blame this one on the outside writers, but this is a product of Walsh and Morse, so no escape there.
“One Man, One Heart” is an attempt at a hit, written by 80s hitmakers Dann Huff and Mark Spiro. It is catchy, I suppose, but is fairly generic-sounding, especially for that period. It doesn’t sound like Kansas.
Next is “House on Fire” which opens with some tasty Morse guitar flash, engendering hopes for a good song. What we get is a standard 80s rocker, with disappointing lyrics. In fact, the bridge contains perhaps the worst, most frightening lyric in the Kansas corpus: “Fisted love fueling fantasy/Is love worth the fire he's asking for” *shudders*
“Once In A Lifetime” is a ballad that sounds pretty much nothing like anything that Kansas would ever write. Well, that’s because it was written by a trio of pop songwriting talents, Antonina Armato, Albert Hammond, and Dennis Morgan. To their credit, it’s an OK song, I guess, but it is definitely an attempt at a hit, and probably could have been one for Michael Bolton or Richard Marx, for whom it would have been better suited. For Kansas, not a highlight.
Next is “Stand Beside Me.” See my comments for “Once In A Lifetime.”
“I Counted On Love” demonstrates that Walsh and Morse were paying attention to the lessons taught by the outside songwriters with whom they were working.
With “The Preacher” we finally get a really cool Kansas song on this album. This is a really fun song with a good energy about it. It’s not a full-on prog song, a la older Kansas, but it has several proggish flairs throughout. Absolutely a standout for this album.
“Rainmaker” is a song that is frontloaded with story, lyrics that fit within the context of the concept album but are otherwise not all that great. The story is that a guy is posing as a rainmaker, and then does a little too good of a job. Interesting concept. Then, a cool instrumental section is featured, followed by a reprise of the chorus by a choir singing along with the band.
“T.O. Witcher” is a nice little acoustic guitar instrumental by Morse. Tasty, but not overlong. A good palette cleanser.
The album’s closer is “Bells of Saint James”, which also turns out to be one of the highlights of the album for me. Lyrically it is about a soldier on the front lines in the Korean conflict talking about letters he receives from his wife back in Kansas, and how the tone of the letters eventually changed for the worse (presumably reflecting the flood back home). Very touching, and different for Kansas, in a good way. The chorus is fantastic, featuring a great vocal melody for Walsh. A wonderful end to an uneven album.
All in all, the album was not a commercial success for the band. It only reached # 114 on the Billboard album chart, and only one single, “Stand Beside Me,” was released. It only made it to # 13 on the Mainstream Rock Chart, in spite of a video that received airplay on MTV. In The Spirit of Things was the first Kansas album to feature no hit single since Masque in 1975. While there are certainly a few highlights (The Preacher, Bells of Saint James), most of the album sounds like generic 80s movie soundtrack fodder (you older members may get that reference). The album did not receive much promotion from MCA, as they decided to focus more on up and coming acts rather than older acts like Kansas. This would be the band’s final album for a major label, and its final album to be released on vinyl.
The subsequent tour featured a live broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour from their stop in Philadelphia on February 14, 1989. This would eventually be released as a live album, but I will cover it in its order of release.
Steve Morse left the band at the end of the tour.
Overall, I actually like this album, but it is a step down from Power. It’s a shame that this lineup of the band would have its final product be something this uneven.
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Also, If you like the guest musician in that video, Warren Hamm, and if you like Christian music, specifically Livgens AD band, I recommend Prime Mover, on which Hamm did all of the vocals, and he and Livgren played all of the instruments. That's the album that has the "Jesus remake" of "Portrait" on it. Also, right after that, Kerry put out an all-instrumental album called "One of Several Possible Musiks," on which he played ALL of the instruments
I also recommend "When Things Get Electric," "Seeds of Change," and "Time Line." And "Portrait II" does rule. :metal
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Most people here know that I'm not a big fan of the 80's, and stuff like this is one of the reasons. In the old days, the suits had all the power; artists were just "product" for them, never to be confused with the actual talent. They considered themselves the talent. By the late 60's and into the 70's, this changed, and it was actually possible for bands to make music that was both interesting and reflected their vision. But by the 80's, things had somehow turned around again, and it was all about scoring the next big hit.
I could see bands just starting out being willing to compromise to score the break, letting the suits call the shots. Bring in outside writers, producers more loyal to the label than to the band, etc. But when a veteran act like Kansas reaches that point, it just seems like desperation. They no longer have enough game to sell albums, because they don't score hit singles, and that's all the labels care about. My other favorite geographically-named band (Chicago) did the same thing in the 80's. Let the suits bring in outside writers, resulting in music that apparently some people somewhere actually liked, but not me or any other longtime fans of the band. And apparently not even the band itself, because they never play these songs live.
Here, it's even worse because these songs weren't even hits. They were just crappy 80's songs on an album by a great 70's band trying to remain relevant (and failing, for the most part). It's sad.
I haven't listened to this one in at least 10 years. I have it, but honestly do not remember it at all, so I probably shouldn't comment until I've re-listened. But I had to react to the writeup while it was still fresh in my mind.
"Fisted love fueling fantasy/Is love worth the fire he's asking for" -- Sounds like she has a tough decision to make. Hope she's got some good lube. Is love worth it?
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Not that good of an album, but I do like Rainmaker quite a bit, and One Big Sky and Bells of Saint James are both good tunes. Not much else to say.
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Haven't been around in some time, glad I came back to see this thread! I will try to keep up with it.
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I felt that bob Ezrin did the same thing to Kiss with "The Elder" They are both very good albums but made at the wrong time of their careers. Power had some momentum this set them back. There was strife again in the band because of the direction and it was just the wrong album at the wrong time.
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I agree with all of that.
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The band was now in an interesting spot. They had been somewhat revitalized by the reformation of the band with guitarist Steve Morse, and had another hit with "All I Wanted", then followed it up with a mixed bag with In The Spirit of Things. Morse left the band at the end of the tour in 1989, which left the group in a bit of a pickle.
Then, in 1990, a promoter from Germany organized a tour of Europe for the band, for which he was able to get all of the original members (except Robby Steinhardt) to come back. New bassist Billy Greer stayed with the group for this tour, as did keyboardist Greg Roberts, who had toured with the band since 1986. At the end of that tour, Dave Hope again left the band, but Kerry Livgren decided to stay for a while.
In 1991, the band hired violinist David Ragsdale. This was huge, because it enabled the band to return to what originally made their sound different from other bands: three melodic instruments (guitar, keyboard, violin). This meant, from an immediate standpoint, that they could go back to the original arrangements of their older, classic songs during live performances, rather than the adapted arrangements they had gone to in their years without a violinist.
Livgren left the band again during the 1991 tour, and was replaced for the duration of that tour by Steve Morse again. Morse left for good at the end of the tour to join Deep Purple. This left Rich Williams as the only guitar player, and live arrangements were changed somewhat for Ragsdale to take some of the guitar parts on violin. This lineup of the band would be constant for the next several years.
During the 1992 tour the band recorded what would be their next release:
LIVE AT THE WHISKY (1992)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas_-_Live_at_the_Whisky_zpsgemnpb0s.jpg)
1. Introduction 1:04
2. Howlin’ At The Moon, from Magnum Opus 1:31
3. Paradox 4:11
4. Point of Know Return 4:44
5. Song For America 8:57
6. The Wall 6:07
7. Hold On 4:18
8. Dust in the Wind 3:52
9. Miracles Out of Nowhere 6:30
10. Mysteries and Mayhem 4:54
11. Portrait (He Knew) 5:45
12. Carry On Wayward Son 6:51
13. Down The Road 5:51
14. Lonely Street (bonus track) 6:28
This performance was recorded on April 5, 1992 at the Whisky A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, California (except for Lonely Street, which was from a performance recorded in 1975 in Cleveland). It was recorded “in one take,” according to the liner notes. Even though he was not a full-time member of the band anymore, Kerry Livgren sat in on three songs (Dust in the Wind, Carry On Wayward Son, and Lonely Street). I’ve got to tell you, the setlist is pretty great, and musically, the performance is mostly really good. The only drawback is the vocal by Walsh. It is not fantastic. Apparently he was very fatigued, and also dealing with substance abuse issues. Having said that, the less-than-perfect vocal doesn’t bother me all that much. It is a really “live” performance, and overall it is pretty great, IMO.
Issued on Intersound Records, this was the first Kansas release not on a major label. It was also the first not to reach the album chart. Which is a shame.
A German release got a different bonus track: Journey From Mariabronn. Never been jealous of the Germans before, but I am now.
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Believe it or not, this is the one album I do not own. I have heard it and maybe it's first impression was the reason I never got it. I'm not sure now that time has passed by.
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CARRY ON (1992)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/KansasCarryOn_zpsztadkaiq.jpg)
1. Carry On Wayward Son
2. What’s on my Mind
3. The Wall
4. Dust in the Wind
5. Can I Tell You
6. People of the South Wind
7. It Takes a Woman’s Love (To Make a Man)
8. Child of Innocence
9. Two Cents Worth
10. On The Other Side
Also released in 1992 was the band’s second compilation album, Carry On. It’s basically another take on a Greatest Hits-type package. The collection was actually released earlier in 1992, before Live at the Whisky, but that release went better with my story, so I went with that first. Also, this is just another collection. It’s OK for what it is, I guess, but it leaves out some that I would certainly have included, and includes some that I just as certainly would have left out. Probably for collectors or completists only.
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Never had a need to get this.
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Never had a need to get this.
Neither did anyone else.
Just trying to do as complete of a discography as I can.
Whenever there are other "nonessential" releases like this one, I will do an extra mid-week post like this.
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I always find it amusing when the suits release a greatest hits thing featuring the original or classic lineup, years after that lineup has disappeared. I'm not gonna bother with the math, but looking at the track list, every song on here was at least 10 years old at the time, more like 15. This was purely to have "new" product out there with the Kansas name on it. In that way, it may have slightly helped sales of "Live at the Whisky" but who knows?
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Never had a need to get this.
Neither did anyone else.
Just trying to do as complete of a discography as I can.
Whenever there are other "nonessential" releases like this one, I will do an extra mid-week post like this.
I figured. I really like the next studio album. I may listen to it now.
