Kansas, for a Thursday lunch – recorded on July 7, 1975 at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland for broadcast.
Going out on a limb this afternoon. Haven’t played Kansas in decades – a band well on its way to being a truly American prog ensemble – had all the right elements – all classically trained – all ace sight-readers – all came out of the Conservatory in Lawrence Kansas – all played several instruments proficiently.
When the band first went on tour, shortly after their debut album came out, I interviewed the members of Kansas during the West Coast portion and spent the good part of an afternoon running down Prog bands (notably the Italian ones) Kansas was deeply influenced by. It was violinist Robby Steinhardt who cited Mauro Pagani of PFM as an inspiration and everyone agreed the future was Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator.
I left thinking we were in good hands. America had a band with an unlikely name, clearly poised to make an impression on the world.
But then directions changed – rather than being a Prog based band with elements of Rock – they became a Rock based band with elements of Prog. And their decidedly more commercial sound, coupled with songwriting skills, they turned into one of the staples of Hard Rock FM radio, and with that came massive success – much-much bigger than they were being strictly Prog.
You can cite similar examples of bands changing course and subsequently changing fortunes in the process – Genesis comes to mind, as did Gentle Giant. It was a conscious decision to go after the wider audience than to stick with the admittedly limited one. As the 70s evolved with the introduction of Glam, Punk and New Wave to the mix, Kansas became one of the safe havens – the tried and true – a band that would weather storms of fickle audiences and help provide the cornerstone for those people wandering out of their 20s and into their 30s who just couldn’t wrap their heads around spiky hair, ripped t-shirts, mascara and platform shoes. Kansas did, in a way, live up to their namesake – Middle America; traditional values – Saturday Night and a nostalgia that reached back to the 50s for it’s stepping off point.
So to get an idea of what the earlier Kansas was like before the days of Dust In The Wind and Carry On Wayward Son wept them to national prominence, to become staples in the FM-Rock, here is a gig from January 1975, five years since starting and a little over a year before the debut album came out. In about a year it would all change. But for now they were getting their feet wet.
A slice of history to go with your Rock n’ Roll.
