POINT OF KNOW RETURN

I think that KANSAS is somewhat underrated as a band by some Prog Rock fans. And I think that it is not fair. Maybe the mixture of Progressive Rock music with some Hard Rock and Heavy Metal guitars and arrangements or even the fact that they had some hits played in the radio like "Carry On Wayward Son" or "Dust on the Wind" are maybe the main things that some Prog Rock fans don`t like from this band. I have to say that even it really took to me some time to like KANSAS`s music in the late seventies and early eighties. But it was until I bought and listened to their very good live album called "Two for the Show" in 1984 that I really started to appreciate how good was this band since the seventies. In fact, i did not like very much this "Point of Know Return" album when I listened to it in the late seventies and early eighties!

This album maybe represents for KANSAS not only their commercial peak as a band with their original line-up thanks to "Dust in the Wind", an acoustic guitar musical piece with very good "existential" lyrics by Kerry Livgren and very good arrangements, but also, in my opinion, with this album KANSAS as a band really reached their peak as musicians, composers and performers. With most tracks composed by Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh (but with the title track composed by Walsh, Phil Ehart and Robby Steinhardt, with "Dust in the Wind" and "Hopelessly Human" composed by Livgren, and "The Spider" composed by Walsh) this album sounds like a very good work done as a real team by all members of the band. Every song is very good, with even some very good arrangements influenced by Classical music with some heavy guitars. The keyboard arrangements are also very good. Phil Ehart also shines as a very good drummer in this album too, and the vocals are sung by Walsh and Steinhardt very well.

I can`t only mention a few songs as highlights in this album, because I like all the songs from this album. But I think that KANSAS always has sounded better playing in concert. Like in their previous album called "Leftoverture", their studio work is very good, but the best versions of the songs from both albums and from their previous albums sound better played in concert, in my opinion, because they played them with more freedom and even adding some very good arrangements in concert like the extended lead guitars section played at the end of the song by Rich Willams and Kerry Livgren in "Portrait" or the more energetic live versions of "Point of Know Return", "Paradox" and "Closet Chronicles" in their live album "Two for the Show". In fact, the 30th anniversary edition of "Two for the Show" has eight of the ten songs from this "Point of Know Return" album played better in concert. But this 1977 studio album for me represents their peak as a band working in the studio. If the "Leftoverture" album was mostly influenced by the songwriting work of Kerry Livgren, with this "Point of Know Return" album the band had contributions in the songwriting by other members of the band, and I also think that the arrangements also improved.