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THE KANSAS BOXED SET (1994)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/KansasBoxed_zps6cxjdmpf.gif)
Disc One:
1. Can I Tell You (Demo, 1973) 4:20
2. Death of Mother Nature Suite (Live) 9:00
3. Journey From Mariabronn 7:57
4. Song For America 10:02
5. The Devil Game 5:04
6. Incomudro – Hymn to the Atman (Live) 16:08
7. Child of Innocence 4:33
8. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel 6:04
9. Mysteries and Mayhem 4:20
10. The Pinnacle 9:36
Disc Two:
1. Carry On Wayward Son 5:22
2. The Wall 4:47
3. What’s On My Mind 3:27
4. Opus Insert 4:25
5. Magnum Opus 8:25
6. Point of Know Return 3:12
7. Portrait (He Knew) 4:34
8. Dust in the Wind 3:29
9. Closet Chronicles 6:31
10. People of the South Wind 3:39
11. On the Other Side (Live) 6:43
12. A Glimpse of Home 6:36
13. Relentless 4:57
14. Loner 2:30
15. Hold On 3:53
16. Wheels 4:32
This was the band’s first really successful career overview. The collection only covers their output from the original lineup, from Kansas through Audio-Visions. It emphasizes the progressive rock stylings that originally made the band successful in the first place. It also featured supervisory input from all of the band members, which wasn’t the case on The Best of Kansas (Elefante) or Carry On (label).
The music included is mostly fantastic (as you can see), especially Disc One. Disc Two also features a new song by the then-current lineup of the band (including Dave Ragsdale on violin), “Wheels,” which was the first new Kansas material in six years. Also, the included book is extremely informative, and to be honest it provided the backbone of my writing this thread. Filled with interviews and observations, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
This collection is the reason that Kansas is so important to me. When this came out, I was not really much of a Kansas fan. I knew the radio hits, and I had The Best of Kansas on cassette, but I didn’t know any of their deeper cuts, or their really progressive stuff. I had only gotten into Dream Theater in 1992 with Images & Words, so I was still learning about how interesting and varied rock music could be. I bought this on a whim, and it served to further open my mind to progressive rock, and became (along with Dream Theater) the foundation of all future musical discovery and love. If I could only pick five albums to have for the rest of my life, this would probably be one of them. Truth.
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I bought this damn thing for the song "Wheels". :lol
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I bought this damn thing for the song "Wheels". :lol
Well, OK.
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I did but I played the he'll out of this box set because at the time, I only had the old Kansas on albums.
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Damn it, I was hoping we'd finally get to Freaks of Nature, yet another damn live or compilation album gets in its way. :censored :facepalm:
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This collection is the reason that Kansas is so important to me. When this came out, I was not really much of a Kansas fan. I knew the radio hits, and I had The Best of Kansas on cassette, but I didn’t know any of their deeper cuts, or their really progressive stuff. I had only gotten into Dream Theater in 1992 with Images & Words, so I was still learning about how interesting and varied rock music could be. I bought this on a whim, and it served to further open my mind to progressive rock, and became (along with Dream Theater) the foundation of all future musical discovery and love. If I could only pick five albums to have for the rest of my life, this would probably be one of them. Truth.
I love stories like this. Stories of musical awakening, when you first realize that there's more out there than what you hear on the radio, or the stuff your friends and/or siblings have introduced you to. It's more special when you discover it yourself; it becomes personal to you. No one told you about this music. You did this on your own, and no one can ever take that away from you.
The collection itself looks fine to me, and although there are a few rarities on it, and the book, I probably will never get it. But thanks for the review.
Also, kudos for BOXED set, which to me is the correct term, not box set. The set is boxed. It is not box.
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Damn it, I was hoping we'd finally get to Freaks of Nature, yet another damn live or compilation album gets in its way. :censored :facepalm:
Patience.
This collection is the reason that Kansas is so important to me. When this came out, I was not really much of a Kansas fan. I knew the radio hits, and I had The Best of Kansas on cassette, but I didn’t know any of their deeper cuts, or their really progressive stuff. I had only gotten into Dream Theater in 1992 with Images & Words, so I was still learning about how interesting and varied rock music could be. I bought this on a whim, and it served to further open my mind to progressive rock, and became (along with Dream Theater) the foundation of all future musical discovery and love. If I could only pick five albums to have for the rest of my life, this would probably be one of them. Truth.
I love stories like this. Stories of musical awakening, when you first realize that there's more out there than what you hear on the radio, or the stuff your friends and/or siblings have introduced you to. It's more special when you discover it yourself; it becomes personal to you. No one told you about this music. You did this on your own, and no one can ever take that away from you.
The collection itself looks fine to me, and although there are a few rarities on it, and the book, I probably will never get it. But thanks for the review.
Also, kudos for BOXED set, which to me is the correct term, not box set. The set is boxed. It is not box.
:tup
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Meh, considering the last three albums featured have been live or compilation albums, I think I've been plenty patient. :biggrin:
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Meh, considering the last three albums featured have been live or compilation albums, I think I've been plenty patient. :biggrin:
I'm trying to be thorough. It's not my fault that they (or their label) released so many non-new material projects.
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FREAKS OF NATURE (1995)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas_-_Freaks_of_Nature_zpseesg3tja.jpg)
“Floods of memories came back to me
All the things we got away with when we were younger”
1. I Can Fly (Ragsdale, Walsh) 5:21
2. Desperate Times (Walsh) 5:25
3. Hope Once Again (Walsh) 4:34
4. Black Fathom 4 (Ragsdale, Walsh) 5:54
5. Under the Knife (Ragsdale, Walsh) 4:54
6. Need (Walsh) 3:59
7. Freaks of Nature (Ragsdale, Walsh, Ehart) 5:05
8. Cold Grey Morning (Livgren) 4:14
9. Peaceful and Warm (Walsh) 6:44
The current lineup of the band had been continuing to tour, but they decided to make another go at writing and recording an album of new material. This would be David Ragsdale’s first studio album with the band, which meant two important things:
1. A return to the original sonic template of three melodic instruments (guitar, keys, violin)
2. A return to writing progressive rock music.
For some reason, the band went to Trinidad to record the album. Maybe it was the island air, I don’t know, but something made the inner prog come back out from the band, and they delivered a good album.
The first track, “I Can Fly”, opens with some interesting intertwining of guitar, key, and violin in almost a counterpoint. Walsh’s vocals soar, and there are appropriately wonderful twists and turns throughout. The opener is a prog rocker of the first degree, almost venturing into prog metal at several points. An extremely satisfying opener.
“Desperate Times” is another high-energy rocker with fantastic musicianship. Lots of interesting passages, including a drum solo passage that doesn’t suck, and Ragsdale sounds fantastic.
Next is “Hope Once Again”, a ballad featuring keyboard and violin in prominent roles. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but it has a wonderful melody line, and Ragsdale again plays a major role.
“Black Fathom 4” has a sinister feel and a sinister lyric, as well. This is a rarely seen side of Kansas, but it works to great effect here. It is a little more straightforward than some of the other pieces on this album, but it does not fail to deliver.
“Under the Knife” is another song with a little more straightforward structure, a medium-tempo piece. I’m not sure what it is about lyrically, but it is a compelling song with great melodies.
“Need” is another ballad. Not much to tell here, probably the weak point of the album, but not bad.
“Freaks of Nature” has a high-energy intro, which matches the “choruses” of the songs. These passages feature syncopated runs that sound almost like something that Dream Theater might write (same with the extended instrumental section of the song). Phil Ehart is fantastic on this song. I love this song, so much going on, so many tasty pieces. It’s one of those songs that you can pick up different things on every listen.
The next track is a songwriting contribution from Kerry Livgren, who although not a current member of the band was still “in the family.” “Cold Grey Morning” is another cool mid-tempo track, with interesting lyrics, nice vocal delivery from Walsh, and Ragsdale shining once again.
The album closes out with “Peaceful and Warm”, which starts out as an acoustic ballad accented by violin, somewhat reminiscent (structurally, anyway) of “Dust in the Wind”. It is a wonderfully intimate performance, with evocative lyrics, and does a good job of cleansing the pallet. Until the second half of the song, when it morphs into something else altogether – an uplifting, majestic instrumental piece, which once more shows the fantastic musicianship of this incredible band.
I must say that I absolutely LOVE this album. Coming in at a concise 45:14 length, it is a return to the form that Kansas showed in earlier albums, albeit with a little heavier edge than most of their previous work. In my opinion, this is Kansas’s finest album since Point of Know Return. For me, the two stars of the album are Dave Ragsdale and Phil Ehart. I’ve already sang Ragsdale’s praises a lot here, but Ehart is a beast on this album. I cannot recommend this one highly enough.
However, Freaks of Nature met with little success. Two edited singles were released (“Desperate Times” and “Hope Once Again”), but neither made the chart. The album as a whole didn’t make the album chart, either, which makes this album, as much as I like it, the first Kansas release not to appear on any Billboard chart. It’s a shame, really. After a time of wandering, the band had apparently gotten everything together again, but were unable to reap the rewards they deserved.
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Loved this album and saw them on this tour. I Can Fly & Under the Knife are my favorites.
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I wanted to listen to this album during the week in preparation for this post but wasn't able to find the time. [edit]remove excuses[/edit]
I'll see about getting that remedied this weekend.
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I had no idea. I'd given up on Kansas long before this album came out, and I don't think I've ever listened to it. I will try to remedy that.
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I turned 22 on July 13, 1995, and on that day, several friends and I went to see Kansas at Union Station downtown, back when KSHE-95 would have several free concerts there a year - we also saw Foghat and Blue Oyster Cult there for free around the same time period. I believe this was not long after I had gotten into the band, so I was eager to see them play all of that great 70s material that had gotten me into the band, and while they did play a bunch of that, they also played four new songs: Desperate Times, Under the Knife, Black Fathom 4 and Hope Once Again. I thought they were all great, and I immediately went out and bought the Freaks of Nature CD, which I quickly became a big fan of. Every song was good, and most of them were really good.
The following year when I saw on the Kansas/Styx co-headlining tour (which was also Styx's Return to Paradise comeback tour), they played Hope Once Again and I Can Fly, so they didn't immediately abandon songs from this record live. Sadly, like you said, hef, the lack of sales for this record weren't good, which is a shame because it is a darn good record.
Notable, too, is that while Steve Walsh's voice still sounds good, the effect of years of smoking cigarettes is clear from the start here. He sounds pretty strained on that opening passage of I Can Fly, making it clear from the start that Steve Walsh's voice was forever-damaged, but his vocals are still an asset on this record.
David Ragsdale's solo in Hope Once Again is one of the best solos of any kind of a Kansas studio album, IMO. And the guitar solo that follows it is pretty great, too.
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Crap, that's right, I saw them with Styz first then with Kansas and that was at a small venue.
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I'm not even sure if the Kansas/Styx co-headlining thing lasted for the whole tour. I suspect promoters underestimated the allure of that comeback Styx tour, but the following year, Styx was headlining all by themselves and our outdoor venue here was still pretty packed for them (Pat Benatar was the opener for that tour).
Those remain the only two times I've seen Kansas.
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I had no idea. I'd given up on Kansas long before this album came out, and I don't think I've ever listened to it. I will try to remedy that.
Curious to hear your thoughts on it!
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Crap, that's right, I saw them with Styz first then with Kansas and that was at a small venue.
I'm curious to hear more about Styz!
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Crap, that's right, I saw them with Styz first then with Kansas and that was at a small venue.
I'm curious to hear more about Styz!
