REVIEWS:
Kansas, Kansas, Kansas. One of the most misunderstood bands of the 70's. Why, do you ask? Their sissy melodies, or their overplayed mainstream hits? Or both? At any rate, despite the sissiness of their music, I love this band to death. So fucking shoot me! Before "Carry On Wayward Son" ever hit the airwaves, these guys from, well, Topeka, Kansas, were churning out some of mighty fine prog rock. Any Yes fan should take a listen to Kansas' early stuff. Even sissy music can kick teeth sometimes! So, here we go! Enjoy!
--John Sieber
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COMMENTS
I'm glad to hear you like Kansas, although I have to disagree that they have ANY "overplayed mainstream hits." Maybe for a spell back in the 70's, yea. But when I turn on "classic rock" stations now all I hear is Zepplin, Boston, Eagles, and then again Zepplin, Boston and Eagles. Of course this is not to mention the heavy diet of Stones.
Some joker on another site who hates Kansas calls them "redneck," "southern rock copy-cats" and other way off base classifications. Kansas IS what Kansas is and they defy classification. Why? My view is this - they sounded (and still sound, for they are still very active) different from album to album, song to song, and sometimes within a song, because of the electic influences they bring to the table. And you can include just about every genra of music in their influences. They have been accused of trying to "copy" others. I don't buy it. After all, what band or musician HAS NOT been influenced by other bands and musicians? But to say they then go out and "copy" their influences is hogwash.
They were are still are highly regarded by fellow musicians and fans alike. To think that a band that has been around for 30 years (something these new bands will never be able to do) and still touring hard and making new music as a unit and individually is somewhat amazing (like Rush and some others).
They are not the perfect band even though I may be their biggest fan and some of their stuff is even lost on me. But I know for a fact (having the pleasure to "hang around" a bit with them) that they are one of the hardest working bands ever. Some people just don't "get it" (their music) which is fine. They know it and have known it from their beginnings. But to say they don't have a place of respect in the musical world (as is implied on the other site I've menioned) is a farce.
I like your site! Thanks!
(reviewed by John Sieber)
This, the second Kansas album, higlights sides of their music that should be shown off, and others that should be kept in the closet. The first cut, "Down the Road", is one of those. This crappy "blues rocker" sounds forced and thin. Not their best. But hey, it gets better!! The next song is the title cut, and ...holy shit. One of the two mini-epics of the album, this one has a huge orchestral sound, with complex arranging and meter changes all over the place. Now THIS is prog. Following "Song For America", we have "Lamplight Symphony", which has some catchy licks in it, and "Lonely Street", another bluesy ditty that is marginally better than the opener. Then the sweet, sweet "Devil Game", fast and furious, with no sign of sissiness in this one!
And, to close things out, the 12-minute "Incomuro - Hymn to the Atman" (anyone know what the fuck an Atman is? or an Incomudro for that matter?). Not quite a "Song for America", but this one still fucking rules. It opens up slow, with echoey vocals in the bridge, picks up speed until a nice gong solo hit (how pretentious is that?) followed by a little drum solo (BTW, this drummer ain't too shabby! He's no Carl Palmer, but hey, who is?), which segues back into the original theme, picks up speed again, this time faster and more furious, turning the end into a big finale closed out by an explosion. That's right, a goddamn explosion. How's that for an album closer? All in all, very impressive EXCEPT for that opening track. They could've left it out and still had a 41-minute album. Oh well. Only a small blemish for this near-perfect album.
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[email protected] (George Starostin)
I can understand people who like this album for being pretentious, complex and duh-"progressive", but Song For America just friggin' blows. I think John's question of "what the fuck an Atman is?" is very indicative here - I can't blame John for not knowing what Atman is(Atman is 'self' in Sanskrit, one of the cornerstones of Indian religious philosophy, indicating the presence of the Supreme Being within each of us), but it's always seemed to me that these guys never knew what an Atman is, either. Neither did they know how to write really interesting melodies or not end up sounding like cheap pathetic Genesis rip-offs.
Yeah, I suppose I should add that the title track here is a baltant rip-off of the excellent Genesis epic 'Firth Of Fifth'. And other Genesis motives, as well as ELP and Yes ones, crop up constantly. And apart from pretentiousness and complexity, there's nary a tiny bit of true entertainment or emotional resonance to be found. They think they 'rock', but they drag on worse than Rush on a particularly bad day. They think they're 'serious', but they're just a bunch of rednecks who should have stuck to Southern rock (contrary to John, I think Kansas' bluesy rockers are the best part of their schtick - it ain't much, but at least they know what they're doing in this department), but somehow something clicked in the wrong way, and they decided to mix their Southern rock schtick with British progressive motives. The result is cheese, corn, and shame.
