This record contains the other really huge Kansas tune, Dust in the Wind. By the way, some people think that this record is entitled Point of No Return. It's close, but it isn't right.
I think this record is not so great. Maybe I just don't get it. I find it almost to be a job to force myself to listen to the record, and that's saying something. I will admit that Dust in the Wind is probably a very good rock song, but its bot really my cup of tea.
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
