Four Kansas classics

If you were forced to choose (Gun to your head)

For me it would be between The Pinnacle and The Wall.

I would vote for The Wall

Garion81 should be here soon, I hear a stampeding bison in the distance!

What a strange list of choices.  Still, your bait is laid and we many Wheatheads cannot resist the urge to respond!

I chose The Pinnacle as the best overall of the very narrow and capricious list of choices .

No One Togther is a surprising choice to list here, although I think it has some of the best guitar work Rich Williams has even done (and that's saying a lot all things considered).  The Wall is a huge classic, but it has always struck me as unfinished on Leftoverture (there are several live versions floating around that are much better, particularly the one Device Voice Drum).

Song For America is a classic as well (and was just included on a Katrina victims fundraiser album - very cool), but I just went and played it and The Pinnacle back-to-back and the latter won out in my mind.

Come Garion81, place your vote!

Take that gun away, the choice is so hard! The Wall and The Pinnacle may very well be my top 2 Kansas songs. Okay, The Wall, but both are fantastic.

Incoudro Hymn to the Atman, is that from Song for America?

I don´t have the first 3 albums, but I will get them soon!

ClemofNazareth, I´m curious now, what are your fav Kansas songs?

Dr Know wrote: Four Kansas classics If you were forced to choose (Gun to your head) For me it would be between The Pinnacle and The Wall. I would vote for The Wall Garion81 should be here soon, I hear a stampeding bison in the distance!

Great line Dr Know. You know me too well.   Do I know you?

I love all of those songs why do you want to have to choose between them?

I would add Apercu/Death of Mother Nature and Journey to Mariabronn and hey how about Hopelessly Human? Why not Distant Vision? 

I picked SFA it is a first love kind of thing.  I love the Pinnacle but SFA is almost a perfect anthem.

Damn, I was just listening to Distant Vision! Stangely enough I am listening to Somewhere to Elsewhere a lot these days. It´s that kind of album that  grows on you.

Speaking of Journey to Mariabronn, on the Device Voice Drum DVD version Phil Ehart is absolutely amazing.

Also heard Alt Worlds by Proto kaw today! Briliiant stuff!! Here in Brazil its pretty hard to find these CD´s. I once asked a guy in a music shop if he had any Kansas and he looked at me and said "Dust in the wind!' I said "Yeah!' but he was out of stock, really sad!

There really are so many great songs by Kansas, I will have to make a much bigger poll!

Dr Know wrote: Incoudro Hymn to the Atman, is that from Song for America? I don´t have the first 3 albums, but I will get them soon! ClemofNazareth, I´m curious now, what are your fav Kansas songs?

Well now, how much time do you have?

Seriously though, this is the band I cut my 'prog' teeth on, and I still listen to something of theirs nearly every week even though I've heard them all a hundred times.  I have lots of opinions here, so grab a cold drink or something.  Most of their best songs have live versions that are even better than the studio versions, so I've pointed these out below:

1. Incomudro - Hymn to the Atman is an awesome prog epic.  It has everything you could possibly want in a great song:  hypnotic vocals, soaring guitar work all over the place, countless chord and tempo changes, stylistic changes (ranging from moody to metal to symphonic to even a bit of a klemzer ditty at one point), to a crescendo finish.  The studio version was on the Song for America album in 1975 and runs around 12 minutes, but the best version is a live recording that appears on their 1994 2-disc boxed-set.  It runs over 16 minutes and even includes a several minute-long drum solo in the middle.  A must-hear if you even claim to be a Kansas fan.

2. Cheyenne Anthem.  Released on Lefoverture in 1976, this is a purely American song about the European invasion into the New World and displacement of the native people who preceded them.  Some critics have accused Kerry Livgren of sappy lyrics and disjointed instrumentals, but I would encourage you to listen and judge for yourself. The long instrumental passage is supposed to represent plundering and pillaging, basically the battle for the west between the white settlers and Indians.  There are several live versions I would recommend over the studio cut, mostly noteably the bonus track added to the digitally remastered version of Leftoverture that came out in 2001.  There is also a live version on Device-Voice-Drum from 2002 that features some absolutely wicked guitar licks by Rich Williams around the middle of the song.

3. The Pinnacle.  Pretty much for the reasons stated in my earlier post.

4. Can I Tell You.  From their 1974 debut, this was the demo that caught Don Kirshner's interest and led to their first record deal.  The lyrics are pretty plain, and the harmonizing a bit strained, but if you listen to the sounds on this song and compare them to anything else being done in 1974, you should be blown away.  There's lots of live versions of this, but I really like the remastered version from Sail On: the 30th Anniversary Collection.

5. Miracles Out of Nowhere.  Also from Leftoverture.  I've seen Kansas five times, and four times they performed this one.  Walsh's voice really soars, and the guitar work really stands out in its intensity.  Kansas gets panned sometimes for some of the over-the-top lyrics, but I've never heard of a fan who doesn't rank this among their favorites.  Check out the live version on the 1998 King Biscuit Presents CD.