They were hip. Fo Shizil
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I had no idea. I'd given up on Kansas long before this album came out, and I don't think I've ever listened to it. I will try to remedy that.
Curious to hear your thoughts on it!
I've listened to the first half so far. Not bad! I do like the return to "the Kansas sound" with the violin in there mixing it up with the keyboards and guitar, although I personally would stop short of calling it prog. Better than pop, certainly rock with some real chops, but not quite full-blown prog in the traditional sense. But then, no two people in the world agree what "prog" is anyway, so if it's prog to you, then cool. It's still basic 4/4 stuff with a solid backbeat. No ventures into odd meters, contrasting movements within songs, etc. But definitely better than your garden variety pop dreck, and reminiscent of early Kansas.
Kev's right, though, in that Walsh's voice is pretty ghastly. "I Can Fly" musically is very cool, but man, Walsh sounds like he's straining the entire time. He just doesn't have the strength in the upper register anymore. He actually sounds better on some of the next few tracks, so I'm guessing they chose the opener because it comes out of the gate firing on all four, but wow, the voice caught my attention right away, and not in a good way.
I was listening in my car, half deaf on the way home from band practice. I'll check out the rest, then give the whole thing another spin.
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Not to pull a Kotowboy by jumping ahead ;), but the opening vocal section of Icarus II also has a few notes that are kinda painful to listen to.
And I tried watching the There's Know Place Like Home DVD at a friend's about a month ago, but after several songs, we had to turn it off thanks to how terrible Walsh sounded. What a shame that a guy who in his prime was as good as anybody ever, has fallen so far.
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Okay, upon a second listen, and most of a third, I take it back. There's definitely some prog going on in here. I guess I was so blown away by Walsh's voice that I completely forgot about everything from about 3 minutes on in "I Can Fly". Cool stuff. Nice cut right to "Desperate Times" as the follow-up; almost no break (on my iPod, anyway). "Hope Once Again" was okay, but not quite my thing. Things picked back up again with "Black Fathom 4" and "Under the Knife". "Need" was a little meh, but not horrible I guess. Basically, my thoughts on pretty much everything echo yours (Hef). The thing at the end of "Peaceful and Warm" caught me off guard. I only glanced through your track-specific comments before, to avoid spoilers. Very cool, and a great way to end the album.
It's too bad. This album should've been the great Kansas comeback. A return to form, and (mostly) a return to their original sound. The only thing missing is the amazing two-part vocal harmonies of Walsh and Steinhardt, or just Robbie's voice, which was a nice contrast to Steve's and great in its own right. I always loved that about early Kansas, and felt that it really helped emphasize their Folk roots. But you can't have everything. I suspect that most longtime Kansas fans had given up on them by this point. I didn't know anyone who'd even heard the album, so there was no one to tell me "Hey, this is really good stuff, very much like the early sound." Until now, so thanks for turning me on to this! ♫♫
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:tup
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Glad you're liking it, Orbert!
Really, me getting into was just luck as far as getting into them when I did and just happening to see them when they were playing some of the Freaks of Nature material. Had it been years later, given the average reviews of it, I might not have bothered.
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I had a chance to have a multi-task type listen yesterday and really enjoyed having it on. "Hope Once Again" and "Black Fathom 4" really jumped out at me, but that could have been more because of the task I was doing at the time allowed me to keep more of an ear available. While having it on, there were several moments that demanded my attention in a good way: "...whoa, that's cool."
I'm looking forward to having a proper listen!
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Bonus mid-week selection!
ALWAYS NEVER THE SAME (1998)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas_-_Always_Never_the_Same_zpsqvfnz4z3.jpg)
“Lay my heart besides your soul
Don't let the tears blur the vision in your eyes”
1. Eleanor Rigby (Lennon, McCarthy) 3:22
2. Dust in the Wind (Livgren) 4:01
3. Preamble (Baird) 3:25
4. Song For America (Livgren) 9:15
5. In Your Eyes (Walsh) 4:30
6. Miracles Out of Nowhere (Livgren) 6:27
7. Hold On (Livgren) 4:18
8. The Sky is Falling (Walsh) 7:50
9. Cheyenne Anthem (Livgren) 7:29
10. Prelude & Introduction (Kansas, Baird) 4:53
11. The Wall (Livgren, Walsh) 5:29
12. Need to Know (Walsh) 4:02
13. Nobody’s Home (Livgren, Walsh) 6:04
Through late 1997 to early 1998, the band recorded a new project called Always Never the Same with the London Symphony Orchestra. The recording was done at Abbey Road Studios in London with director/composer Larry Baird.
The album is largely a set of covers of previous songs, along with new songs “In Your Eyes”, “The Sky is Falling”, and “Need to Know”. There is also a composition by Baird called “Prelude”, which serves as an intro for “Song For America,” as well as a piece called “Prelude & Introduction” which is a medley of various Kansas songs. The band also did a cover of “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles, the first cover to appear on a Kansas recording since the debut album (J.J. Cale’s “Bringing It Back”).
In my opinion, the classic Kansas songs featured on this release lend themselves well to this format. The orchestra works well with these prog compositions. My personal favorites are “Dust in the Wind”, “Song For America”, and “The Wall”. Also, a song that normally doesn’t do much for me, “Cheyenne Anthem”, comes across very well with this accompaniment (so naturally, you guys that already love this one will probably hate it lol).
“In Your Eyes” is a good, uplifting song, and the orchestra works well with the composition, while allowing the band to shine through on this new piece. I like it quite a bit, and it isn’t dependent on the orchestra; it would be a good song on its own.
“The Sky is Falling” opens with an orchestral flourish, but then descends into a fairly pedestrian rocker. The orchestral contributions after the intro seem out of place, as the song is a blues and riff based rocker, and in the middle of the song it switches mood again to an almost triumphant symphonic instrumental section. This song can’t figure out what it wants to be.
“Prelude & Introduction” is a really cool medley of themes from various other Kansas songs not featured on this recording. It’s not something I could listen to a lot, but it is very interesting.
“Need to Know” is a simpler song, consisting not of verses and choruses but of three stanzas. This one starts off very sparse and mellow, before the full band coming in on the last stanza. Very nice.
Apparently, the band also recorded “Carry On Wayward Son” with the orchestra as well, but held it out in case the recording was popular enough to warrant a second such collaboration. Sales were not large (which is a shame), so that recording has never seen the light of day.
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Argh, I've been listening to Somewhere to Elsewhere. I was actually kinda proud of the fact that I was keeping up for once, but mostly, I didn't think I had this one, but it seems I do. More Kansas to check out!
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Argh, I've been listening to Somewhere to Elsewhere. I was actually kinda proud of the fact that I was keeping up for once, but mostly, I didn't think I had this one, but it seems I do. More Kansas to check out!
:lol
Just keeping you on your toes, Orbert!
I love Somewhere to Elsewhere, and we will get there soon enough.
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When we first got broadband in our house, way back in the early 2000's, I went a little nuts and downloaded entire albums, often entire discographies, of pretty much every band I like or have been meaning to check out. I think I have around 300 or 400gb of tunes now, but it doesn't all fit on my iPod, so I have to choose what I have at my immediate disposal. Somewhere to Elsewhere is on my iPod, but apparently I chose not to put Always Never the Same on it. Probably because it's not a "regular" studio album. But I found it on the PC, and will be transferring it so I can check it out.
Note: Thread title needs updating.
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When we first got broadband in our house, way back in the early 2000's, I went a little nuts and downloaded entire albums, often entire discographies, of pretty much every band I like or have been meaning to check out. I think I have around 300 or 400gb of tunes now, but it doesn't all fit on my iPod, so I have to choose what I have at my immediate disposal. Somewhere to Elsewhere is on my iPod, but apparently I chose not to put Always Never the Same on it. Probably because it's not a "regular" studio album. But I found it on the PC, and will be transferring it so I can check it out.
Cool.
Note: Thread title needs updating.
:tup
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KING BISCUIT FLOWER HOUR PRESENTS KANSAS (1998)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/kansas_-_king_biscuit_flower_hour_a_zpsxk7jlojj.jpg)
1. Magnum Opus (Howlin’ at the Moon)
2. One Big Sky
3. Paradox
4. Point of Know Return
5. The Wall
6. All I Wanted
7. T.O. Witcher
8. Dust in the Wind
9. Miracles Out of Nowhere
10. The Preacher
11. House on Fire
12. Carry On Wayward Son
This is the band’s third released live album. However, in order of performance/recording, it is the second. The band’s show at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia on February 14, 1989 was broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour, who eventually released the performance on CD nine years later, long after guitarist Steve Morse had left the band. There were two additional songs performed that night that weren’t captured for recording or broadcast, "Play the Game Tonight" and a cover of "Born to be Wild" (so no great loss).
It’s a good snapshot of the band’s live performances during this period. The music is mostly very good, and frankly Walsh sound pretty good through most of it as well. This lineup handles the older songs very well, IMHO. The performance of "House on Fire" is much longer than the studio version (including some padding by Mr. Morse, but I’ll take it). The only drawback for me is there a couple of “crowd interaction” spots that seem a little cheesy to me. But that’s just me.
Since I like this lineup, I like this album. If you do, you probably will, as well.
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This is pretty much the set they played when I saw them on this tour with Night Ranger opening, and it was a really, really good show. Though my lasting memory of that night was a drunk guy at the club I saw them at mistaking me for a friend and giving me shots off the bottle of tequila he'd snuck in. When the bouncers spotted his bottle and took it away from him, he appeared a few minutes later with two colossal beers he'd bought and gave one to me. :rollin
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This is pretty much the set they played when I saw them on this tour with Night Ranger opening, and it was a really, really good show. Though my lasting memory of that night was a drunk guy at the club I saw them at mistaking me for a friend and giving me shots off the bottle of tequila he'd snuck in. When the bouncers spotted his bottle and took it away from him, he appeared a few minutes later with two colossal beers he'd bought and gave one to me. :rollin
:metal
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THE BEST OF KANSAS – REISSUE (1999)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/The-Best-of-Kansas_zpskfigs3jz.jpg)
1. Carry On Wayward Son
2. Point of Know Return
3. Fight Fire With Fire
4. Dust in the Wind
5. Song For America
6. Hold On
7. No One Together
8. Play the Game Tonight
9. The Wall
10. The Pinnacle
11. The Devil Game
12. Closet Chronicles (Live)
In 1999, the decision was made for the band to reissue their Best of release from 1984, but this time with input from the entire band. The resulting compilation is, in my opinion, more deserving of the compilation’s title than the earlier release.
The differences featured on the reissue:
1. Use the original mixes for “Carry On Wayward Son” and “The Wall” instead of the remixes done specifically for the 1984 compilation
2. Lose the Elefante song “Perfect Lover”
3. Adding “The Pinnacle” and “The Devil Game”
4. Adding a live version of “Closet Chronicles” that had originally been deleted from the CD release of Two For the Show.
