Vintage Kansas Recording Discovery: New Old Performance Released on YT

[Iconoclast]

I'm a huge Kansas fan. Played many years in a Kansas tribute (that I'd love to reform if I can just find a violin player interested in Phoenix). I thought I'd heard every live recording they'd ever done when suddenly, posted just a few days ago on youtube is this entire concert from 1978, recorded directly from the board and mixed down in stereo that I'd never heard any of before. It's brand spankin new and only 300 or so have viewed it so far.

To put you in perspective: In 1978 Kansas was arguably the biggest touring act in North America and was doing stadiums with as many as 80,000. Steve Walsh's voice was still at it's unbelievable peak and they were still showing the unreal tightness of 6 dudes who'd basically lived in the same house for the last 8 years. This is the Point of Know Return Tour, coming off of their 1976 breakout with Leftoverture and the incredibly popular Carry On Wayward Son.

I realize Kansas is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you're a keyboard player (or really any kind of serious musician), there's some amazing stuff in here. A lot of it closely mirrors the arrangements in the live Two For the Show album and may have been recorded as candidates for that record.  I dont' think they had any programmable synths on stage and I know Kerry used to have a headphones on stage to reprogram his mini moog between songs. 

Referencing the other current thread about tempo: they remain remarkably on speed for a lot of these songs even though they had a tendency to play things at ludicrous speed during live performance.

 

[Baldwin Funster]

If Walsh wasn't such a great vocalist he would have been known as a fine prog organist. I firmly believe you can't be fully recognized for 2 things. You become not a great organist and singer, you are 1/2 an organist and 1/2 a singer to the critics. 

As well as Kerry Livgrens guitar playing completely overshadowed by his songwriting. He wrote by himself what it would take the entire band of YES to work put together. And he often wrote stuff at night to be recorded the next day.

[Synthaholic]

I am also a huge Kansas fan, and I saw that Point of Know Return tour in Lakeland, Florida at the Civic Center (Not the best place for a concert, acoustically, and was more famous for their pro wrestling shows). Steve Walsh was fully into his Adidas soccer wardrobe and kicked a bunch of soccer balls out into the crowd.

 

Thanks for posting this!

[NewImprov]

Thanks for posting! My very first big concert was Kansas in Portland, OR, on this tour, I was 16, and a huge fan already. I remember being totally blown away that they could cover all the parts from the records live, and deliver it all with so much energy. That show definitely set the standard for live concerts for me for years. Will give this a headphone listen when I have time.

 

[Mills Dude]

I just listened to the first few cuts, super compressed and no ambient mics, but for us Kansas freaks its pure gold. The title indicates this was recorded in Maryland at the Merriweather Pavilion, which is also one of the venues where cuts from Two for the Show were taken.  Possible that this is one of the sources or maybe a rejected recording due to some technical issues. Maybe the crowd/ambient mics weren't recorded or maybe this is the just the sound board recording and its worked its way through the old bootleg system.

 

Whatever the case may be, its Kansas at their peak and really shows how good a band they were. A bunch of yokels from the prairies of Kansas (the state) who were able to write and perform prog rock with the best of the 'em. I don't think they get quite enough due from the prog rock fans, maybe because they're not British and prog identifies more with that flavor.  Maybe because they weaved in a bit of 70s heavy guitar rock along with the keyboard laden prog approach.

 

I was 12 in 78, I had Point of Know return on cassette to play on my first boom box, but I hadn't started playing yet and I was more interested in the hits. It wasn't util the mid 80s in HS when I hooked up with other musos and found my group that was into prog. Kansas, Yes, Genesis, ELP were all the rage for us and we dug deep but at that point the prog ship had sailed.

 

Kerry in those days was just ripping off one masterpiece after another. I'd put him up there with Tony Banks as a keyboardist and composer and of course he could lead with guitar also. Just a great musical mind, the whole of Left Overture is a masterpiece.  The AD record, Art of the State, is another of his masterpieces but I love all the great prog from Masque, Song for America, etc.

 

Essentially 2 lead singers who also blended so well. I've read somewhere that the band didn't really grasp how good Steve Walsh's voice was until they started recording the first record. 

 

On this bootleg I get to hear Dave Hope on bass really well.  To me, he's a pretty unsung hero of the group.  He gets a great tone and just rips through those bass lines. Hope and Ehardt really put down the "Kansas groove".  Add the grinding Hammond from Steve and its the Kansas secret sauce recipe, their umami.

 

My brother-in-law is really into prog metal like Dream Theater and Tool. We were on a road trip a number of years ago and I put on Masque. He only knew the big Kansas hits and was blown away about how much it sounded like an early influence for those bands he liked. 

[weegeebored]

Thanks for the post.  I am also a big Kansas fan, especially the pre-Point of Know Return material. I'm just a hack keyboardist and I had a strange audition for my first "serious" band sometime in 1977 or '78. The leader/guitarist comes over to my parents' house.  He looks at my equipment -- I can't remember everything but I had an M3 (not cut down...eeesh!), a Leslie (don't know the model), a Freeman String Symphonizer, and some brand name monophonic synth (which later was upgraded to an early model two-voice Oberheim).  He started to look through my vinyl collection and somehow found my Kansas collection. He said "Are you a fan of Kansas?" to which I replied "Yeah. They are one of my favorite rock groups." Looking pleasantly surprised he asked me to play a C Major chord followed by a C Minor.  And much like the Capital One commercial with Slash, the band leader said "You're in". 

 

So much talent in the band. Although he is never mentioned as a top drummer, Phil Ehart is easily my favorite.  Hope had a great sound on bass and the whole band just sounded super tight. And Livgren was a brilliant songwriter. Personally I am more interested in the music than lyrics in songs, but you can't help but take notice of the wordcraft when listening to songs like The Wall or Child of Innocence (or even the rocker Down the Road).  And speaking of...

 

Down the Road (2009)

[Iconoclast]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:40 AM, Mills Dude said:

I just listened to the first few cuts, super compressed and no ambient mics, but for us Kansas freaks its pure gold. The title indicates this was recorded in Maryland at the Merriweather Pavilion, which is also one of the venues where cuts from Two for the Show were taken. 

After a second listen, it appears the Point of Know Return performance is the same as the 2FTS recording except that on 2FTS it's inexplicably sped up to put it a half step higher. (CORRECTION: the bootleg is a halfstep low, 2FTS appears to be right on key. Maybe that's why I thought the tempo's were a little slow for a live Kansas performance!)

I would also bet that the beginning of Magnum Opus is the same performance except that 2FTS has some either post processing or overdubs.