TWO FOR THE SHOW

Hard to believe that nearly 30 years ago to the date of the release of the remaster of this album, I was a young lad attending my first concert, which happened to be a progressive rock show by a band called Kansas. At the time I was on my way to leaving behind pop music and becoming a progressive rock fanatic.

Two For The Show was culled from various concerts in 1977 and 1978 and, dare I say, represents the band at its pinnacle. For the remaster you not only get Closet Chronicles, which was egregiously omitted from the first CD release to keep it to one disc, but ten additional tracks not released previously. And these are quite good additions: Hopelessly Human, Child Of Innocence, Belexes, Cheyenne Anthem, Miracles Out Of Nowhere, Sparks Of The Tempest, in particular, plus a Phil Ehart drum solo prelude to The Spider.

The quality of the music is what makes the difference between a truly great live album and a mediocre one. This one doesn't disappoint. The songs aren't strict regurgitations of the studio tracks, they're played with a higher energy (Ehart comments in the liner notes how these versions are "smokin' fast"), and no overdubs. The track selection surely represent the best of Kansas from their first five albums.

I give this release a fiver on the round up.

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