Customer Reviews

Kansas (Exp)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Kansas' debut and their second album, 1975's _Song For America_, were the two main albums from Kansas' 70s output that did not receive the remastering treatment on the Epic/Legacy label. Now, the wait is over, and these two jewels are finally here in all of their remastered glory. The bonus track here is a tasty live version of "Bringing It Back."

On Kansas' self-titled debut KANSAS (1974), we are already treated to their unique blend of heartland rock, boogie, country, and symphonic rock. Of course, they would refine their compositions on subsequent albums, but what they created on this debut here is highly impressive and enjoyable on it's own merits.
The band had already been playing together a few years before the release of this album, so this may contribute to the impressive gelling of ideas, and overall, accomplished musicianship exhibited here.

The first half of the album features more of the stripped-down tracks that Kansas seemed to exhibit from time to time, while the second half seems to be dedicated to the elaborate prog-rock epics. The album starts of with the fairly simple, but utterly addicting, violin-laced "Can I Tell You." Contrary to the opinion expressed by some reviewers, I don't find this, or any of the other tracks on this album, weak. Sure, it isn't a *prog* track in the Kansas tradition (if Kansas really ever had a tradition), but, different doesn't necessarily equal weak (opinions are subjective, not fact, folks.) However, while I enjoy this track immensely, I find the unissued demo version found on the KANSAS BOXED SET to be a more enjoyable version for me. "Bringing It Back" sounds like something you'd hear a bar-band performing. Reminds me of a slightly tame, underdeveloped prototype for the kind of thing you'd hear on SONG FOR AMERICA (1975) ("Down The Road" in particular comes to mind), but the underdevelopedness doesn't sink the track's tasteful edibility. I find it impressive how some bands (Queen, Rush, Kansas etc.) can make raw, underdeveloped music - that is, the music they make before reaching their peak in sound and/or composition - yet what they come up with on first shot seems to be much more impressive than what some artists produce in their entire catalogues.

"Lonely Wind" is a beautiful ballad penned by Steve Walsh. The vocal harmonies on this track are particularly moving, added with the melancholic piano, and soothing violin lines. The perfect song to be played for the bride & groom on their wedding day, while having a slow dance. On "Belexes," we are treated to the most energetic, rocking song on this set at this point. A definite rock-your-socks-off track, featuring some crunchy guitar lines, passionate, inspired vocals, and drumming that isn't too shabby.

"Journey From Mariabronn" starts off the second half as a classically-inspired number. This is probably the most compelling track on the album - compositionally speaking. The opening instrumental section, which lasts for 1 1/2 minute -- an energetic, mysterious section of band interplay leaving the listener in suspenseful anticipation, followed by an anthemic, soaring, worldly passage comprised of complex polyphony fronted by stately violin, which is then followed by a section in about 5/4 -- is one of the defining moments in Kansas' career. The song is all-around brilliant in my book. "The Pilgrimage" is a tasteful, fluid, mix of R&B and mild country influences. The melody, the lines and the vocal harmonies brings slight resemblance to Yes, particularly their track "I've Seen All Good People." A definite favorite of mine on this album. "Apercu" is another elaborate prog-rock epic, which even features a romp section which resembles that of the romp-like section in "Cheyenne Anthem" from LEFTOVERTURE (1976). The instrumental virtuosity and quirky elements displayed here are definite attributes which foreshadow things to be found in later albums. "Death of Mother Nature Suite" is a fine effort, but the unissued live version found on the KANSAS BOXED SET is much more enjoyable and fluid for me.

This probably isn't the album to start out with if you're new to Kansas. Start with LEFTOVERTURE (1976) and POINT OF KNOW RETURN (1977), then move onto their first three albums: this one, SONG FOR AMERICA (1975), and MASQUE (1975).

Few bands have gotten a harder rap than Kansas. They were the only American band that dared challenge the admittedly awesome scope of British prog-rockers like Yes or Genesis. Critics have made a tradition of dismissing Kansas' achievements as mere bombast that hides a lack of truly interesting themes and that is devoid of imagination. Or something along those lines.