This is now a pretty good compilation, although in all honesty, I would probably have left off the other two Elefante-era songs as well in favor of some other tunes from the first three albums, but that’s just me. They were hits, so I can’t really argue with them being included.
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Agreed. I must say, I've never understood including alternate versions of songs instead of the original on a compilation like this. If you want to include it as a bonus track, sure, it could be interesting. But "Carry On Wayward Son" was their breakthrough hit, and still one of my all-time favorites of theirs. If I'd bought the original Best of album and found out that they'd given me some other version, and I didn't even get the one I wanted in the first place, I'd be pretty annoyed.
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So I finally got a chance to listen to Always Never the Same. I'm not impressed. It seems like both a missed opportunity and a rather strange creation in the first place. I'm gonna go ahead and lay out my critiques, and it's gonna sound pretty damning, but I suppose that's the nature of critique. It's always easier to find things you feel went wrong or fell short of the mark than to note everything that didn't stick out.
For some reason, I thought that this was recorded live. I don't know why; it doesn't say that anywhere, and you didn't say it in your review, but a lot of bands have done the "perform live with an orchestra" thing so I guess I thought this was one of them. So that threw me off at first, but I got over it, and I can't count it against the band or anything, although it does raise the question "Why?" Why go to all the trouble to come up with all these arrangements and record with an orchestra and perform it for... no one?
I understand the allure of performing with an orchestra. I've played in orchestras, and it's great. It's amazing being part of a truly massive sound, a composition much larger than you could ever perform yourself. And as someone who's played in rock bands, I understand the allure of having your band augmented by an orchestra. Many bands have done it. But few have done it well. Most sound like everyone got caught up in the idea, then turned over the task of arranging it all to some music school grad student. You've got a whole orchestra to work with, and that's actually a hell of a burden. You have to find something worthwhile for most if not all players to do, and the songs just didn't have that in mind when they were written. Even Kansas songs, which like most prog is quite "orchestral" in nature, doesn't have nearly the complexity to keep an entire orchestra busy. So the arranger must walk the line between adding things that embellish the original tune, and throwing in too much and making it just sound cheesy and wrong. There's also erring on the side of being too lean; the really big moments could and should be huge. Make them huge!
Everyone's taste is different, but I often found myself wondering why the arranger even thought that adding a certain part was a good idea, other than it gave the brass something to do, or woodwinds. And there were a few times when I would've gone for more, and he chose to keep it simple. Could I have done a better job? Hell, no. Well, maybe, given enough time. Maybe that was the issue. A lot of it does sound rushed.
The track listing is weird. The "Prelude & Introduction" was clearly meant to be the opener, to set the mood, etc., but for some reason they buried it in the middle of the album. You're listening, finally coming to terms with what they've done, and then there's this interlude medley thing. Why not start the album with it, as it was so obviously meant to be?
Instead, they start with a Beatles cover? And a kinda bad one, at that? That amazing ascending line which comes in on the third verse of the original and adds poignancy and character is instead played all three verses, therefore robbing the song of any payoff and at the same time robbing the line itself of any real meaning. Less can be more. It seems like they just went for more here.
Oh crap, I'm not gonna go through it track by track. I'll just say that I was looking forward to hearing some great Kansas songs embellished by an orchestra, and instead got an album of mediocre covers. Between Walsh's voice being completely blown and sounding nothing like on the original recordings, changing the arrangements for no good reason (and often to the detriment of the composition), and a combination of Baird's pointless additions and glaring omissions, they sounded kinda a Kansas cover band recording with a high school orchestra and thinking that it turned out pretty cool, when instead it was just kinda meh.
If you like Kansas, I can see you getting into this, or maybe just being turned off by it. I fall into the second category. My handicap is that I know the original arrangements inside and out, so when he takes out a section of "Song for America", I miss it, and when he repeats a section of "The Wall", it sticks out.
Yes did it properly. When the original keyboard parts evoked brass, they used brass. When the original arrangement evoked woodwinds, they used woodwinds. The songs were embellished and augmented, but it felt very organic, and they didn't do things like cut sections out or repeat other sections randomly. The song structure was the same.
Our own Dream Theater did it properly. Not just the pieces that originally had orchestra, but the "Six Degrees" suite as well, and for the same reasons. It was organic. The execution, unfortunately, had some issues, but I thought the arrangements were great.
Heck, while we're at it, even KISS did a better job of using an orchestra. Ever heard Alive IV? I was really surprised.
Here, there are too many times when the arranger took it upon himself to change the tone. That heavy, driving feel in "Cheyenne Anthem" when the White Man shows up is instead underplayed and thus loses all impact. The fugue section in "Miracles out of Nowhere" has too much dynamic contrast between parts. It's not a fugue if you do that, dummy! The whole point of a fugue is the counterpoint, the interweaving of contrasting parts. If some parts are loud and some are in the background, you completely lose that.
Basically, things were changed just because he thought it would be cool to do something different, things were added that just didn't work, and opportunities were missed to actually embellish the arrangements. I find the whole thing rather mediocre, and result is rendered pointless.
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Thanks for the input, Orbert! I'm sorry you didn't like it more.
It is indeed a strange animal. Neither fish nor fowl.
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I'm just blown away that Bob listened to Kiss Alive IIII ! :lol
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I see you don't type Roman numerals any better than you type English.
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Thanks for the input, Orbert! I'm sorry you didn't like it more.
It is indeed a strange animal. Neither fish nor fowl.
I waver between trying not to consider myself a musical snob and wearing the label proudly. It's both a blessing and a curse to know a lot about music. When something's done right, I can really appreciate it, but when something's done wrong (IMO of course), it bugs me more than I assume it would most people.
But rather than just say it was meh, I guess I felt the need to explain myself. Then the coffee kicked in and, well... you see what happened!
I'm just blown away that Bob listened to Kiss Alive IIII ! :lol
I had to. I watched the DVD and enjoyed it far more than I thought I would, so I had to check out the album (which basically sounds the same, but that's a good thing).
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I see you don't type Roman numerals any better than you type English.
:lol
Crap IV
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(https://www.woodbridgefurniture.com.au/image/cache/data/SHA_WDP020_1024-500x500.jpg)
(https://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/pc5/5Rz/pc55RzRcB.jpeg)
(https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516PClkq--L._SY300_.jpg)
(https://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/@0_mall/arne-style/cabinet/0093/0093a00268.jpg)
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Now I want to listen to Pink Floyd.
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SOMEWHERE TO ELSEWHERE (2000)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/kansassomewhere_zpsycn46yly.jpg)
“And I will walk with you
On the shores of the land of promises that
Blind men see you too
I'd sail a thousand seas to make it so”
1. Icarus II (Livgren) 7:17
2. When the World was Young (Livgren) 5:50
3. Grand Fun Alley (Livgren) 4:38
4. The Coming Dawn (Thanatopsis) (Livgren) 5:44
5. Myriad (Livgren) 8:55
6. Look at the Time (Livgren) 5:37
7. Disappearing Skin Tight Blues (Livgren) 7:02
8. Distant Vision (Livgren) 8:48
9. Byzantium (Livgren) 4:15
10. Not Man Big (Livgren) 8:49
11. Geodesic Dome (Hidden Track) (Livgren) 1:24
In 2000, Kerry Livgren was writing a batch of new songs, but he felt that they all sounded more like Kansas songs than anything else. So he called Phil Ehart and told him about it, and the two wound up getting all six original members of the band (plus Billy Greer) to come back to Kansas to record a new album made up of these songs.
Somewhere to Elsewhere definitely marks a full return to the original free-wheeling American progressive rock sound of the Kansas heyday. It is full of compositions fully the equal of the band’s first five albums in terms of ambition and scope.
The first track is “Icarus II”, a sequel to Masque’s “Icarus-Borne on Wings of Steel.” This is an absolute masterpiece, and a wonderful choice for an album opener. Lyrically, it is about combat pilots, engaging their enemies in the skies. Musically, it is a master class, and the nods to the original song are subtle but present, and there are plenty of original hooks as well. Gorgeous. And, I might add, IMHO this song is better than the original.
“When the World Was Young” opens up with a blistering riff, and gives way to a mid-tempo rocker. The chorus features Steve Walsh hitting the lowest note I’ve heard from him (and one he probably shouldn’t have attempted in the first place), but otherwise, he sounds pretty good here. The song doesn’t have all that much going on until the opening riff shows up again to go to the instrumental section, which is pretty cool. The music after the last chorus features a nod to Leftoverture’s “Magnum Opus.”
“Grand Fun Alley” is another mid-tempo song featuring a Robby Steinhardt vocal. It features a smoother delivery with a funky feel to it. It’s kind of fun, but nothing really special.
“The Coming Dawn (Thanatopsis)” is a keyboard-based ballad that at first seems somewhat simple, but has a subtle grace. The lyrics are uplifting, and the instrumental section features some interesting progressions. And the violin work over the outro is nice as well. I love this song. It makes me happy.
The next song, “Myriad”, starts off with some low-key piano work, but winds up as a really nice rocking tune. Some nice lead guitar work, as well. The instrumental section leading up to the first vocals has a great classic Kansas feel, very much like something that could have fit on the first three albums. The vocal section in the middle of the instrumental section is really cool. In many ways, this song is a real throwback, and in a good way. Lot to love here.
“Look at the Time”, for me, has almost a Beatles feel to it, especially the verses. Maybe that’s offbase, but that’s how it hits me. The rest of the song is all Kansas. The instrumental section is nice, too. I like this song a lot, but given the relative strength of some of the rest of the tracks on the album, it can sometimes get lost for me.
Up next is “Disappearing Skin Tight Blues”. The piano & violin intro is a haunting melody, which gives way to a blues/boogie song, reminiscent of some songs on the oldest Kansas albums. Steinhardt delivers the gruff vocal as only he can. The chorus reminds me of something from the Little River Band. This song isn’t like most of the others on the album, but it definitely leaves a smile on my face.
“Distant Visions” may be the proggiest song in the entire Kansas discography. In just the intro section alone, there are multiple changes, in mood, tempo, time signature, and feel. Once the lyrics come in, it calms down a little, but the lyrics are SO GOOD. The instrumental section in the middle of the song is also incredibly satisfying. When everything is wrapped up, I am left with what is for sure one of my favorite Kansas songs. I mean, I don’t want to oversell it or anything, but I think it is fantastic.
“Byzantium” has (fittingly) a real Middle Eastern feel. That feel, combined with the lyrical content, make this song unlike most others by Kansas; at the same time, it also feels like a classic Kansas tune. That is one of the gifts of this band when they are operating on all cylinders. Great song.
“Not Man Big” has a lyrical base in, well, I don’t know. I don’t really understand what’s going on here. But the music is cool. I love hearing what the rest of the band is doing underneath the keyboard solo in the instrumental break, some really tasty stuff there. Other than that, it’s an OK song. Doesn’t really hold up to the rest of the album, but it’s OK.
