Signed to pop hit-maker Don Kirshner’s label, Kirshner Records, in 1973, Kansas built its following with its first three albums, released between March 1974 and September 1975, and nonstop touring before 1976’s quadruple-platinum Leftoverture and its massive hit, “Carry On Wayward Son,” exploded, leading to the 1977 album Point of Know Return and its even more popular “Dust in the Wind,” which reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 - the highest-charting hit of the band’s career - in 1978. Blending blues-based hard rock and intricate progressive constructions, Kansas staked out its own musical territory, at once original and accessible. The original sextet - guitarist Richard Williams, drummer Phil Ehart (who are both still with the band), guitarist-keyboardist Kerry Livgren, singer-keyboardist Steve Walsh, singer-violinist Robbie Steinhardt and bassist Dave Hope - looked like quintessential Midwesterners but traded in compositional and lyrical complexities that sounded like something from across the pond. It’s fair to say the rock world didn’t quite know what to make of Kansas when the band rolled out of Topeka 50 years ago.
0 kommentar(er)
