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 Kansas before the hits! Nov 14, 2009
I will admit up front that I am partial to music from 1974 because that's the year I graduated from High School. Lots of good music back then to leave an impression....a great time to be growing up and all that. And, actually, if you look up music from 1974, you see that many, many artists had landmark albums come out that year -- the kind of albums that fans thought were either monster debuts (Bad Company 1st album, for example) or that a band had reached a certain level where everything worked.
1974 saw albums like "Crime of The Century" by Supertramp, "Seven" by Poco, "Diamond Dogs" by David Bowie, "There's The Rub" by Wishbone Ash, and the list goes on and on and on.....
I still think I have an unbiased frame of reference, however, in that I am a musician, a discerning listener, and 1974 (like any year) also saw some real cr@p produced as well. So, I am not prone to just carte blanche say that all music from 1974 was good.
Now along comes this band, Kansas. Prog was already kind of on its way out, and being a fan of prog, it was refreshing to hear a band like Kansas come along. Of course, one who's never been indoctrinated to Kansas ever may say to himself (or herself), "I mean, come on....a violin with rock music?" But, then you will listen to it and will be saying to yourself, "Wow. What an amazing album." Of course, I think the term "prog" only barely applies to this LP, but the critics called it that...you know how they love "labels" for bands.
Even if you are not usually a fan of prog, you will still like this album. The main reason is melody. That's one of the things that people that did not like about prog...the lengthy interludes that eventually would lead to a snippet of a melody that you could remember. Maybe song length bothered them too, what with AM radio setting a standard for song length of 3:05 maximum.
This album is chock full of melody. And it rocks. And it's mellow. And there are some long songs, yes. But there's nary a boring moment.
That said, if you were a later fan, say of that classic rock radio staple "Dust In The Wind," then you will be very surprised (I dare say pleasantly) by the song structure. They sound like Kansas. They always did. Their SOUND did not change over time...they just went to a more hit-friendly format later with songs like DITW. The early stuff, and especially this album, has depth. It has substance. It's almost kind of a "thinking man's" music. It's the absolute right mix of "prog" and rock.
I highly recommend, too, if you buy and like this album, to get their next LP, "Song for America." Get their third album, "Masque," too. It begins to show a hint of the commercialism that would follow two albums later. With their fourth album, "Leftoverture," they hit the big time on the radio with another (now) radio classic, "Carry On Wayward Son." This album was kind of strange for the band. They were drawing huge audiences on the strength of the song Carry On Wayward Son, but the rest of their show was the balance of the album (none of which was very radio-oriented) and stuff from the early albums. However, their live shows at this point began to help sales of their back catalog.
Enter the suits. The suits always mess things up. The suits said, "Boys, that 'Wayward' song is making us all a pile of cash. More songs like that please."
The next album was "Point of Know Return." I won't do a track-by-track, but there was a six-minute track and a seven-minute track and the rest were all three or four minutes. Of course, the single "Dust In The Wind" was on this album. This was the band's highest charting album (#4) and sold 4 million copies. This began Phase Two, the commercial phase.
Their fans are kind of divided into two camps...and this, by the way, is a familiar story with LOTS of 70s bands.
The first camp is made up of the early fans, who were attracted by the band's innovative, independent approach. In other words, a dedicated cult following meant the band could make a living playing music. Their music was not particularly radio-friendly except to some cool AOR college FM stations. But, word of mouth kept their shows sold out, albeit in small theaters.
The second camp is the Johnny-Come-Lately crowd, who latched on for one album and dropped interest for the next big thing about a year later. Meanwhile, Kansas had alienated the early fans....you know, the ones that drove hours to see them and saw them whenever possible. I was one of those fans. I saw them live five times. Four times were really good. The fifth time, they were touring for "Monolith," and I sat during that show thinking, "Wow. The anatomy of a band that used to rock. Now they s[]ck." That's because the band, sensing they had two camps to satisfy, put out more six-minute songs (that were weak material anyway) on "Monolith" to try and appease the early fans, and had a single that was a hit (charted at #23) called "People of the South Wind." The album fell short of early fans' expectations, and sold well, but not as well as "Point of Know Return."
