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Rating: The premises were all there.
Formed in Topeka, Kansas, in 1970 under the name White Clover, they opened for one of the last concerts of the Doors in New Orleans, and that says a lot. Thanks to a trip to England by drummer Phil Ehart, where he had the chance to experience the grandeur of Genesis and ELP, the early raw style was immediately transformed into a delightful fusion of rock, folk, and classical music.
After numerous line-up changes, the band took on the name Kansas and stabilized as a sextet formed, besides the aforementioned Ehart, by guitarists Kerry Livgren and Richard Williams, bassist Dave Hope, singer and keyboardist Steve Walsh, and particularly the important figure of classically trained violinist and singer Robby Steinhardt.
The creation of the self-titled album in 1974 was characterized by the production of Don Kirshner, who had already discovered the Monkees. The style explicitly draws on the early '70s English prog, with boogie and hard-rock hues, and was an immediate success: they filled stadiums and arenas consecrating themselves as the greatest American prog-band, although initially, the sales were not exceptional.
Every song on this album is exciting, pompous, and at the same time captivating; songs like "Belexes," "Journey from Mariabronn," "The pilgrimage" and the closing "Death Of Mother Nature Suite" deserve more than just a listen; "Bringing It Back" even bears the signature of J.J. Cale!
The final consideration is that in a certain hard-prog context, together with the Canadian band Rush, Kansas far excelled over any other European band.
With the next four albums, they would reach full maturity and become one of the most beautiful and original, and if you will, underrated bands in history.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Can I Tell You (03:32)
Can I tell you something
Got to tell you one thing
If you expect the freedom
That you say is yours
Prove that you deserve it
Help us to preserve it
Or being free will just be
Words and nothing more
02 Bringing It Back (03:33)
Thirty days have September
In a jailhouse I remember
Well, I got caught with too much soul
Bringing it back from Mexico
Bringing it back from Mexico
Spanish lights and pretty faces
Trip you out to where the place is
Load you up and let you go
Bringing it back from Mexico
Bringing it back from Mexico
Across the border is where you'll get her
And when it's good there ain't no better
I think I'll get me some to go
A-brining it back from Mexico
Bringing it back from Mexico
04 Belexes (04:23)
Oh, I cannot tell you to make up your mind
And gather together the best of your kind
The prophets have spoken the words of ill fate
Your childhood has ended you've taken the bait
You've got the power it's there deep inside
Just look around and you'll know what you've tried
So much relies on the course that you take
The fool and the wise man both burn at the stake-ah
Look at the heads buried deep in the sand
Hiding from evil made by their own hand
The prophets have spoken the words of ill fate
Your childhood has ended you've taken the bait
You've got the power it's there deep inside
Just look around and you'll know what you've tried
So much relies on the course that you take
The fool and the wise man both burn at the stake-ah
05 Journey From Mariabronn (07:55)
Two began together, lived as one
Each one to the other had become
More than a friend, living to meet a common end
They were true, each one knew all is well
Still the elder knew it could not last
Hidden memories from the young one's past
Drew them apart
Both knew that deep within his heart they must part
Each their own separate way
It puzzles me how we can be so close and yet worlds apart
Can it be, my memory has torn my life in two
From the very start
I screamed for the devil to let me be
I called to the heavens to set me free
Today I prayed for the answer and not one
Of the gods in the sky would rescue me
Dreams of fortune fill the young one's mind
Learn the worldly ways of hope to find
Love on the way, searching to find the light of day
In his soul he had found his own way
But to each other they soon will return
Destiny fulfilled, their words will burn an eternal flame
06 The Pilgrimage (03:42)
(Kerry Livgren/Steve Walsh)
Dark and silent brooding, stillness falls
Sounds caress the waiting empty halls
Pilgrims flock from miles around
Seekers in the night abound
All have come to feel the sound of joy
Patient eyes are watching from below
Mirror image flashing in the glow
Hands are joinned in energy
All approaching ecstacy
Harnessing the power in the air
Awesome in their patient majesty
Pouring forth the fruits of harmony
Hands are joined in energy
All approaching ecstacy
Harnessing the power in the air
07 Apercu (09:43)
The mist of time is still concealing
The vision that I seek
Those who died have all borne witness
If only they would speak
Yet I saw it all inside me, for a moment
Were you with me?
Have we done it all before, is there really so much more?
Now and then we've all been given
A glimpse of bygone days
I'd give all to see it clearly
Not shrouded in the haze
Yet I saw it all inside me, for a moment
Were you with me?
Have we done it all before, is there really so much more?
Each man has a memory
Much more than the eye can see
Yet still others linger deep inside you
Haunting thoughts of pain and joy divide you
Look beyond your eyes
At the dark and moody skies
For they're standing in your way
And I feel the light of day
Now the earth gives forth its secrets
Held in mountain sea and plain
They have never been forgotten
Only locked inside my brain
While I slept I had a vision, I remember
You were with me
We have done it all before, in our minds behind the door
08 Death of Mother Nature Suite (07:43)
Every day she gets a little weaker
The beauty she once knew has come and gone
We've murdered all her sons and all her daughters
The blood is on our hands, the time has come
And now she's gonna die
We've strangled all her trees and starved her creatures
There's poison in the sea and in the air
But worst of all we've learned to live without her
We've lost the very meaning of our lives
And now she's gonna die
Once she ruled the earth with love and wisdom
But we were much too smart to live her way
With greed and lust we tried to rise above her
The ignorance of man will reach an end
And now she's gonna die
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