Well, who needs critics anyway? These are, after all, the same critics who praised other bands for daring to create lengthy side-long suites. Compare this to Yes' Close to the Edge (admittedly, one of my favorite albums) or ELP's Tarkus (again, one of my favorites) and you'll find that by comparison, Kansas is downright modest. There's nothing as long as "Close to the Edge" or "Karn Evil 9," nothing as daring as Keith Emerson's deconstructions of Mussorgsky and Ginastera, and no lyrics as incomprehensible as Yes at their best ("A seasoned witch could call you from the depths of your disgrace / And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace"). Which is not to say that fans of those bands will not be impressed by the musicianship here - there may not be a Steve Howe or a Keith Emerson in this band, but the band sounds incredible, especially for a debut.

Disclaimers aside, Kansas is a thrilling album that manages to play well both on rockers ("Can I Tell You?," "Bringing it Back," "Belexes"), ballads ("Lonely Wind"), and epic, progressive pieces ("Death of Mother Nature Suite," "Apercu," especially "Journey from Mariabronn"). Kansas is more accessible than many other prog-rock bands because they are not afraid to trim back the pretension and deliver something as visceral as the tremendous "Belexes," or "Can I Tell You?" And they're distinctly American. Robbie Steinhardt's dynamic violin work immediately gives them a unique flavor, as do their blues and straightforward rock influences. Some may point to that as this band's fatal flaw, but I think it's the secret to their success.

This album is highly recommended for Kansas fans. It's a great place to start listening to them, although none of their big hits can be found here. This album should receive four and a half stars - in light of their later achievements, it cannot be ranked as the peak of their work.

But it's close.

In September, 1970, a semi-local band was hired to play the back-to-school dance at my high school here in KCMO. The dance comittee had no idea what they were getting into, but the student body was treated to the best music that had come to the school cafeteria, EVER. It was the loudest, ballsiest, most beautiful thing we had ever seen/heard! The band? Kansas! A couple of years later Kansas released their debut album. That was one of the high points of the year. The album stands on it's own merit, as with listenings throughout the years, the music soars every time. It is good that the biz people finally decided to remaster this masterpiece of rock history. What a great debut album!!!

Although the liner notes suggest that this music has many faces, I would settle for just two: namely that of hard rock and progressive rock.

The hard rock tracks (Can I tell You; Bringing it Back; Belexes; and The Pilgrimage) exhibit some fairly sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic interplay and are very interesting pieces unto themselves. In stark contrast to the heavier material on the album, the delicate Lonely Wind is borne simply on the acoustic piano with a stately bass/drum accompaniment and tasteful violin leads.

Things start getting very interesting with the track Journey from Mariabronn however, which is a full-blown work of progressive rock. Much to my delight, the guys (probably Livgren) employ a whole-tone scale at the end of this piece, which is very cool indeed. The crowning glory of this debut however is the excellent, 9'45 Apercu. All of the elements of classic prog are here: complex ensemble work, intricate synthesizer leads, imaginative arrangements, and great vocal parts. The blazing finale, Death of Mother Nature Suite, is also quite good and is the most seamless fusion of hard rock and prog on the disc.

This remastered album is of very high quality and fatures the restored artwork along with excellent sound quality and a ton of liner notes.

Very highly recommended along with Proto Kaw: Early Recordings from Kansas 1971-1973; and Song for America (1975).

Kansas was but one of an interesting slew of 70s-era Mid-American progressive rock bands--who like their British counterparts Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, combined their jazz and classical music leanings with extended, improvisational rock jams. This sub-genre of Mid-Am prog-rock really got started around 1971 with Bloodrock--a band from Ft. Worth, Texas who was in the process of changing their sound, going from a darker, guitar-driven, metallic image, to a more up-beat and fusion-oriented sound, incorporating the use of more synthesizers, which would become the model for the Kansas sound, as both Kansas and Bloodrock also happened to tour together regionally in the years leading up to the recording of Kansas' debut album. Of course, the other group from this same sub-genre was Styx--who seemed to share similarities with both groups, but adding more of a Chicago-style, big-city swagger to their music. The "hip police" working for the rock magazines on both the east and west coast, as well as Detroit, trying really hard to figure out and interpret these bands for their readers, which included a large portion of the "baby boom" generation, didn't understand this peculiar bunch. Wanting so badly to pigeonhole and stereotype bands geographically, they scratched their collective heads and said to themselves: "How are these hayseeds from Topeka able to work out all the intracacies of classical compositions like King Crimson?" But Kansas did it, and did it well.

