Monday, April 17, 2017

Kansas: Leftoverture (1976)

Untitled
The best thing about this record is the title. It's pretty clever and it's an authentic title too, from what I've heard, since they used bits and pieces of older material after failing to come up with new material.

Prog rock mixed with classic rock and pop is probably a good description of this band, who I think are still staples of classic rock radio. I just learned that this band has released records through the decades, including a new collection of songs in 2016. Who knew? I thought they were dead and buried. But, then again, who knows what the lineup is? I'm too disinterested to care.

This record was either a lawn sale pickup, when I was a teenager, or something passed along to me sometime by a person long forgotten. I do not recall the last time I listened to it. I'll likely never listen to it again.

I am relatively ignorant of Kansas, but my uninformed argument is that Carry On Wayward Son has to be the band's biggest song. This portion of the Allmusic review made me chuckle:
...an impenetrable conundrum of significance that's capped off by nothing less than a five-part suite, appropriately titled "Magnum Opus," and featuring such promising movement titles as "Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat" and "Release the Beavers." Of course, there's no telling whether this closing opus relates to the opener, "Carry On Wayward Son," the greatest single Kansas ever cut -- a song that manages to be pompous, powerful, ridiculous, and catchy all at once. That they never manage to rival it anywhere on this record is as much a testament to their crippling ambition as their lack of skills. [source]
I can't add anything to that. I have a Canadian pressing

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