There is a hidden track following “Not Man Big” called “Geodesic Dome”. It’s a very short piece, sounds like it was recorded on a portable recorder, played on acoustic guitar with slide. Kind of a nonsense piece, it reminds me of the track “Love for Sale” at the end of Bon Jovi’s New Jersey album. It’s a fun ending to the album.
Somewhere to Elsewhere was released on July 11, 2000 on Magna Carta records, which was a real shame, since they did absolutely NOTHING to promote the album. That’s depressing, especially given the quality of the music contained herein. There was originally a two-album deal with Magna Carta, but after the non-promotion of this project, Steinhardt and Livgren left the band again, and the contract fell apart. So this album was written and recorded with the best of intentions, and with great results, and then went promptly nowhere. Which sucks for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that this is the band’s best album since at least Point of Know Return, and easily belongs in the company of those magical first five albums.
To date, this remains the last studio album by Kansas.
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It's a great album and I saw them touring for this. Robbie was still with them at the time which was a real treat.
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Right now I'm having my first listen ever.
:omg:
*runs off to Amazon*
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As I mentioned upthread, I had this one on my iPod from years ago, but I don't think I'd ever listened to it.
I had no idea that this was basically the original Kansas lineup, complete with awesome new songs by Kerry Livgren. As I was listening to it, it seemed like a worthy follow-up to Freaks of Nature. They're really getting that old-school Kansas sound down. Man, that other singer even sounds like he could be Robbie, 20 years older. Steve even sounds a little better (but still pretty ragged).
Then I find out it is Robbie, it is the original lineup (plus one), and the songs are great because Kerry wrote them. Whoa. That explains a lot.
The musical nods to the original "Icarus" are well done. Very nice. Also, "When the World was Young" has a riff in it that reminds me of "Sparks of the Tempest" (I think it was), and then they actually quote "Magnum Opus". I thought that that was kinda cool, but if they'd included one more "by the way, this is the original band, you know" it would've been too much. Thankfully, they knew when to stop.
I agree with the review and all the comments thus far. Great stuff! And a damned shame that Magna Carta left this hidden gem to gather dust. As with Freaks of Nature, I had no idea that Kansas was Kansas again, and this time even moreso! Oh well, if you're gonna go out, go out on a high note, and this is certainly one. If this is to be the last Kansas album, I'm glad that they came back to the original band and the original sound.
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I hadn't given Kansas much thought since seeing them back in '89 or so. I wasn't aware of most of the albums covered here until much later, in fact. I saw this in a local Best Buy and for who knows what reason I picked it up. I turned it over, saw the line up listed on the back, and bought it on the spot. And it was well worth the purchase. I actually rate it ahead of the debut and alongside Point of Know Return when comparing it to the first five. That Magna Carta did nothing with it is a fucking shame, because in terms of quality I can't think of a better "comeback" album than this. Just bloody awesome.
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Somewhere to Elsewhere is utterly fantastic. Walsh's singing is a little rough around the edges at times, but by and large, the overall songwriting on here is as great as just about any other Kansas album (sans Leftoverture).
Grand Fun Alley is a clunker, but everything else is a major winner.
Distant Vision stands as one of the best Kansas songs ever.
I can't say Icarus II is as awesome as the first, but it is still pretty great, and despite that rough spot by Walsh near the beginning - "I was dreaming of HOME and the life I led."
The Coming Dawn, Myriad and Look at the Time are major favorites of mine as well.
I absolutely love the laid back nature of Byzantium. Put that song on one of the classic albums and it'd be talked about in absolutely glowing terms.
Great, great album. :tup :tup
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Just wanted to pop back in here and say again how awesome this album is. I love it to death, and hate that there was never a follow-up.
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My CD is due to arrive today. I'm really looking forward to sitting back in my easy chair and really getting to know this album!
My one listen was on Spotify while doing computer work and I was blown away in a few spots. I'm anticipating there will be much more to love when I get to have a more intimate listen.
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My CD is due to arrive today. I'm really looking forward to sitting back in my easy chair and really getting to know this album!
My one listen was on Spotify while doing computer work and I was blown away in a few spots. I'm anticipating there will be much more to love when I get to have a more intimate listen.
:tup
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DUST IN THE WIND (2001)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/dustinthewind_zpsmnipnpnu.jpg)
1. Miracles Out of Nowhere
2. Paradox
3. One Big Sky
4. T.O. Witcher
5. Dust in the Wind
6. The Preacher
7. Point of Know Return
8. House on Fire
9. Carry On Wayward Son
10. All I Wanted
11. Magnum Opus (Howlin’ at the Moon)
12. The Wall
This is a live release. It is the same performance that was recorded on King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Kansas, but with the songs in a different order. So, if you have the earlier release, you don’t need this.
Silly record company tricks.
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Never bought it.
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I would be upset with you if you had.
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“The Light” (2001)
While Somewhere to Elsewhere remains, to date, the last full album from Kansas, it wasn’t the last piece of music. That would be this song – “The Light”.
In 2001, Robert Berry put together a project called The December People. This was a collection of rock/prog musicians assembled to produce Christmas songs. But the theme was that each song would be in the style of a certain rock/prog act. So there are traditional Christmas songs such as “Carol of the Bells”, “Silent Night”, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”, “What Child is This?”, and so on, as if performed by, say, Yes, or Pink Floyd, or Queen, or Kansas, etc.
One of the musicians involved in the project was Steve Walsh, and he was so excited about it that he wrote a new Christmas song titled “The Light”. (Kerry Livgren was also part of the project, but he didn’t help write this song.) He decided it should be a Kansas song, and so the band recorded it, and it was included on the December People’s debut album Sounds Like Christmas as the last track – kind of a bonus.
I do not own the original CD – I have a copy given to me by a former friend. I would encourage anyone that likes Christmas music to try to track it down, because the album as a whole is really cool.
As for “The Light”? It’s OK. Nothing to write home about, but it’s neat to hear. Here it is, listen for yourself. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs9KCpYttCU)
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I would be upset with you if you had.
:lol
I've always stayed away from repackaging of Greatest Hits except for remasters with added songs.
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I would be upset with you if you had.
:lol
I've always stayed away from repackaging of Greatest Hits except for remasters with added songs.
Well, you are going to be disappointed with some of the rest of this discography.
Check out "The Light" and tell me what you think!
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Wow, that was... okay. A kind of generic modern Christmas tune. Definitely sounds like Kansas, and not bad, but not something I'd go out of my way to hear.
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Wow, that was... okay. A kind of generic modern Christmas tune. Definitely sounds like Kansas, and not bad, but not something I'd go out of my way to hear.
Yeah. I normally forget about until Christmas every year. Which is natural, I suppose.
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I would be upset with you if you had.
:lol
I've always stayed away from repackaging of Greatest Hits except for remasters with added songs.
Well, you are going to be disappointed with some of the rest of this discography.
Check out "The Light" and tell me what you think!
Yeah. Middle of the road song. I would never buy it.
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Again, while this song is just kind of meh, I would recommend any prog fan who likes Christmas music to buy the album.
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I love Christmas music, especially when bands I enjoy bring something new to the table. My favorite is Jethro Tull / Christmas Album, but this tune...just doesn't sound good to me. I'd hesitate to add it to my Christmas collection. I'll try to find the album though.
[edit] I just picked it up off of Amazon for $11.04 with free Prime delivery. The Carol of the Bells teaser convinced me. [/edit]
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I love Christmas music, especially when bands I enjoy bring something new to the table. My favorite is Jethro Tull / Christmas Album, but this tune...just doesn't sound good to me. I'd hesitate to add it to my Christmas collection. I'll try to find the album though.
[edit] I just picked it up off of Amazon for $11.04 with free Prime delivery. The Carol of the Bells teaser convinced me. [/edit]
Yeah, get it for the rest of the album, not for the Kansas song.
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DEVICE-VOICE- DRUM (2002)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/devicevoicedrum_zpsw8vq9wu8.jpg)
1. Intro 1:26
2. Belexes/Lightning Hand 6:43
3. Icarus II 7:12
4. Icarus-Borne on Wings of Steel 6:27
5. Song for America 9:27
6. Howlin’ at the Moon 2:00
7. The Wall 5:43
8. The Preacher 4:18
9. Journey From Mariabronn 9:17
10. Dust in the Wind 4:26
11. Cheyenne Anthem 7:19
12. Child of Innocence 4:54
13. Miracles Out of Nowhere 6:36
14. Point of Know Return 3:17
15. Portrait (He Knew)/The Pinnacle 8:08
16. Fight Fire With Fire 3:19
17. Play the Game Tonight 3:49
18. Carry on Wayward Son 7:21
This is a live project that the band recorded in an intimate setting in their new “hometown” of Atlanta, Georgia in 2002. The lineup for this event was a five-piece, with Ehart on drums, Walsh on lead vocals and keys, Williams on guitar, Greer on bass and background vocals, and Steinhardt on violin and background vocals.
By this time, most of the band is in their late 40s to early 50s, but for the most part, you’d never know it. There are some great musical performances on this recording. The only drawback, as has become common with latter-day Kansas live performances, is Walsh’s voice. But it isn’t awful; it’s more that he struggles to hit certain notes that he used to hit effortlessly. He can still hit most of them, it is just a strain. For me, the worst vocal performance is on “The Wall” (which sucks, since it is one of my favorite Kansas songs); it’s not that he can’t hit the notes, he is just all over the place as far as his personal choices in phrasing and timing. But hey.
Overall, this is outstanding. Things to note: “The Preacher” features a gospel choir singing with the band. That is really cool. Also, “Dust in the Wind” features Greer assisting on guitar, and a string quartet in the background, playing a variation on the arrangement from Always Never the Same, with candles all around the stage. Pretty cool. Not to mention the presence of older songs like “Song for America”, “Belexes”, and “Journey From Mariabronn”. Sweet.
It is available on CD and DVD, and I recommend it. But the whole thing (DVD) is on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdFNWcXg-t8), as well.
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I find both Kansas live DVDs they released in the 21st century to be difficult to watch thanks to Walsh's voice now. His misuse of it over the years has destroyed it, and hearing him struggle to sing what should be even easier parts takes away any enjoyment I could get from the music being played so well. What a shame that such a great and talented singer had no regard for his own talent to where he took such terrible care of it over the years. :tdwn :tdwn
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I find both Kansas live DVDs they released in the 21st century to be difficult to watch thanks to Walsh's voice now. His misuse of it over the years has destroyed it, and hearing him struggle to sing what should be even easier parts takes away any enjoyment I could get from the music being played so well. What a shame that such a great and talented singer had no regard for his own talent to where he took such terrible care of it over the years. :tdwn :tdwn
It's definitely a shame, and like I said, he is the clear weak point. But it isn't unwatchable or unlistenable to me.
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It was around this time I stooped buying their product.
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It was around this time I stooped buying their product.