Then came "Audio Visions." Besides a total lack of any kind of artistic integrity, this band had outlived its usefulness to the early fans and to the Johnny-Come-Lately crowd. That precipitated a serious decline in their album sales. By the next album, "Vinyl Confessions," Steve Walsh (the VOICE of the band) had quit. This band going on without Walsh would be tantamount to the Stones going on without Jagger. After "Audio Visions," it got worse. They cranked out some more forgettable drivel.
And yet (and this, too, is true of many 70s bands), they are touring with some chump version of the band with like only half the original members, and continue to flog a dead horse. Sad really.
So, there you have it. This album will appeal even to the later fans; after that you will have to experiment. You have my recommendations above, too. I think you will be getting into some really good music here.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Exellent Album Cover! May 10, 2006
I am a musician. I have the album. When I got it on CD, it SOUNDED better. Kansas IS a great progressive hard rock band. I still get the chillswhen "Can I Tell You" comes on. 30 years, and it still rocks!
 WE ARE KANSAS! KANSAS IS A BAND! Jan 11, 2005
I didn't get this disc until long after I began my love affair with this band, which has stretched from the point I first bought "Leftoverture" on LP in 1980 and shows no signs of abating.
This album is a mixed bag. On one hand, you get pop-commercial type stuff that they never messed with again, especially their odd cover of JJ Cale's "Bringing It Back". It's weird to hear Kansas sing about smuggling weed back from Mexico!
On the other hand, there are hints of future greatness to come. The wistful "Lonely Wind" and the grandiose "Journey From Mariabronn" and "Death of Mother Nature Suite" show what would come in the future from this most excellent of bands.
Only three stars because it is such a mixed bag. However, every band has had a beginning. Some were great from the beginning and some, like Kansas, genuinely PROGRESSED over time (with a few bumps in the road now and then). Still worth having.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Introducing One of Prog-Rock's Most Unique Bands Dec 10, 2004
In the passion-play of progressive rock, there are several unique (and odd) characters, but one of the most original in this field is Kansas. This six-man band brought about an honest image of innocence, of midwest farmboys dying to break out of "one of the most non-musical places" in the world and express their perplexing, challenging blend of hard blues-rock and a love for British prog-rock. Their self-titled 1974 debut worked as a bridge connecting these two wildly different fields, with both punchy rock numbers and grandeuresque prog pieces that would have drawn confused stares from barroom patrons.
After kicking off with 'Can I Tell You,' a song that, thirty years later, can be used to address America in our Iraq War situation, "Kansas" pulls some grand tricks even when performing blues-rock like the cover of 'Bringing It Back.' Meanwhile 'The Pilgrimage' is the only prog-rock song on the album that could have safely been performed in a midwestern bar, with Robbie Steinhardt's aggressive violin work (which would become one of the band's trademarks). But the other tracks are progressive rock at its most genuine; 'Belexes,' 'Apercu,' and 'Journey From Mariabronn' are gutsy moves, the bravest piece on the album being the lengthy, doleful 'Death of Mother Nature Suite,' an angry sermon for the modern world. All of this is balanced by the sad, wonderfully sung 'Lonely Wind.'
Devised by the songwriting of Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh and accented by a six-man attack, "Kansas" is stunning by itself, but for a debut album it is even more amazing; the music is tightly arranged and performed with hard-eyed perfectionism that one would usually only find in veteran performers. As hinted at by the ominous album cover depicting abolitionist John Brown, Kansas would become a progressive rock force to be reckoned with, and sooner than anyone would have thought.
A mixed bag, but innovative for the time Aug 13, 2004
This is Kansas' first LP, recorded in 1974 suffers from ham-fisted, canny production, much like Aerosmith's rushed debut two years earlier and Cheap Trick's first effort, a few years later. Steve Walsh's earnest vocals and Robby Steinhart's frenetic violin playing shine through the muddled mix. However, tracks like "Bringing It Back," an ode to drug smuggling, probably sounded hilariously out of date a few years after the album was recorded, let alone today. Highlights include the melodic chorus of "Lonely Wind" and opener "Can I Tell You." Epics like "Journey from Mariabronn" are competently executed, but some of the riffage does become repetitive.
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