Kansas - Leftoverture
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Music CD Cover
Artist: KansasEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Carry on Wayward Son
- The Wall
- What's on My Mind
- Miracles Out of Nowhere
- Opus Insert
- Questions Of My Childhood
- Cheyenne Anthem
- Magnum Opus: Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat/Howling at the Moon
Free Music Notes for Leftoverture
Free Music Review: You've got this one...haven't you?
Hit: 5 Stars
Most people nowadays who own a Kansas album that isn't one of the (too) many "Best Of" collections crowding big-box department stores and/or truck stops usually have either "Leftoverture" or "Point Of Know Return".
Perhaps I'm biased, since this was the first Kansas album I bought as a 14-year-old in 1980, but I think this is where it all came together for Kansas, both artistically and commercially.
Their earlier albums certainly had some wonderful moments, but suffered from a lack of consistency and sometimes duff production. Here the production (by Jeff Glixman) and songwriting (chiefly by Kerry Livgren) are both very good.
Often throughout Kansas' long career the harder, guitar-based rock and Yes/Genesis/ELP influenced progressive rock have sometimes been at odds with one another. Here they are on about equal parity. Richard Williams is quite prominent throughout and Livgren steps out from behind his keyboards to riff away moreso than in the past. All good.
There are also songs here that survive in the club-gigging Kansas repertoire to this day: "The Wall", "Miracles Out Of Nowhere", and, of course, "Carry On Wayward Son".
"Carry On..." has turned out to be both a blessing and an albatross round the neck for Kansas. It was certainly the song that broke them on more than a regional level (proof of this is found in a truncated version of the song being featured in the Henry Winkler/Harrison Ford/Sally Field Vietnam-vet 1977 film "Heroes"). However, along with "Dust In The Wind", it also seems to be a song they can't get away from. I saw them at a club gig about 10 years ago and except for the hardcore fans, like myself, the only time the crowd really responded was during this song. Unfortunate.
There are also some lesser-known gems here, like "Opus Insert" and the (admittedly overindulgent) "Magnum Opus". Almost everyone who has seen a Kansas gig will remember Steve Walsh opening with a few bars of "Howling At The Moon".
If you're a real Kansas fan, you've got this.
If you're a casual Kansas fan, you've probably got this.
If you're any other kind of fan, you should get this, but also check out their other stuff, including the John Elefante-era material and the "Power" album and those that came after.
This band is still quite good.
Leftoverture Poster
The cover of 1976's Leftoverture pictures a bearded Da Vinci character composing reams of music score with a quill. Appropriate imagery for a band that combined the compositionally complex approach of British bands such as Genesis and Yes with solid Southern-rock jamming. Kansas wasn't new in ?76--the group had escaped Topeka, Kansas, to record several albums with CBS, including the exciting Masque and Song for America. They joined the arena circuit via Leftoverture's "Carry on My Wayward Son," an instant hit with its explosive vocal arrangement and indelible guitar riff. For straight-ahead rockers ("What's on My Mind") and ornate epics (the five-part suite "Magnum Opus"), guitarist Kerry Livgren and keyboardist Steve Walsh dramatically pair vocal harmonies over classical- and jazz-inspired structures. The album also includes "The Wall" and "Cheyenne Anthem." --James RotondiClassic Rock Music CDs
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