How do you stoop buying something?
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For me personally Hef, if bands stop making new music, I stop buying releases of items I already have even though it may be livEven. I've bought a few things but stopped here with Kansas.
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....
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Fixed. Lol
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I try to push SW's voice to the background of the mix and enjoy the musicianship for what it is. Great DVD as well as double live album. :coolio
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THE ULTIMATE KANSAS (2002)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/UltimateKansas_zpsiua8gl1s.jpg)
Disc One:
1. Carry On Wayward Son
2. Song for America
3. The Wall
4. Lonely Street
5. Journey From Mariabronn
6. Child of Innocence
7. Mysteries and Mayhem
8. The Pinnacle
9. Bringing It Back
10. Down The Road
11. What’s on my Mind
12. Death of Mother Nature Suite
Disc Two:
1. Point of Know Return
2. Cheyenne Anthem
3. Fight Fire With Fire
4. Dust in the Wind
5. Hold On
6. No One Together
7. Play the Game Tonight
8. Closet Chronicles
9. Sparks of the Tempest
10. Portrait (He Knew)
11. On the Other Side
12. People of the South Wind
13. A Glimpse of Home
14. Magnum Opus
This is another label-produced compilation/greatest hits-style collection. This one focuses on the original Kirshner era of the band (from Kansas all the way to the last album before the band broke up, Drastic Measures). If you have to have a collection, and this is the only one you have access to, then you should get it, I guess. Otherwise, I would recommend it only to collector/completists. No live versions, demos, or otherwise rare tracks, only studio versions of the songs.
Pretty cool album cover, though.
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It looks like a good collection. More of a "best of" than "greatest hits", which I generally prefer.
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It looks like a good collection. More of a "best of" than "greatest hits", which I generally prefer.
Same here.
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GREATEST HITS LIVE (2003)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/KansasGHLive_zps0qy2op7k.jpg)
1. Magnum Opus (Howlin’ at the Moon)
2. One Big Sky
3. Paradox
4. Point of Know Return
5. The Wall
6. All I Wanted
7. T.O. Witcher
8. Dust in the Wind
9. Miracles Out of Nowhere
10. The Preacher
11. House on Fire
12. Carry On Wayward Son
This is a re-title and re-release of the 1998 live release King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Kansas. So, yeah.
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Wow, hard to believe no one gives a fuck about that one.
lol
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:lol
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Wow, hard to believe no one gives a fuck about that one.
lol
I actually liked the King Biscuit show in it's original form.
Sucks that they had to try to re-sell to everyone, instead of releasing a newer concert, such as from the Freaks of Nature tour, or Somewhere to Elsewhere, or Always Never the Same.
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:tup
I like the original as well.
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hef, I think you have featured more live and compilations albums combined than studio albums. :lol ;)
It's not that I don't care; I just have nothing to say about compilation records. :(
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hef, I think you have featured more live and compilations albums combined than studio albums. :lol ;)
It's not that I don't care; I just have nothing to say about compilation records. :(
I understand.
I was just wanting to be thorough, especially since no one else is stepping up to do another discography.
Also, I'm out of studio albums.
I JUST DON'T WANT IT TO END!
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I hear ya.
Where are all of these peeps who were dying to do a discography thread the minute the idea was tossed around? Slackers. :lol :lol
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SAIL ON: THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (2004)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/SailOn_zpsgqs1fnvx.jpg)
Disc One:
1. Can I Tell You
2. Journey From Mariabronn
3. Song For America
4. Lamplight Symphony
5. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel
6. The Pinnacle
7. Child of Innocence
8. Carry On Wayward Son
9. Cheyenne Anthem
10. Miracles out of Nowhere
11. What’s On My Mind
Disc Two:
1. Point of Know Return
2. Portrait (He Knew)
3. Dust in the Wind
4. Lightning’s Hand
5. Sparks of the Tempest
6. Paradox (Live)
7. People of the South Wind
8. Hold On
9. Got to Rock On
10. Play the Game Tonight
11. Fight Fire With Fire
12. All I Wanted
13. Rainmaker
14. Desperate Times
15. Eleanor Rigby
16. Icarus II
DVD:
1. Can I Tell You (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974)
2. Journey From Mariabronn (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974)
3. Death of Mother Nature Suite (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974)
4. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1975)
5. The Pinnacle (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1975)
6. Point of Know Return (Music Video 1977)
7. Dust in the Wind (Music Video 1977)
8. On the Other Side (Music Video 1979)
9. People of the South Wind (Music Video 1979)
10. Reason to Be (Music Video 1979)
11. Away From You (Music Video 1979)
12. Fight Fire With Fire (Music Video 1983)
13. All I Wanted (Music Video 1986)
14. The Preacher (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002)
15. Miracles Out of Nowhere (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002)
16. Carry On Wayward Son (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002)
17. Distant Vision (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002) (Hidden Easter Egg)
This is another compilation, this time specifically designed to celebrate (surprise!) the band’s 30th anniversary. As these things normally do, this one has two discs of music. It also comes with a DVD featuring music videos, live performances, and other television appearances, going all the way back to 1974. The music covers the entire length of the band’s career, and most of the choices are really good, although I’m not sure why the cover of Eleanor Rigby is on there.
I don’t have this one myself, and I need these songs on another collection like I need a hole in my head, but I would love to have that DVD. Does anyone have this?
Wikipedia tells me that the band produced a few videos that, for whatever reason, aren’t included on the DVD (Can’t Cry Anymore, Play the Game Tonight, and Windows).
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ON THE OTHER SIDE (2005)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/on%20the%20other%20side_zpsgcjzyl53.jpg)
This is a repackage and re-release of earlier collection Carry On. For collectors or completists only.
1. Carry On Wayward Son
2. What’s on my Mind
3. The Wall
4. Dust in the Wind
5. Can I Tell You
6. People of the South Wind
7. It Takes a Woman’s Love (To Make a Man)
8. Child of Innocence
9. Two Cents Worth
10. On The Other Side
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WORKS IN PROGRESS (2006)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/worksinprogress_zpshrwyt68x.jpg)
CD:
1. Mysteries and Mayhem (from Live at the Whisky)
2. Portrait (He Knew) (from Live at the Whisky)
3. Down The Road (from Live at the Whisky)
4. Black Fathom 4 (from Freaks of Nature)
5. Freaks of Nature (from Freaks of Nature)
6. Under the Knife (from Freaks of Nature)
7. I Can Fly (from Freaks of Nature)
8. Peaceful and Warm (from Freaks of Nature)
9. The Wall (from Always Never The Same)
10. Cheyenne Anthem (from Always Never The Same)
11. Hold On (from Always Never The Same)
12. Dust in the Wind (from Always Never The Same)
DVD:
1. Intro
2. Belexes
3. Icarus II
4. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel
5. Mysteries and Mayhem
6. Portrait (He Knew)
7. Down The Road
8. Hold On
9. Dust in the Wind
This is another compilation album, but it’s a little different. For one thing, it covers the specific time period of 1992-2002, the last ten years that Kansas had issued new releases (including live albums), so it includes tracks from Live at the Whisky and Device Voice Drum (on the companion DVD). However, it doesn’t include anything from Somewhere To Elsewhere, the most recent studio album.
Nothing new here, but here it is. I don’t have this one, and I’m not sure why I or anyone else would need it.
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PLAYLIST: THE VERY BEST OF KANSAS (2008)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas-Playlist-The-Very-Best-of-Kansas-L886972746623_zpssgweswoh.jpg)
1. Can I Tell You
2. Song for America
3. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel
4. The Pinnacle
5. Carry On Wayward Son
6. What’s on my Mind
7. Miracles Out of Nowhere
8. Point of Know Return
9. Portrait (He Knew)
10. Dust in the Wind
11. People of the South Wind
12. Hold On
Hey, another shitty compilation album issued by Sony!
Not a bad single disc collection of songs, I suppose, but they are available in better packages. Or, you know, the albums themselves.
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Is this band trying to match Kiss with the number of compilation albums lol
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Is this band trying to match Kiss with the number of compilation albums lol
Maybe so lol
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Yeah, it's a tough thing when doing these discography threads to decide how much you want to feature these types of compilations. I don't remember what I did for B.O.C. but I think I ended up just putting them in a linked list for people check out if they wanted too.
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Yeah, it's a tough thing when doing these discography threads to decide how much you want to feature these types of compilations. I don't remember what I did for B.O.C. but I think I ended up just putting them in a linked list for people check out if they wanted too.
Yeah, there are multiple ways to go.
I decided to go balls to the wall to the bitter end (which will be in a couple of days).
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Damn, I never saw that compilation.
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Damn, I never saw that compilation.
Success!
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:lol
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It's important to remember that the bands usually have very little say, if any, in these re-releases and infinite compilations. They made the music, and hopefully their contracts are set up so that they get their appropriate royalties and compensation, but the rights to repackage and re-release the music over and over belong to the labels. And since that's how the labels make their money, that's exactly what they do. As long as the band gets its fraction of a cent per unit, they don't really care.
If that 10-year-old Greatest Hits album isn't going to sell, come up with a new track listing and nice new cover art and put it out there. Someone will buy it. At any given time, there are always people who've been meaning to check out a certain band, or replace their ancient vinyl with CDs, or something. At the very least, there are still the hardcore collectors who must have everything released by the band. They'll buy a five-disc boxed set just to get the weirdass European radio edit of a song that wasn't even released here and has the third verse missing but an extra four measures before it starts to fade out at the end. You know they will.
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Yep.
If only more of these label-produced compilations had selections like THAT.
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That would be cool. I like the weirdass alternate versions of things. Usually not instead of the regular version, but as interesting oddities.
One recent exception is in the Yes remasters by Steven Wilson. There's a track on The Yes Album called "A Venture" which fades out at the end, but in checking out the original tapes, it was discovered that they actually kept playing for a while, jamming around, and finally ended the song. There's a couple of extra minutes of music there. So on my iPod, I have that version instead of the original version, because it's otherwise the same, but now I have "the whole song", 40 years later.
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That's cool!
In my dream world, Kansas would re-release Masque without all the fucking fadeouts.
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I always thought The Who had the most compilation albums, especially when the ratio is compared to total studio albums, but holy moly. :lol
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The remastered album box set is what sucked me back to buying their CD's. Just like BOC.
