GREATEST HITS LIVE (KANSAS)

Not only is this not what it is advertised to be (Kansas greatest hits - not even close!), but it is also the exact same album as the 1998 'King Biscuit Presents Kansas' CD. Even worse, these are the same recordings that were released as the EMI compilation 'Dust in the Wind' in 2002. And just to add insult to injury, this is the same recording that was released by Silverline in 2003 on audio DVD as part of the 'From the Front Row Live' series. Talk about getting mileage out of a recording!

There are some very slight variations in the order of the tracks on these various releases, although this particular one is exactly the same is the 1998 King Biscuit release, just with a different cover. And the silverline audio DVD has that media's enhanced ability to play around with the sound a little (Dolby 5.1). But otherwise, these are all the same thing in different packages.

For the record (no pun intended), this particular recording is from the second of a two night appearance at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in February 1989. Steve Walsh had been absent from the tour for a while due to pneumonia and throat problems, but his voice is actually in pretty good form here (compare to the Live at the Whiskey CD that was recorded just three years later for a jarring reality check on how quickly his voice faded though).

The rest of the lineup included Steve Morse on guitar (and sometimes violin), although he was already touring with his own band and would leave Kansas not long after this tour; Greg Robert on keyboards, who had appeared on In the Spirit of Things and would officially join the band before their next release; Billy Greer on bass, who had been with the band since Walsh brought him from Streets when he rejoined the band in 1986; and stalwarts Phil Ehart and Rich WIlliams.

The song selection is typical of that day, heavy on their most recent release (In the Spirit of Things), with a couple other later tracks and the obligatory seventies hits ("Dust in the Wind", "Miracles out of Nowhere", Carry on Wayward Son"), but is nothing all that impressive, and certainly not anything close to being their 'greatest hits'. Magnum Opus is more like Minor Opus, as it only includes the first couple minutes of that epic classic. And most of the songs are dominated by Morse with endless shredding and soloing, including about ten minutes of hard-rock posing on the otherwise bland "House on Fire".

What's most sad about this album is that it was a very interesting live radio show when it was recorded in 1989. But the greed and deception of various record labels and management companies has caused it to live on in these several sub-standard cutout bin releases over the years, none of which captures the real power and spirit of this band live and at their prime.

If you absolutely have to have this concert, buy the 1998 King Biscuit version. It has the best artwork and is the closest to what the band thought they were getting into when they agreed to have this recorded.

If you just want to hear the band live in their prime, pick up Two for the Show. This one is only for completionists, and only for the most ardent ones at that. Yuck.

peace