Which leads us to this debut album from 1974, with Jimmy Page-inspired riffs, intelligent and philosophical lyrics, and enough synthesized noise to make Keith Emerson or Jon Lord envious. Interesting song titles like "Apercu" or "Belexes" (which are both great songs, but like Todd Rundgren, one can only wonder if chief songwriter Kerry Livgren picked these words up from his search of strange religions, or he simply made them up to blow the public's mind!)
Of course, the most striking thing about Kansas that sets them apart musically from all other prog-rock is the use of a REAL violin, not a keyboard made to sound like one, and not a whole string section like the Electric Light Orchestra. The other thing that is really striking--on this album, at least--is the most beautiful-sounding, angelic host of female background singers ever assembled! Why future Kansas albums didn't include these background singers, I don't know, but they do provide a nice atmosphere to the music on this album. I'm not sure if "studio tricks" were implemented to make them sound "angelic", but if angels could sing, they would sound just like the background singers on "Lonely Wind" and "Journey from Mariabronn". "Lonely Wind", in particular, is one of the most beautiful songs in Kansas' repetoire, both musically and lyrically, and probably one of the most beautiful songs of all time. It is certainly one of the few that almost bring tears to my eyes every time I hear it, and it is a shame it is never included on any of their "best-of" collections.
"Death of Mother Nature Suite" is probably the heaviest Kansas rocker of all. They must have really known they had a "killer" on their hands with this one, as they saved this number for last on this album, and probably saved it as the encore in their early "live" perfomances, too. It just has that "vibe"--much like REO Speedwagon's "Golden Country" at the end of their second album, or Styx's "Suite Madame Blue" at the end of "Equinox". Just a prophetic number that serves as a warning to people about the destruction mankind is reeking on the planet--the tempo increases toward the end of the track, and spinning into a guitar "tour de force", before descending into a pit of synthesizer fury. Probably one of my favorite Kansas songs, along with "Song For America", which would appear as the title track to the band's next album.

Sadly, it would be two years and three albums before Kansas would finally reach the big time nationally, with a song that almost didn't make it on an album. But that seemed to be a pattern with a lot of these upstart 70s-era Midwestern bands, like Styx and REO Speedwagon. The lack of support from the "Hip Police" at the nationally-syndicated rock magazines caused a lot of these bands to try and build a "grass roots" audience by word-of-mouth, in a part of the country that was demographically more conservative and much older than, say, people in San Francisco, and playing whatever hole-in-the-wall bar they could for people who would rather hear Lawrence Welk or George Jones. But the great thing is that many of these bands didn't sell out, didn't compromise, and stayed true to their sound, remaining decidedly non-commercial even when their record labels threatened to drop them.
And for Kansas, their persistence eventually paid off, and the world finally began to see and understand what the people of their hometown of Topeka knew all along. And this major-label debut, as obscure and un-popular as it might have been at this time, is part of that great legacy and that great Kansas sound.