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ESSENTIAL KANSAS 3.0 (2008)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/essentialkansas_zpssi4jk5wd.jpg)
Disc One:
1. Carry On Wayward Son
2. Song for America
3. The Wall
4. Lonely Street
5. Journey From Mariabronn
6. Child of Innocence
7. Mysteries and Mayhem
8. The Pinnacle
9. Bringing It Back
10. Down The Road
11. What’s on my Mind
12. Death of Mother Nature Suite
Disc Two:
1. Point of Know Return
2. Cheyenne Anthem
3. Fight Fire With Fire
4. Dust in the Wind
5. Hold On
6. No One Together
7. Play the Game Tonight
8. Closet Chronicles
9. Sparks of the Tempest
10. Portrait (He Knew)
11. On the Other Side
12. People of the South Wind
13. A Glimpse of Home
14. Magnum Opus
Disc Three:
1. Can I Tell you
2. Lamplight Symphony
3. Miracles Out of Nowhere
4. Questions of my Childhood
5. Paradox
6. The Spider
7. Got to Rock On
This is a reissue of the 2002 compilation The Ultimate Kansas, although this release has a bonus third disc, so it is an upgrade from the earlier version. As I said in the write-up for that one, if you have to have a collection, and this is the only one you have access to, then you should get it, I guess. Otherwise, I would recommend it only to collector/completists. No live versions, demos, or otherwise rare tracks, only studio versions of the songs.
And hey, that's two compilations in one year! Thanks, record label!
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Are you including the recently released " The very definitive ultimate best of greatest hits of Kansas"
It was a rare Japanese import released in January
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Are you including the recently released " The very definitive ultimate best of greatest hits of Kansas"
It was a rare Japanese import released in January
I wasn't.
But now?
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Hef, start your research of every compilation in every country ever. I'll give you a week.
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Are you including the recently released " The very definitive ultimate best of greatest hits of Kansas"
It was a rare Japanese import released in January
I have the Limited Edition, which includes a DVD of the band rehearsing "Dust in the Wind" outside during an actual dust storm. You can't hear or see anything very well, but I think it's them. It also includes the ultra-rare European edit of a song never released in the United States. It omits the third verse, but has an extra four bars near the end before it starts to fade out. You know the one.
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:D
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THERE’S KNOW PLACE LIKE HOME (2009)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/Kansas-Theres-Know-Place-495177_zpsqeyoqowa.jpg)
1. Belexes 5:43
2. Point of Know Return 3:25
3. Song For America 9:29
4. Musicatto 3:22
5. Ghosts/Rainmaker 4:32
6. Nobody’s Home 4:55
7. Hold On 5:07
8. Icarus II 6:57
9. Icarus-Borne on Wings of Steel 6:37
10. Miracles Out of Nowhere 6:40
11. Fight Fire With Fire 4:20
12. Dust in the Wind 4:13
13. Carry On Wayward Son 6:50
14. Down the Road (Afternoon Jam) 6:53
The band decided to celebrate their 35th anniversary in 2009 by recording a new live project. The venue was Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where several members of the band had gone to school. Because it was an anniversary celebration, they decided to have symphonic backing for the performance, and so they used the Washburn University Symphony Orchestra. Since they already had symphonic arrangements for several of their songs, from the Always Never the Same project, they used those, as well as Larry Baird (the composer of those arrangements) sitting in as conductor, as well as creating new arrangements not used on the earlier album.
The result is a very engaging and wonderful performance. It’s a great setlist, highlighted by several twists and turns, and appearances by former members, and for the most part, the orchestra sounds very good. I like this project a lot. The only downside is, again, Walsh’s vocals. For most of the concert, they don’t really bother me a lot (although I can see how they could bother some people), but there are a couple of spots that are just flat out bad.
Steve Morse joins the band for his composition “Musicatto” and Kerry Livgren shows up for “Hold On”, which has an incredible arrangement – after Livgren’s guitar solo, it goes into the outro section of “Peaceful and Warm” before coming back to “Hold On.”
Also, this has a pretty epic version of “Dust in the Wind”, featuring Livgren and Williams on acoustic guitar, and Steve Morse joining in with violin, assisting Dave Ragsdale on recreating the as-originally-recorded dual-violin solo, before going into the orchestral “solo”. I mean, holy crap.
The last track, “Down the Road (Afternoon Jam)”, was done at the soundcheck, and shows everyone on stage jamming on this song from the Song For America album. It’s a lot of fun, especially watching it.
Livgren also joins the band for “Carry On Wayward Son”, and we finally get to hear the orchestral arrangement for that song, as it was recorded during the Always Never the Same sessions, but not included on the release.
If you didn’t care for the orchestral arrangements on Always Never the Same, you may not like this as much, but I would say that it works better in a live environment for me. Also, if you get to watch the video of these performances, as opposed to the audio only, that also makes a difference. They are all on youtube.
The DVD and Blu-ray release also include additional songs “Howling at the Moon” (which serves as the show intro, leading into “Belexes”), “On the Other Side”, “Cheyenne Anthem”, and “The Wall.”
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Hmmm. I would have expected at least SOME discussion on this live album. Oh well.
That wraps it up for Kansas for the moment. Over the last 15 years, they have been strictly a touring band, and they have toured every year. Steve Walsh didn't want to produce any new Kansas music, so no new Kansas music was produced. However, by 2008, the other four members of the band - Greer, Ragsdale, Williams, and Ehart - decided they DID want to produce some new music, so they formed a side band called Native Window, and released a self-titled album, which I do not own (although I have heard one or two tracks from it, and they were pretty good).
In 2014, Kansas celebrated their 40th Anniversary, and as a result, two things happened.
1) The band decided to record a documentary that would be a retrospective of the band's creation and rise to their peak, titled Miracles Out of Nowhere, which would be released in spring 2015.
2) Steve Walsh decided to retire from the band.
Now that Kansas had lost both their keyboardist and lead vocalist in one fell swoop, further lineup adjustments had to be made if the band was to continue. So they hired singer Ronnie Platt to be the lead singer and to play keys, and the band's longtime lighting specialist David Manion was hired to play the lead key parts.
By all accounts, the band sounds better now than they have in years.
Also, they will be producing a new album in the near future. At that time, I will update this thread.
It's been fun, guys.
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Hef, you're the man! :tup Thanks for doing this. I've always liked Kansas, and even though they kinda fell out of favor with me for a while there, we're back on good terms now, and I've discovered that they actually made a lot of music later that was pretty good. I also learned quite a bit about the band that I didn't know before, so that was cool, too.
Sorry about the last live album. I don't have it, have never heard it, and probably won't, so I didn't have anything to add.
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Hef, you're the man! :tup Thanks for doing this. I've always liked Kansas, and even though they kinda fell out of favor with me for a while there, we're back on good terms now, and I've discovered that they actually made a lot of music later that was pretty good. I also learned quite a bit about the band that I didn't know before, so that was cool, too.
:tup
Sorry about the last live album. I don't have it, have never heard it, and probably won't, so I didn't have anything to add.
Well, if you ever get time, all of the performances from the DVD are on youtube, and they are mostly good.
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Thanks Hef! Really enjoyed talking about the music of my youth.
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Thanks Hef! This was a real fun thread to follow.
Kansas has been and always be in the upper echelon of prog music for me. I love how accessible they made prog music but still had the skill to amaze. Plus, they just plain rocked out.
I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with for the next album.
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great job with this thread
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Thanks, guys.
I may never buy a compilation album again.
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Thanks, guys.
I may never buy a compilation album again.
you would need a bank loan to buy everything from Kansas
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Great job, hef! :tup :tup
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Cool doing. Before this thread I owned 4 Kansas records (Kansas, Leftoverture, Power and In The Spirit of Things, the latter imo being much better than you people said in this thread). This thread has inspired me to buy Masque, Song For America and Point Of Know Return. I didn't have the time to listen to them carefully but the first impression is very good. And I may further extend my Kansas discography.
So thank you for this thread and for shrinking my wallet. :biggrin: :metal
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:biggrin: :tup
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I thought you'd get a kick out of this.
A couple buds and I got our picture taken with Steve Walsh. He was awesome. I'm in the back to the right of Steve. This was on the "Power" tour.
(https://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss272/kingshmegland/FB_IMG_1441393074274_zpsaniy6wck.jpg) (https://s583.photobucket.com/user/kingshmegland/media/FB_IMG_1441393074274_zpsaniy6wck.jpg.html)
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That's great!! :tup :tup
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:metal
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BTW, new album The Prelude Implicit - due in September 2016!
"It’s very progressive — or, as our fans call it, prog. This is a very prog record. It is very complex, some of the most difficult tracks — maybe the most difficult tracks, in spots — that we’ve recorded. It’s very lyrical, very melodic, but that’s what we wanted to get back into: that progressive material that always set Kansas apart as an American band." - Phil Ehart, interview in the Boston Globe today
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BTW, new album The Prelude Implicit - due in September 2016!
"It’s very progressive — or, as our fans call it, prog. This is a very prog record. It is very complex, some of the most difficult tracks — maybe the most difficult tracks, in spots — that we’ve recorded. It’s very lyrical, very melodic, but that’s what we wanted to get back into: that progressive material that always set Kansas apart as an American band." - Phil Ehart, interview in the Boston Globe today
Just read Phil's interview! I'm excited.
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It sounds great, but I don't know if I can stay excited about it until September. I'm supposed to call the doctor if I stay excited longer than four hours. Wait... we're still talking about the new Kansas album, right?
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Ya know, I'm pretty excited at the first new Kansas album in over a decade! More so than either of the last two Yes albums had gotten me excited, especially with how aware they are with them being "prog" and creating a complex record. I hope that this is either the "Go out with a bang!" last album or the first of the last few they have in them to make! I mean, they've been touring pretty extensively over the last few years, so I don't feel like they've got any urge to slow down or stop any time soon, so if this new album does well, I hope it encourages them to write more and more often!
-Marc.
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Ya know, I'm pretty excited at the first new Kansas album in over a decade! More so than either of the last two Yes albums had gotten me excited, especially with how aware they are with them being "prog" and creating a complex record. I hope that this is either the "Go out with a bang!" last album or the first of the last few they have in them to make! I mean, they've been touring pretty extensively over the last few years, so I don't feel like they've got any urge to slow down or stop any time soon, so if this new album does well, I hope it encourages them to write more and more often!
-Marc.
I can't speak for the rest of them, but I know Rich Williams has essentially said he wants to keep playing until he drops dead on stage, and he's never been against writing putting out more albums. Steve Walsh was generally the biggest hindrance when it came to writing new music, longer sets, etc., the way I interpreted things (and he had legitimate reasons--I'm not throwing him under the bus).
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Honestly, I have hard time getting excited about a Kansas album that will be missing both Steve Walsh's voice AND Kerry Livgren's songwriting, but I guess we'll see what they come up with.
And hey, at least they are writing and releasing something new, instead of some 70s bands that are content just milking the touring cash cow till the bitter end. I am looking at you, Styx.
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I saw them last summer (for free!) and it was an amazing show. I'm pumped to hear some new stuff.
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I didn't realize that Kerry wasn't on this album. I know he comes and goes, and when Phil talked about how prog this one is, I guess I assumed that that meant Kerry had come back. Still, I'll check out new Kansas.
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It's possible that Kerry could have written for this album, but he is certainly no longer an active member.
Wouldn't preclude him from a guest appearance, I guess. But no such thing has been mentioned by the band, so I kind of doubt it.
