The Kansas Appreciation Thread

St.Cleve Chronicle wrote: By the way, does Livgren have Swedish roots? His name sounds like it.

There was heavy immigration of Swedes to that part of northern Kansas in the mid to late 19th century; the population of Swedish Americans there is pretty large, so it wouldn't be surprising if he is one of them. 

"...in 1870 almost 75 percent of the Swedish immigrants in the United States were found in Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Nebraska..."

I think STE has mostly great songs on it with a couple of average songs and 2 I don't really care for but consider that for the original band it was their longest effort to date then a little filler is excusable. Probably one of the best comeback albums of any of the big prog bands from the 70's Myriad, Distant Vision and Icarus II are stunning.

I totally agree, the great ones are certainly worth the price of admission;)

I just downloaded Myriad and Icarus 2, haven't heard those in a while, phenomenal writing!!!

bc

just want to mention one underrated kansas album, freaks of nature..what a great album! esp coming after two weaker rockier and more commercial offerings (power and in the spirit of things..) i always thought livgren was the prog  genuis behind kansas and largely after leaving , the band took a more 'journey' direction to their music, but with freaks..walsh proved that he too can write great prog songs..the whole album is fantastic, esp desperate times with ehart in top form, black fathom 4, and hope once again..freaks of nature should be reassessed as one of the best album kansas have written in their glorious career..

Garion81 wrote: I think STE has mostly great songs on it with a couple of average songs and 2 I don't really care for but consider that for the original band it was their longest effort to date then a little filler is excusable. Probably one of the best comeback albums of any of the big prog bands from the 70's Myriad, Distant Vision and Icarus II are stunning.

I love all the songs, but you pinpointed the big three. Modern prog masterpieces, all.

Time to bring this thread back to page 1: Tonight I dragged the DVD of Kansas' Omaha, NE show on the Vinyl Confessions tour with John Elefante. I remember watching this on MTV's Saturday Night Concert series back in high school and bought the DVD copy a few years ago. Actually not a bad performance, but you can tell that Elefante wasn't all that comfortable. What huge shoes to fill when Walsh left. Not sure it's possible, but Vinyl Confessions is a decent album; however, pales when you compare it to it's predecessors. What are yoru thoughts regarding Vinyl Confessions?

Should be getting close to the new DVD.

E

Had my iPod on while cutting the grass and heard "The Death Of Mother Nature Suite". Man, is that a killer song or what? I think it's one of those that gets lost when compared to the other songs, but it's definitely one of their best.

E

Thanks for the info. Hope is one of my all time favorite bassists.

E

I love Steve Walsh's vocal work on Steve Hackett's Please Don't Touch. He sings on Narnia and and a song about the country(forget the title). He really shines on both of these songs. It was a very special moment in his career. The power of his voice on these songs takes me to another place it seems.

Epignosis wrote: I like Kansas.

I never could tell.