6. The Wall.  This song rocks live.  It really sums up the essence of nearly all of Kansas' songs up through Monolith.  The version from 1978's live Two For the Show album is the best.

7. Icarus - Borne on Wings of Steel.  From Masque (1975), this is probably to best representation of the trademark Kansas sound of anything else they've done.  Walsh's voice is absolutely pristine, there is some really good harmonizing with Robbie Steinhardt, and Steinhardt's violin and William's guitar are at times almost undistinguishable in their soaring intensity.  There are a couple of live versions of this one, but the original is the best.  The only detractor for this song is the fadeout ending, which I have noted before on this forum I find particularly annoying.

8. Death of Mother Nature Suite.  Closes out their debut album from 1974.  Another prog epic about how badly we are all destroying the environment.  Another over-the-top, keyboards and guitar chords all over the place with Phil Ehart just banging away with abandon on his drums.  Totally a rush.  There is a live version on the 1994 2-disc set that was actually recorded in Kansas City in 1973, before the band even had a recording contract.  There is also a DVD recording on the Sail On collection that was recorded on the TV show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1974.

9. Hold On.  From 1980's Audio-Visions, this was one of Kerry Livgren's first attempts at the Gospel According to Kerry.  It's also a short but very captivating snapshot of a band at the top of their game and looking down to the upcoming slide.  This is followed by Loner on the album (a head-bang number by Steve Walsh), and for me I pretty much have to listen to these two together, kind of like Queen's We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions, or Journey's Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'/City of the Angels.

10. Carry on Wayward Son. This one was a massive radio hit from Leftoverture in 1976, and along with Dust in the Wind launched Kansas into the stratosphere for a few years.  This is really an anthem, and has worn thin from huge amounts of radio overplay for years, but it still rocks.  The rythmn is addictive, the chorus totally gets you punching your skinny fists to heaven , and the precision of the various instruments working together shows a band that really has their collective s**t together.  There is a live cut from a King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents (1998) that really captures the pompus overstatement of the times (and I say this with the utmost respect and appreciation of the nostalgic value).  If you can't find that one, the live version on the 2000 Kansas CD Live! Extended Versions appears to be the same cut.

11. Hopelessly Human.  From Point of Know Return (1977), this is another example of the incomparable combination of Ehart's drums, Steinhardt's soaring violin, and William's nasty (in a good way) guitar work complimenting Livgren's lyrics perfectly.  There's quite a bit of vocal harmonizing on this one, and Walsh's voice is absolutely in its prime.  Surprisingly, I don't know of any live versions of this on legitimate albums, although there is a German bootleg from the late 70's with a live cut (I've never heard this one though).

12. Journey From Mariabronn.  From the debut album.  This is another lengthy, progressive work.  especially love Steinhardt's violin work on this one.  This appears live all over the place, but the one I like the most is the DVD video on Sail On, also from Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1974.  The camera work is horrid, but the shots of Rich Williams are priceless, and its fascinating to see the intensity of Walsh and the comparative zen-like stoicism of Livgren.

13. Song For America.  This was the first Kansas song that really impressed me with the fact that this was no ordinary hard-rocking blues band.  It needs no introduction since apparently you've already heard it.  The remastered version on the 1999 re-release of Best of Kansas is the cleanest recording I've heard.

14. What's On My Mind.  From Leftoverture.  This is a pretty straight-forward rocker, but I have personal reasons for ranking this as one of my favorites .  I don't know of any really good live version.

15. Magnum Opus.  There will probably be some fans who bristle at this being ranked so 'low', but keep in mind Kansas has over 200 songs in their catalog, so these 15 only scratch the surface, and after all, you did ask for my opinion .

There are a lot of other Kansas songs I feel are among the finest music I have in my collection (People of the South Wind, Reason to Be, Bringing it Back, Down the Road, Belexes, Icarus II, The Spider, One Big Sky, Paradox, Nobody's Home, Lightning's Hand, On the Other Side, Child of Innocence, Byzantium, Chasing Shadows, Inside of Me), but these are the ones I feel best represent the band, and are the best bets for anyone who didn't grow up memorizing all their lyrics and biographies like I did.  Hope you get to listen to all of them and enjoy them as much as I do.

Aren't you glad you asked ?

My alltime favorite is Miracles Out of Nowhere followed by Closet Chronicles.

From this list, Song for America, but the version of Two for the Show, IMO superior to any other.

Also important: The Wall, Magnum Opus, Hopelesly Human, Opus Insert, Lamplight Symphony, Point of Know Return..........There are so many great tracks and so hard to choose!!!!

Iván

Thanks ClemofNazareth! That was ...well...a really in depth analysis!!!

Another classic for me is Lonely Wind off 2 for the show

Clemo, A great analysis. 

I wish I could describe in words how great the P-K show n Manhattan Kansas was last weekend. 

I hope there are shows in the future.

difficult decision, from the list 'The Wall'

but some of my favourites are 'Miracles...' 'Cheyenne...' and 'Magnum opus'