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Kansas, Live Review, Carry On My Wayward Son
by Timothy Abbott , photos by Stan Martin
Courtesy of Sound Profile Magazine
http://www.soundprofilemagazine.com/
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I was at the plush Long Center catching the 70’s prog-rock heroes Kansas recently, reuniting for their 40th anniversary tour.The Long Center is the premier intimate concert venue for a show like Kansas. The band first hit the scene big in 1974 with their self-titled album featuring  the pre-Civil War rabble rouser John Brown on the cover, which was fitting since the state of Kansas has had such a tumultuous past. It translated well for the artistic approach ,what with the complexity of the music and the direction that they went, beginning as far back as 1969. Kansas has had many incarnations; there is Kansas 1, Kansas 2, the more popular version featuring Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh who wrote the band’s big selling singles [  “Carry On Wayward Son”, and the monster timeless hit ”Dust In The Wind”] and several reinventions of the band since then.  [ Walsh  left the band a number of times to concentrate on his solo career, which early on resulted in one of the more mocked album covers of all time, the “Schemer- Dreamer” record. The reviews were equally unkind.]
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Steve Walsh retired for good in 2014 after several returning in 1985,playing till 2014,and was aptly replaced by Chicago native Phil Platt. This year  is the first time in ages they’ve been able to line up everyones’ schedules to pull off a 40th Anniversary Tour.All the band members have been involved in a number of other personal projects, none that ever caught fire the likes that Kansas did. So why leave it? Why not continue to do that, as it allows financial freedom to do the other music they pursue? Do they make good bank? Consider this; eight gold albums, three sextuple-platinum albums (Leftoverture, Point of Know Return, The Best of Kansas), one platinum live album (Two for the Show) and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind“. Kansas appeared on the Billboard charts for over 200 weeks throughout the 1970’s and 1980s “Carry On Wayward Son” was the second-most-played track on classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997.


The current edition of Kansas features a mix of various players and parts that equal up to the sum name-brand. Many of the original members have either retired, or are taking up other projects. The original violinist Bobby Steinhardt missed this tour because of health reasons as he was courting a major heart attack that was caught in time, however he has been replaced off and on over the years by David Ragsdale. Rags fills the role admirably.He was on key throughout on his intricate harmonies,played the violin masterfully,and rhythm guitar behind the familiar guitar chops of Rich Williams,who along with drummer Phil Ehart has been with the band since 1973,making them the seniors. Billy Greer,with the band since 1985, played bass and switched to acoustic guitar on a few numbers. His voice is still in 1985 shape. In fact, the collective chops on the band were tight as a Swiss clock .Livgren found religion and chose to concentrate on that instead.  Replacement singer Platt ,who joined in 2014 ,replicates Steve Walsh’s vocals perfectly. At times, I had to make sure it wasn’t Walsh singing. The current edition plays the music every bit as spirited as it was in 1974 through 1986. 

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They chose only one song from the debut album,”Belexes”, famed for its’ signature time changes that sees the band running a 100 yard dash of prog-rock at it’s best. They played the hits  including  the refreshing “Miracles Out Of Nowhere”,”Fight Fire With Fire”, “Hold On” and of course, that  soft little tune that was written at first as a guitar playing exercise,”Dust In The Wind” .Closer was “Carry On Wayward Son” It brought one back to another day and age, I half-expected to walk out and see  it was 1976 ,and that somehow I had time travelled back to the days of  gas rationing .All the hits were delivered like precision clockwork  as they were in the band’s hey days; the vocals were perfectly tight,harmonies on que, not an error to be heard. They played to the backdrop of the iconic album cover from 1974.It’s hard to imagine this band came out of a place like Topeka Kansas city of a mere 40,000 souls. The arrangements are so off the wall complex that it’s truly a pleasure to see the quality of the musicianship that delivers at playing it live.


If prog-rock is your thing, the live Kansas show is the pinnacle of that experience. The others still doing this rather have wilted over the years.But the bench is deep on this Kansas team.

The band is touring behind its 2015 release “Miracles Out Of Nowhere “DVD which celebrates the band from its inception to it’s Big Time with the album”Point Of No Return”. That includes extra footage. You want extra footage. We all want extra footage.


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