The subtle and relentless advances in audio technology that have taken place during my lifetime are truly marvelous to behold. Or, be-hear, maybe. When I was growing up and beginning to collect music, we had advanced up from the 78 rpm record that held about 3 minutes of music to LP (Long Playing) records that held maybe as much as 20 or more minutes per side. Now, of course, everybody’s walking around with tiny MP3 players that hold more than my old record collection.
Somewhere in between those extremes we find the MP3 CD; a CD that, instead of holding simple audio files contains instead MP3 or WAV versions as data files. In this way, one can put sometimes 8, 10, or more “albums” on a single disc. I have recently acquired a car stereo that plays these MP3 CDs, and it has been a revelation. I can put an entire artists’ catalogue on two or three discs, put one in, and that’s what I’m going to listen to for the next week. Diggin’ it.
My latest excursion has been through the collected works of a group known as Kansas. Supposedly, the Indian word “Kaw,” from which the word “Kansas” is derived, means “People of the South wind.” Cool, eh? In reality, it should mean “people for whom the earth revolves around Kerry Livgren.” There have been many excellent musicians and songwriters in this band, but Kerry Livgren has always been the main dude. Even when he’s not in the band.
Like any long-term creative entity, Kansas has been through various periods of development. The Kansas band that got signed to a record deal and started making albums was actually the third incarnation of the band, which will come up again later. Their first three albums, “Kansas,” “Song for America,” and “Masque,” make a sort of set in which experiments were conducted and the band’s sound was solidified.
If there’s a problem with virtuoso musicians when they’re young, it’s that they feel it necessary to play at inhumanly fast speeds. For the uninitiated, listening to these first three albums can be a trifle exhausting. Well worth the effort, though. Excellent writing and arranging, spot-on performances, and for all the notes flying around, not one is wasted.
Many groups in the progressive rock arena took sometimes several albums, and several years, before really getting a handle on things. Not so with Kansas. From the first song on side 1 they hit the ground running and never looked back. If there were an award for best first prog-rock album, the first Kansas album would win hands down. Really, the only thing that took them a while was finding an audience. As good as these albums were, only a small cult following knew it.
Their first release was issued in 1974. By ’76 they had three relative flops in a row and were on the verge of being dropped by their label. When they went into the studio to begin work on their fourth album, Steve Walsh – the lead singer and other primary songwriter – announced that he had writer’s block and had brought no new material with him.
This turned out to be not such a bad thing. Kerry Livgren wrote or co-wrote every song on the record, and “Leftoverture” became and remains their best selling album to date. It starts with a song that he didn’t even mention to the band until the last day of recording, when it was decided they needed one more song. They ran through it once, laid down the track, and it became one of the biggest selling songs of the ‘70’s; “Carry On, Wayward Son.” It’s still a staple of classic rock radio. By this time their playing and writing had matured. It is, arguably, their best album overall. It also kicked off the next epoch in the Kansas story; The Popular Years.
The sad thing about peaks is that they lead directly to going down the other side. Many people pair that album together with the next one, “Point of Know Return.” I can see that, because they were both very confident, upbeat records. They were also very popular, and “Know Return” contained their other two most famous singles, the title track and “Dust In the Wind.”
But I pair “Know” with the one that followed it, “Monolith.” By this time there was a distinct Kansas Sound, and consequently a Kansas Formula. It seems you could write a Kansas song almost like you’d fill out a form, making sure all the required elements were in place. Some of the songs on these two albums sound like that. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s still some great stuff here, but for the first time there are songs that, frankly, they could have done without. If you took the best tunes from both, you’d have one great album.
“Know” and “Monolith” are like opposite sides of the same coin. “Know” is more upbeat, “Monolith” darker and more serious. Most annoying are things like the second cut on “Monolith,” titled “People of the South Wind.” We’ve already discussed where this title came from. The chorus says:
We’re the people of the south wind
The people of the southern wind
Now think about that for a moment. Are they the people of the SOUTH wind, or the SOUTHERN wind? If those two things are the same, why not pick one? If this is something by which you want to identify yourself, why leave it that vague? Why not put a little more thought into the second line, instead of just sticking something in there that fit the number of syllables?
Even so, the level of performance remained at the highest level. Up to this point I cannot recall a time when anyone in Kansas was just phoning it in. Even with Livgren and Walsh’s writing beginning to show signs of weakness and fatigue, Walsh always sang with passion and played the keyboards brilliantly.