Sorry about the angry tone of the message, but I just couldn't help it. I've listened to all of Kansas' "classic" period and my reactions to anybody even mentioning this band are... well, it's sick. Kansas might just be the band I hate more than anything else in the music world. Worse than Britney Spears. At least Britney just dances around and doesn't write hymns to the Atman... not yet, at least.
(reviewed by John Sieber)
Well, well. Finally got around to picking up the "magnum opus" of Kansas' catalog. I guess I figured, hey, I already know five of these songs, it wouldn't be a big risk to pick it up. No, sir. A risk is picking up Selling England By The Pound without hearing a note of it. But that's another review. Well, starting off we get the infamous "Carry On Wayward Son". The tune that brought them into the eye of the public; their "Money", "Come Sail Away" and "Lucky Man". Not that it's bad; it's actually a really good song, even though one might hear it a bit too much sometimes. But the melodies in the chorus and verse are two of the best in Kansas' catalog. Not that they had THAT many, but I like em anyway, so fuck off!
"The Wall" comes next, complete with an interesting chord progression that brings the piece from C# minor to E major through related and unrelated keys and a meandering, however decent, melody. And for some reason, the local radio station, K-HITS 96, is playing it all the time now! Better than hearing "Dust In The Wind" every day, I suppose. "What's On My Mind" follows. What's on my mind is that this song SUCKS. Can you say Aerosmith? At least the lyrics are decent, talking about a guy telling a mean old chick what's on his mind. Not deep, but cute. "Miracles Out Of Nowhere" features guitar work that seems to forecast "Dust in the Wind" and damn impressive synth solos and fiddle fills. Oh, I guess the melody is okay too. But that friggin' gong at the end is just too much. Who do these guys think they are, ELP?
"Opus Insert" has been called "the great lost Kansas song" and it's easy to see why. It's a little short ditty inserted in the middle of the record (hence the name?) and passes by, subdued and seemingly unpretentious. But within its' 4:25 lies some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard, and I've heard a lot. Starting spacey, turning into a driving rock tune, mellowing into a ballad in the chorus, and featuring an ass-catchy "middle eight" that goes from a synth-driven Queen-esque ballad section to a piano-and vibraphone-driven march, back to that driving rock verse/ballad chorus, and finally ending with that spacey synth solo that started it, capped by the loud fanfare coda version of the Queen synth section. The key center is never stable, moving from some kind of modal thing centered on F, to A-flat to C and back to the F modal thing and finally ending in A-flat. Underrated and perfect.
"Questions Of My Childhood" shoulda been called "Song For America squished into 3 minutes". If you heard it, you've heard this, but just because it's a rip don't mean it's not good. If you rip a good song, the rip is bound to be at least decent. You know? "Cheyenne Anthem" is just okay. It sounds like Kerry Livegren had a brainstorm of musical ideas during the writing of this one, because he puts a lot of different sounds here, such as an acoustic ballad, a piano ballad, a hoe-downish synth jam, and, and... well, other shit. A lot of good ideas here, but maybe not developed very well (except for the opening synth solo)? Plus, I am as sympathetic as the next man, but these "songs for America" and "Let's all join in the fight against the plight of the Native Americans!!" songs just grate on my nerves like that ONE FLY you can never swat, and he just buzzes around you, the buzz sounding distinctly like... like... "CHEYENNE ANTHEM"!!! Ugh.
Anyway, where was I? Oh. "Magnum Opus" fucking RULES. Why? I mean, it's not a classicaly formed epic like "Close To The Edge". It don't even have that many good melodies. It has like, one. But, in an "intro to `The Endless Enigma'" avant-garde sense, it's just, well, good! The band maember's chops are really shown off here, too. The song itself has six "parts" to it. Bullshit. The only thing separating this mindlessly cool jamming is the little snippets of music that they develop separately, one by one, starting over with each new idea in perfectly organized chaos. Near the end, there'e a couple of thematic recapitulations that give the thing a sense of closure at the end.
So that's the album! Well, maybe. See, I picked up the just-remastered-for-the-six-jillionth-time version copyright A.D. 2001. It's one in a whole line of remasters, with Masque finally being released officially in the U.S. (think I might pick that one up next!) Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, the remasters have BONUS TRACKS tacked on the end. This one has the live versions of "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Cheyenne Anthem". Why they picked the latter, I'll never know. I would think "The Wall" or "Magnum Opus" would be better picks. Oh I know! Those two are on the Two For The Show live offering, and to feature them here would be redundant. Right? I know I am. At any rate, not a bad pile of music. Not mind-shattering, of course, and I'm sure people with the Box Set won't miss the three tunes that didn't make it to the compilation. Actually, I'm not THAT fond of the other tunes, bar "Questions Of My Childhood". Maybe the others'll grow on me? Then again, maybe not. We'll see. Not bad though. As it is, a seven.
