At some point during my middle school years, my cousin bought a few albums that would be among my all time favorites. Two of them were Kansas albums. Leftoverture, and Point Of Know Return I think we talked a little bit about Leftoverture a while back. The first Kansas song I can remember hearing was Magnum Opus. My cousin was in this gymnastics program and was using this as the music for her floor routine. So I got to hear it a lot while she developed and practiced that routine.
It was symphonic, melodic and complex. It felt so mature. It was definately a long way from KISS. You can click here to go back and check it out again. It really is worth another listen.
The peculiar thing about Kansas is that for as much as I love Leftoverture and Point Of Know Return, I’ve never felt compelled to buy any of their other albums. They’ve released 14 albums from 1974 to 2000 and yet to me they only have two. As you’ll see when I get old enough to have money and begin to buy my own music, I have this tendancy to discover a music group then go back and purchase their existing catalog. Not the case the with Kansas and I’m really at a loss as I write this for why I never did. Another thought regarding Kansas is that even though BFMS was where I first got a hold of these two amazing albums, it was really the next era The Academy Days where I played the crap out of them. This raises the issue that I knew was going to present itself at some point. That is the cyclic notion that changes in the medium have this sort of re-introductory aspect. For example: These two albums, my cousin was kind enough to put on a cassette for me. Leftoverture on one side, Point Of Know Return on the other. For years that was my Kansas music. As you know, even the best cassettes eventually die. In the early mid 1980’s I replaced that casset with two pristine vinyl LP records and my Kansas era began again. In the late mid 1980’s those two Vinyl LP’s were replaced with two pristine Compact Discs and the cycle began again.
I’m tempted to put every track from those two albums here as I’m that fond of every single one of them. We’ll discuss the concept of loving every track on an album a little later.
Carry On My Wayword Son
The Wall
What’s On Your Mind
Miracles out Of Nowhere
Opus Insert
Questions Of My Childhood
Cheyenne Anthem
Magnum Opus
Point Of Know Return
Paradox
The Spider
Portrait (He Knew)
Closet Chronicles
Lightning’s Hand
Dust In The Wind
Sparks Of The Tempest
Nobody’s Home
Hopelessly Human
Oops! I did include all the tre tracks. i just couldn’t bring myself to leave any out.