The whole band was great. If Kerry Livgren was the brain, and Steve Walsh the voice, then violinist/vocalist Robby Steinhardt was the soul of the band. He’s a classically trained violinist, and in a band with three strong soloists and a great singer he staked himself out a place of his own. He also acted as the Master of Ceremonies for the band when playing live. If you want a clue on how incredible this band was, listen to any of their early stuff and pay close attention to Robby’s violin parts. Then realize that, unless Steinhardt shared a writing credit, his part was written out by Livgren. He was also a very good singer, his slightly rough, strident voice making an interesting counterpoint to Walsh’s soaring high tenor.
The rest of the band was this good as well. Drummer Phil Ehart, along with guitarist Rich Williams, are the only members to appear on every Kansas album. One of my ongoing complaints with their earlier recordings is that the drums never quite sound right. Ehart was extremely talented, and yet the drums always sound thin and somewhat muffled on the record. Bassist Dave Hope kind of disappeared into the background, but remembering that a lot of the parts were written out he gets credit for being able to play them.
Second guitarist Rich Williams is an interesting case study. Livgren, of course, set the tone for everyone else as not only main songwriter, but on keyboards and lead guitar as well. Even so, Williams wasn’t relegated to a simple rhythm guitarist role. His solos are hot, smokin’, and easily recognizable next to Livgren’s.
Williams seems to be the perfect sideman, rolling with every change and carrying his part with grace and class. In the band’s latter days he is the only guitar player, and holds up his end AND Livgren’s on the older material. He’s got a good gig and he knows it. That’s called mental health, people. On the whole, in spite of Livgren clearly being the Alpha Dog on the block, it’s a very democratic band with everyone having ample opportunity to shine.
Now, at this point I want to state that I am deliberately ignoring a major development in Kerry Livgren’s personal life. The reason is that, once it’s out there, it colors everyone’s perception of him and all the music he did from this point on. The purpose of this piece is to discuss the MUSIC of Kerry Livgren and Kansas, not his personal life.
In late ’79, early ’80, Livgren began recording his first solo album, “Seeds of Change.” In my humble opinion, it’s brilliant. It’s still one of my all-time favorite albums. Great songs, and guest performances by a wide range of musicians from fellow members of Kansas to vocalists Mylon LeFevre and Ronny James Dio. Worth of mention here is the song “Living For the King,” vocal by Dio and featuring one of my favorite guitar solos ever. There is something about this album that elevates it head and shoulders above “Know Return” and “Monolith.”
Unfortunately, it also marks the end of the band’s second period. “Audio-Visions” was the last Kansas album to earn a gold record. Philosophical differences between Livgren and Walsh caused the latter to leave and start his own band, “Streets.” This left open a seat for a lead vocalist and keyboard player.
For some inexplicable reason, the person chosen for the job was John Elefante. I’ve seen a short list of people who were passed over in Elefante’s favor. Having heard most of them, the question arises; what the hell were they thinking? He isn’t half the singer that Steve Walsh was. There must have been something about him that fascinated Livgren. It was a little like watching John fall for Yoko.
The Elefante period is marked by two albums with musical puns for titles; “Vinyl Confessions” and “Drastic Measures.” That also describes the music contained within, at least by Kansas’ high standards. “Confessions” is particularly dire, and you’re deep into side 2 (for you who remember vinyl) before hearing anything really resembling Kansas. “Measures” at least rocks harder, but it’s still not very good.
Violinist Robby Steinhardt is barely noticeable on “Confessions,” and the Wikipedia article on the band says that he “didn’t show up for the sessions for the next album.” After the support tour for “Measures,” Livgren himself left the band. He gathered some musicians, among them Warren Ham and Mike Gleason, both of whom Elefante had beaten out for the lead vocal chair in Kansas, and went into the studio to record his next solo album.
The session gelled so well that they decided to form a new band. Unfortunately, Livgren was contractually bound to Kansas for life. Livgren’s autobiography, also titled “Seeds of Change,” says that there was a small loophole, although again the Wikipedia article says the loophole was negotiated with the record company, that allowed him to form a band as long as they were marketed to a particular demographic. And so was born the band, “AD.”
