"Carry On Wayward Son" was their big radio hit, and I distinctly remember hearing a keyboard solo once or twice, but at 5:23 it was too long for regular rotation in those days, so the "AM version" cut out half the break and shortened the opening and closing jams as well. The local FM station would play the long version, but they prided themselves in playing a lot of album cuts and not just the hits, so you rarely heard it anyway. That's okay, I was more into buying albums than singles, but I was getting more into prog by this point and this song was a pretty straight-on rocker. Good tune, though. The guys obviously had some chops. Maybe I'd check them out sometime.
She was amazing. Beautiful voice, beautiful face, long red hair, and the most magnificent pair of breasts I had ever seen in my life. Okay, this was 10th grade, so my experience was somewhat limited, but she was quite possibly the perfect woman. Her name was LeAnn, a senior and actually a friend of my sister's, but she wanted me to accompany her on piano as she sang some song in the school talent show.
She was amazing. I thought I did pretty well, too, but the important thing is that in appreciation, rather than a Thank-You card with a gift card or something, she gave me a copy of Leftoverture. Brand, still in its shrink wrap. What a cool gift! I put it on and totally dug the fact that I now had the long version of that song with the cool breaks! The rest of the album... oh my gosh. These guys are great! Rockin' for sure, but with one foot firmly planted in prog. Over the next year or so, I hunted down every Kansas album I could find. Eventually I had the first four albums as well, and by then Point of Know Return had come out, and I grabbed that, too.
Two for the Show, I have to be honest, was great but slightly disappointing. Shortened version of "Song for America". "Carry On Wayward Son" minus the awesome a capella intro and instead led into via medley. I hate live medleys! I picked up Monolith when it came out, but I think my love affair with Kansas was over by then. I'd moved on into full-blown prog -- Yes, Genesis, ELP -- and Kansas seemed to be leaving the prog behind and going more mainstream. To me, that was the kiss of death.
But man, those first five albums are all gold. Thank You, LeAnn.