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I'm not sure how active Kerry is these days, since his stroke. He did finish and release a Proto-Kaw album after it, but I haven't heard anything since then.
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THEN WHO WAS PROG?
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SAIL ON: THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (2004)
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/other/SailOn_zpsgqs1fnvx.jpg)
Disc One:
1. Can I Tell You
2. Journey From Mariabronn
3. Song For America
4. Lamplight Symphony
5. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel
6. The Pinnacle
7. Child of Innocence
8. Carry On Wayward Son
9. Cheyenne Anthem
10. Miracles out of Nowhere
11. What’s On My Mind
Disc Two:
1. Point of Know Return
2. Portrait (He Knew)
3. Dust in the Wind
4. Lightning’s Hand
5. Sparks of the Tempest
6. Paradox (Live)
7. People of the South Wind
8. Hold On
9. Got to Rock On
10. Play the Game Tonight
11. Fight Fire With Fire
12. All I Wanted
13. Rainmaker
14. Desperate Times
15. Eleanor Rigby
16. Icarus II
DVD:
1. Can I Tell You (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974)
2. Journey From Mariabronn (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974)
3. Death of Mother Nature Suite (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1974)
4. Icarus – Borne on Wings of Steel (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1975)
5. The Pinnacle (from Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert 1975)
6. Point of Know Return (Music Video 1977)
7. Dust in the Wind (Music Video 1977)
8. On the Other Side (Music Video 1979)
9. People of the South Wind (Music Video 1979)
10. Reason to Be (Music Video 1979)
11. Away From You (Music Video 1979)
12. Fight Fire With Fire (Music Video 1983)
13. All I Wanted (Music Video 1986)
14. The Preacher (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002)
15. Miracles Out of Nowhere (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002)
16. Carry On Wayward Son (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002)
17. Distant Vision (from Device, Voice, Drum 2002) (Hidden Easter Egg)
This is another compilation, this time specifically designed to celebrate (surprise!) the band’s 30th anniversary. As these things normally do, this one has two discs of music. It also comes with a DVD featuring music videos, live performances, and other television appearances, going all the way back to 1974. The music covers the entire length of the band’s career, and most of the choices are really good, although I’m not sure why the cover of Eleanor Rigby is on there.
I don’t have this one myself, and I need these songs on another collection like I need a hole in my head, but I would love to have that DVD. Does anyone have this?
Wikipedia tells me that the band produced a few videos that, for whatever reason, aren’t included on the DVD (Can’t Cry Anymore, Play the Game Tonight, and Windows).
I only looked at the last few pages of this thread. I have this one and everything that came before.(It's the only compilation I have by them other than the original greatest hits.) I think this is the last thing I've gotten from them (Haven't come across anything more recent lately although I know it's out there.)
I was a bit disappointed with the DVD because a chunk of it is from Device Voice Drum which I already had. As you said there are quite a few videos missing. I was hoping for a more complete representation.
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New interview (https://www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_interview.php?id=1154) with Rich Williams on the upcoming 40th anniversary of Leftoverture.
Interestingly, when asked about the song Questions of my Childhood, Rich answers:
I have not heard that song in so long. We have never ever played that song live. I think there are some cool parts in it. If I were to listen to it now, it would be like listening to a new song. There are reasons why bands play some songs and don’t play others. They can’t all be “Wayward Son” on an album. It is funny because people still go, “That is my favorite song on the album I wish they would play that.” Really? I don’t get that. Nothing about it ever really stood out to me.
Also, on the upcoming new album:
We have a song on the new album that I think you will particularly like called “The Voyage of 8:18.” It starts and eight minutes and eighteen seconds later it is over. It is so quintessential Kansas with beautiful chord structures and verses. The beginning is very cool and then it just goes away. It is a journey of a song. It brings you back home and then goes back out again. You’re tired and you feel like you’ve been somewhere when you’ve heard this song. Kansas fans are going to swear Kerry wrote it, but he didn’t. It is so ‘us.’ It is the hardest song that I’ve ever had to learn. There are certain elements that make me personally identify Kansas to, and it is those kind of songs. I think that is where we are the most different than anyone. We are most identifiable as us when we stress capturing a mood. We’ve done it again with this song.
Now we have a new album coming out. We are not going to just sit back on all of that… this band is hungry. We want to grow. I love seeing that in us. I’m a lot more serious about it now. How serious can you be when you’re 24 years old? You’re finally not playing in a bar. You get an album out. You are released upon the world. It is a different mindset to someone who has spent a lifetime nurturing and protecting that. I have a lot more vested in it now. It is much more a part of my life now than it was then… Not that it wasn’t important then, but it is an entirely different animal to me now.
Jeb: Let’s end our conversation with the new album. We know Ronnie has good energy on the stage. How does he do in the studio?
Rich: It is going to be great for Ronnie and great for the band to turn the page. From this moment on- everything else we do- these are Ronnie’s songs to sing, and these are Billy’s songs to sing. We are creating a new catalog of material. Ronnie killed it. He did a great job. The album is called The Prelude Implicit.
Jeb: Another bizarre title. Where do you guys think this stuff up?
Rich: Well, we wanted something that conveyed a message. A prelude is the introduction of something and implicit means absolutely without even saying so. This is our new beginning. This is a new musical beginning of Kansas; a rebirth. We decided last week on that with Inside/Out, the record company. They love this record and they can’t wait to get it out. Make no mistake, this is not a last gasp. We are already talking about the next album and the next album after that. We are raring to go and we’ve got a lot to do.
Can't wait to hear this new material.
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Man that sounds really amazing. I will buy the new album w/o ever hearing a note. Love to hear when old bands fire back up again
and get hungry to create.
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It's a shame that Kansas releases only a few new music in the last decades. Freaks of Nature and Somewhere to Elsewhere are very good records and really worth the name of the band IMO. I wish very good luck to them in this restart!
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Questions of My Childhood is great! Rich Williams is off his rocker. :lol
I don't put a lot of stock into him talking up the new stuff, since all musicians do that. What is going to say, "Yeah, our new stuff isn't that good, but buy it anyway!" Er, no. A longtime friend and I have joked for decades that we would be millionaires by now if we had a dollar for every time a musician called their newest album their best or one of their best (which Williams did not do precisely, but you get the idea).
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I loved the Freaks Of Nature tour. They put on a great show.
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Yep, that was the first time I saw them. In fact, it was a free show downtown on my 22nd birthday, back when KSHE would do free shows at Union Station in the summer (saw B.O.C. and Foghat there once for free as well), and that show was the reason I even bought Freaks of Nature, since they played four songs from it (tracks 2-5), all of which sounded great to me at the time. I saw them the next year with Styx, and they were still playing Hope Once Again from it, as well as I Can Fly (which they did not play for us the previous year).
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Those 2 song are amazing plus they killed live.
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I don't put a lot of stock into him talking up the new stuff, since all musicians do that. What is going to say, "Yeah, our new stuff isn't that good, but buy it anyway!" Er, no. A longtime friend and I have joked for decades that we would be millionaires by now if we had a dollar for every time a musician called their newest album their best or one of their best (which Williams did not do precisely, but you get the idea).
Yeah, I get that, but they don't churn out new albums like some older groups do. So I don't have a resistance to their PR bullshit built up yet for Kansas.
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I don't put a lot of stock into him talking up the new stuff, since all musicians do that. What is going to say, "Yeah, our new stuff isn't that good, but buy it anyway!" Er, no. A longtime friend and I have joked for decades that we would be millionaires by now if we had a dollar for every time a musician called their newest album their best or one of their best (which Williams did not do precisely, but you get the idea).
Yeah, I get that, but they don't churn out new albums like some older groups do. So I don't have a resistance to their PR bullshit built up yet for Kansas.
Also, Rich has always very much been a straight shooter when it comes to interviews. He doesn't really dance around subjects or give BS answers. Now, will someone like me who's heard essentially everything Kerry Livgren has ever released mistake this for Kerry's writing? I kind of doubt it, but it does give us an idea of the direction of some of the music.
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THEN WHO WAS PROG?
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New member for Kansas: guitarist Zak Rizvi. He has worked with them before on a production basis, on the live album There's No Place Like Home, on the Native Window project, and co-producing the upcoming The Prelude Implicit.
I don't know anything about his guitar skills, but he must be pretty good for them to ask him to join the band. Also, it will be neat for them to be able to perform a lot of the older material the way it was written, for two guitarists, for the first time in a LONG time.
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I'll be going to a gig in a few weeks, so it'll be interesting to check out Zak's playing. Also, I'm sure the Kansas fans on here probably already know, but I haven't seen any discussion on the 40th Anniversary Leftoverture tour in the fall where they'll be playing the entire album. Most of the record has been played a lot but it should still make for an interesting setlist, if only because Carry On Wayward Son won't be the encore for once :lol
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I've never heard "Questions of My Childhood" live (I don't think they've played it in my lifetime, if ever), so that'll be a new one for me if I'm able to go!
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Yeah, when they announced the tour Richard Williams said that Questions was the one song from the album they haven't played live. It would also be cool to hear all of Magnum Opus with two keyboardists and two guitarists.
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Man I have to see them again. They were amazing last summer. Wish I could catch a free show again. They aren't playing that gig this year.
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yeah, i'd love to see Magnum Opus live. I've seen them dozens of times over the last 20+ years, but never heard that one. I was lucky enough when they broke out Journey From Mariabronn years ago, which was amazing. But Magnum is definitely their Opus (sorry).
I've skipped the last few concerts here in Dallas over the last few years, because the setlist never deviated, and the performances were lackluster, just "phoned in". But this sounds worth checking out.
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I just discovered today that Kerry Livgren partially re-recorded and re-mixed two of the Proto-Kaw albums. I had never seen any mention of it before, but one of them showed up on Spotify, which tipped me off. He's also been working on some songs with John Elefante for an unnamed project, according to his website.
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I just discovered today that Kerry Livgren partially re-recorded and re-mixed two of the Proto-Kaw albums. I had never seen any mention of it before, but one of them showed up on Spotify, which tipped me off. He's also been working on some songs with John Elefante for an unnamed project, according to his website.
I have both those Proto-Kaw albums. Couldn't quite get into them though... much more laid-back sound than Kansas.
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Release date for new album The Prelude Implicit:
September 23, 2016
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Release date for new album The Prelude Implicit:
September 23, 2016
Between Neal Morse, Marillion, and Kansas, September is going to be one hell of a month for prog!
And speaking of Neal Morse, apparently he was asked by InsideOut if he wanted to write any material to submit to Kansas for their next album as they were looking for material (and so I assume the label reached out to several of their artists for help). So Neal eventually demoed a few things that sent them their way, but he never heard back from them. The demos will be on the July Inner Circle CD! They'll be edited a bit, though, as they eventually used some bits for the new Neal Morse Band album, so Neal didn't want to give any of it away too early!
-Marc.
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That's cool!