Kansas - Leftoverture
Updated: Oct 22
On October 21, 1976, "Leftoverture", the fourth studio album by "Kansas", was released.
We write quite a bit about the effects of one artist on another, the feedback that always exists between artists and bands with the pendulum shifting the dominance in the music market between England and the US over the years. Basically, the whole concept of our radio show - "Face/Off", of our Facebook page and our site, is built on this tension between old and new, between influential and influenced, and this album is one of the most prominent examples of this. An album that sits on the "crossroads" of influenced and influential. On one hand, it takes from British progressive rock with bands like "Genesis", "Gentle Giant", "Emerson Lake & Palmer" and "Camel" and on the other hand, it was an influence on the bands that will emerge a decade or more later like "Dream Theater", which borrowed some of its brilliant riffs from this album.
This album is probably the pinnacle of the band's work. The album that put "Kansas" on the map and moved it from the venues to stadiums. A masterpiece that moves between the magical and the formidable, between progressive and soft rock, and from there to hard rock, and even in this case it's a kind of "crossroads".
On the one hand, it has pure progressive tracks like the mighty and amazing "The Wall" which is one of the most beautiful tracks on the album and occasionally makes us flashbacks from our favorite bands "Genesis" and "Camel", "Miracles Out Of Nowhere" where you can hear the influences from Rick Wakeman and "Gentle Giant", "Cheyenne Anthem" parts of which sounded to us like "ELP", the mini-work "Opus Insert" and of course "Magnum Opus" which is a six-part masterpiece consisting of short sections that were not perfected into songs, literally "Leftovers" as the name of The album.
On the other hand, this album has rhythmic rock songs like "What's on My Mind", "Questions of My Childhood" and of course the masterpiece "Carry On Wayward Son", which was written by guitarist Kerry Livgren, just shortly before the recording sessions began and hardly entered the album.
It's the band's breakthrough song to international success and the song that actually saved the band, which after the commercial failure of the album "Masque" its future was not clear. In this context, we will mention that the hit "Dust in the Wind" will only come on the next excellent album from 1977 - "Point of Know Return".
Singer and keyboardist Steve Walsh had writer's block at the time, forcing Kerry Livgren to work harder to produce new material for the album, and indeed the talented Kerry was almost exclusively responsible for writing, with Walsh's assistance only in three of the album's eight tracks.
Although the song can be interpreted as dealing with religion, Kerry noted that at the time of writing he was not thinking about religion, but about self-search. Kerry felt a strong need to continue his self-search and by 1980 became an evangelical Christian. He saw himself as the same "rebellious son" who stars in the song and seeks a spiritual answer. The line "Surely heaven waits for you" towards the end of the song became "a self-fulfilling prophecy", as mentioned Kerry saw the light when he became an evangelical Christian 4 years later.
The song actually continues from the same point where the previous album "Masque" ended. The last words in the song "The Pinnacle" were "I stood where no man goes Above the din I rose", where the word "Din" means "noise", or "commotion". While the first line in the first sentence of the song "Carry On Wayward Son" (after the a cappella) begins with the words "Once I rose above the noise and confusion", meaning in both cases it is a person who rose above the "noise and commotion".
There is also an interesting musical comparison to make with "I’m Gonna Leave You" from "Journey"’s 1976 album "Look into the Future". Listen to the riffs side by side and judge the resemblance for yourselves. Similarity alone does not establish that one band borrowed from the other.
In conclusion, this is an excellent album that does not have weak moments. There is a perfect balance here between progressive and basic rock, between complex and simple, between melodic and virtuoso, which allows progressive lovers and classical rock lovers to meet at the crossroads created by this album and enjoy it in perfect harmony.
The appeal of this sound also reaches the Israeli rock scene. "Aperco", for example, combines classic rock, progressive elements and space rock, a reminder that the conversation between the music of the seventies and younger musicians continues far beyond the United States.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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