The debut album benefits greatly from the new Epic/Legacy re-mastering...tracks take on added punch and vitality thanks to a cleaner, stronger sound. The graphics and artwork are improved, and there is an amazing, trippy, jamming live version of "Bringing It Back" included as a bonus track. This 30th Anniversary Edition is a worthwhile look back at the early stages of what became a prog rock phenomena...Kansas is a band! This is where that "Allman Brothers-meets-Genesis-by-way-of-Black Sabbath" sound really took flight. It confused the heck out of critics, but fans quickly took to it and within 2 years, Kansas was one of the biggest bands on the planet. "Can I Tell You" is a plucky, fiesty little jam...not too distant from something Charlie Daniels or Lynyrd Skynyrd might have recorded in 1974. Next up is the electro-country-blues of "Bringing It Back," which is not overly impressive as a studio track, but gains tremendous potency live. For all the good ol' boys who were settling in for some more southern fried rock after the first two tracks, "Lonely Wind" must have come as a shock. It's a classic Steve Walsh ballad, with lovely, intricate piano and violin work. For more whiplash, stay tuned to "Belexes" which is a crunchy driving rocker with mysterious, pondering lyrics. If the rednecks hadn't bailed out by now, they definitely fled on "Journey From Mariabronn," which is the premier track on this CD and sets the template for many of Kansas finest classic prog rock songs to come. This track has it all...the soaring symphonic passages, the tricky time signatures, the passionate vocals, the deep, profound and gripping lyrical narrative, and the muscular driving guitars. Next up is "The Pilgrimage" which reminds me a bit of that little Blind Melon tune, "No Rain," in its whimsical and quasi-spiritual tone. "Apercu" is another powerhouse prog-rock epic which features strong vocal contributions from both Steve Walsh and Robby Steinhardt. (For more on the prowess of individual Kansas musicians, see my SONG FOR AMERICA review.) Here again are the lovely musical passages juxtaposed with heavy, albeit melodic rock. The words "lovely" and "melodic" don't really apply to the next tune, "The Death of Mother Nature Suite," though it does have some nice moments. It's an angry, somewhat heavy-handed environmental plea, featuring the appropriately scary, stentorian vocals of Robby Steinhardt and a growly guitar assault, with a cool jam in the middle that builds explosively. All in all, the track packs a big wallop, and the ending coda is fantastic. Until the release of this re-mastered, expanded version of KANSAS, I had only lightly regarded this album. Therefore, this new edition was somewhat of a revelation to me and it has certainly gotten more than its share of time in my CD changer. For the Kansas fan, it's absolutely essential. For the more casual prog rock fan, it would still offer many moments of excitement and admiration. Check it out....

I may be a minority, but here goes. Their debut album is my favorite album. From the opening jam of "Can I Tell You" to the musical complexity of "The Pilgrimage" to the bluesy "Bringing it Back" this album is a classic.
The entire album is full of raw rhythm and blues. Every instrument comes alive with electricty from one track to the next. A must buy.

The first one . You can feel from now on how important this guys would be. What else can i say about Kansas? Is great . There is nothing in the American Rock in the 70's with a sound like that... "Journey from Maria Bronn" and "Death of mother nature suite" are my favourites in this REALLY GOOD album..

This has got to be one of the best debut albums ever by a rock band and yet it is virtually unknown except to diehard Kansas fans. I like all of the songs on this CD. My favorites are Journey From Mariabronn, Death To Mother Nature Suite, And Can I Tell You. Purchase it and you won't be sorry.

With their self-titled debut, Kansas start off with a bang. The vocal harmonies are great, the keyboard and violin work flies around intensely, and the clever use of twin guitars- almost unheard of in 70s progressive rock- shows the contrast between Richard Williams' simpler, riff-based sound and Kerry Livgren's more refined, more technical style. It's obvious from listening to all of Kansas' albums that Williams, who lost his right eye in a fireworks accident, hasn't let his disability become a handicap, but some of the group's albums stand out above others, this being one of the ones that do. The best songs here are "Can I Tell You", with its line "if you expect the freedom, that you say is yours...prove that you deserve it...help us to preserve it...or being free will just be...words and nothing more", and "Journey From Mariabronn" with its mention of "an eternal flame", which could refer to the legacy someone you've known leaves you in terms of putting your own behavior in perspective when they pass away, particularly if their death is premature or because of their own negligence; the lyrics I just mentioned have inspired me to look at pictures of pretty actresses, as a deterrent against self-indulgent behavior. The group made a few albums that were slightly better, but that's no reason to take away any stars; in fact, this album proves that Kansas were ahead of their game from the beginning.