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(reviewed by John Sieber)
Following in the tradition of other prog acts of the time (Yes, ELP, et al.), Kansas released their very own extended release, a double live album, taken from their 1977 tour. As a live album, the sound quality is decent, as is their track selection, including "Song For America", "Point of Know Return", "Carry On Wayward Son", and "Dust in the Wind", among others. However, IMHO these specific versions of the songs are not among their best efforts. Everything is rushed and frantic-sounding, and some songs, such as "Song For America" have certain sections omitted. Granted, this might be commonplace for a live Kansas show, but I don't like it. On the flip side, however, there are some magical moments, such as the guitar and piano solos during "Dust in the Wind" and "Lonely Wind", respectively.
Also, the version of "Magnum Opus" that is included is nothing short of pure bliss. While not exactly light-years ahead of the original, it has its own personailty, and I like it. Note: The CD version of this album is missing "Closet Chronicles" because including it would have forced CBS Records to make it a double-CD set, and since they're greedy bitches, we get dicked over. Motherfuckers. Oh well, buy it if you want, but beware the shortcomings of this coulda-been-magnificent release.
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(reviewed by John Sieber)
Ya know, I don't know why I still like this band. My friends berate me for listening to them, calling them "pussies" or frowning upon all "corporate rock", as VH1 likes to view them. George Starostin, whose musical views differ with mine, hates these poor guys more than any other band/artist. And hey, I'll admit it, these guys (along with Styx, another of my guilty pleasures) almost single-handedly brought about the idea for Spinal Tap. With that in mind, I continue to go against the grain with this review, of the "box set" of Kansas hits. Okay, so it's a shitty excuse for a box set, as its only 2 CD's worth, but oh well. As for CD 1, It's pretty much a split between rockers and epics from their first three albums. The epics show off some burnin' chops on these guys, as a prog epic should (especially "Song for America" and "Journey From MariaBronn") and the rockers show us that these guys couldn't rock very hard (except for "The Devil Game" and its driving 6/4 rhythms). This CD definitely shows a less accessible side of Kansas; no "Dust In The Wind" here. Maybe that's why I like it.
Not that CD 2 is any worse for wear though. For that is the CD with the music that made them famous. We start off with the two biggest hits from their fourth album Leftoverture, "Carry On Wayward Son" and "The Wall" and follow with three more from that album, including the famous "Magnum Opus", which was probably one of their last truly "classic" epics. Other familiar names show up later ("Point Of Know Return" and, yes, "Dust in the Wind"). But a lot of the rest of the second disc is largely forgettable, save possibly the Albert Einstein tribute "Portrait (He Knew)", "Closet Chronicles" and "Hold On". I mean, most of these songs are good, but not great. Eh.
This is a truly weird release. Completists will want it for the "new" song, "Wheels" (which ain't too bad, actually), and casual fans might pick this one up. But seriously, how many "casual" fans does Kansas have? Three? You either love 'em or hate 'em. The lovers won't bother with this when they probably already have the original albums already, and the haters won't even acknowledge this thing's existence. But I like it. I guess I'm a casual fan, eh? I now offer you a challenge: get Kansas' Best Of album. Give it a few good listens. Do you like it? If so, get the Box Set. You might end up liking this truly weird prog-country band from the heartland.
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(reviewed by John Sieber)
Okay. First off, there's two versions of this album, the 1984 original and the 1999 reissue. There is a total difference of four songs between the versions, so the 1984 version might be better, but i doubt it. So, I will proceed to review the 1999 reissue. Okay? Anyway, what I like about this "best of" CD is their inclusion of Kansas' mainstream hits along with some of their better known epics. What hits, you say? Funny you ask. "Carry On Wayward Son" is the opening cut, and how much more "hit" can that be? Huh?!?! Yeah. "Point Of Know Return" is a lesser hit that squeezes all kinds of prog into a neat 3 minute package. "The Wall" and "Pay The Game Tonight" are a couple more of those lesser hits, but not any worse for that. And of course "Dust In The Wind" is on here, in all its' acoustic glory.
But hey! Yeah, you out there! Let's not forget the epics on this one. "Song for America" is here, but with a merciless edit in the middle that just, well, pisses me off! Still a good song though. "The Pinnacle" is Kansas at their most pretentious, and not the best, but tolerable. "No One Together" is a catchy rockin' epic (if that's possible), and quite possibly my favorite Kansas song. There are some lesser pieces in the gaps I left, but damnit I'm tired and it's 3:15 am. I have work tomorrow! At any rate, very good compilation. Buy it! Why not? Give art-rock a try; you might like it. And if anyone gives you shit for having it, tell 'em you only bought it to get "Carry On Wayward Son". Heh.
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