I have the first two of AD’s four albums, “Time Line” from 1984 and ‘85’s “Art of the State,” and they’re excellent! Musically they hearken back to the “Audio-Visions” days, but moved on a little further. What is most striking, and different from Kansas, is an air of downright playfulness. As intricate and sophisticated as the music is, they sound like they’re having a great time playing it. And even writing it! Seriously, I could never imagine Kansas pulling out a song like “We Are the Men” from “Art of the State.”
The rest of Kansas didn’t entirely fade away, though. In 1985 Walsh, Williams and Ehart grabbed a new bass player and uber-fusion guitarist Steve Morse for a new album. It’s tempting to refer to this as the Morse years, as he got a lot of writing credits and was, after all, Livgren’s direct replacement. But it would be more honest to call it the Post-Livgren period.
The three albums this grouping recorded between ’85 and ’95 were . . . well, they were actually pretty good, and got progressively better. But they don’t really sound like Kansas. Frankly, they sound more like Journey or Styx. Which isn’t a bad thing . . . unless you’re really expecting Kansas. But Kansas without Kerry Livgren . . .
The first was “Power,” and Morse gets more writers’ credits than Walsh. Three years later was “In the Spirit Of Things,” which was a loosely-constructed concept album about the 1951 flood of Neosho Falls, Kansas. O-o-o-kay. And it took until 1995 for them to do another, during which time they were dropped by their label. Everything from “Freaks of Nature” on has been released on their own label.
They did reunite with Livgren for a tour between “Spirit” and “Freaks,” and even got David Ragsdale, another violinist, so they could do the older stuff live and sound more like themselves. But Livgren left after a while and Morse came back to do “Freaks” and finish their touring commitments.
In 1997 Ragsdale left and Robby Steinhardt returned! The band went into the studio with an orchestra and recorded “Always Never The Same.” It’s an odd collection; a couple covers, a few new tunes, and the rest old Kansas stuff. It may have been a mistake to do this one, because it just emphasizes how great Kerry Livgren’s songs from the ‘70’s were. But it sounds really great, and it shows just how good Rich Williams is on lead guitar. With no Morse or Livgren to cast a shadow over him, he steps forward and rocks the house.
Whatever the reason for doing it, the album . . . well, it’s not bad. Really. It’s probably better than any album under the Kansas name since Audio-Visions. But remember what I said about the first three albums, that everything was played at breakneck speed? That’s not a problem here. Everything seems so ss-l-l-o-o-ww in comparison. The songs aren’t bad, and if you like Kansas they’re probably better than anything from the Morse years. They’re just, well, kinda sleepy.
Livgren had what is described as a “massive stroke” in 2009, but since has recovered enough to continue to write, record, and tour. Remember what I said early on about the Famous Kansas being the third version? Well, the second version’s demo tapes got released in 2003 as “The Lost Kansas Tapes.” It attracted enough attention that Livgren got THAT Kansas back together for some more recording and a tour of Europe. It went well, so that’s been an on-again, off-again project working under the name of Proto-Kaw.
Livgren also has his own small label and production company called Numovox, and has done a few solo albums. I’ve only heard one, a collection of instrumentals called “One of Several Possible Musicks.” Didn’t care for it, frankly, but oh well. And that’s about it, I guess. I’m going to try and get my hands on some Proto-Kaw, and if I think it’s worth a mention I’ll do so.
Of course, it wouldn’t be worth doing one of these without making a recommendation for your collection. If you’re going to get one and only one Kansas album, make it “Leftoverture.” If you don’t like that one, you won’t like any of them. If, on the other hand, that whets your appetite for more, go for the three that came before it; “Kansas,” “Song for America,” and “Masque.”
Once you’ve gone that far, you owe it to yourself to get “Audio-Visions” and Livgren’s first solo project, “Seeds of Change.” By then, what the hell, go find some AD; “Time Line” and “Art of the State” are the best. If you must go further, head for “Point of Know Return” and “Monolith,” along with their first live album, “Two For the Show.” Only then should you consider getting the Morse albums and beyond, or just seeking counseling.
And finally, I would be remiss if I left you with the impression that Kerry Livgren was the whole band. The Elefante years proved that they also needed Steve Walsh. And Robby Steinhardt. And as good as a lot of Livgren's work aside from Kansas has been, the six original members had a certain chemistry that could not be reproduced.
So enjoy the feel of that South wind on your face, and carry on, my wayward son.
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