Kansas is the eponymous debut album by progressive hard rock band Kansas. To record their first album, this iteration of Kansas was brought together from two separate projects: Kerry Livgren, from an earlier iteration of Kansas, and White Clover, a rock and blues band. The material on the album is a combination of material from both groups. You'll notice a lack of love songs. Early on, the band told Rolling Stone that they avoided writing love songs because everything that can be said about love has already been said. Of course, they would relax this rule on later albums.
The album starts with Can I Tell You, a short blazing rocker about freedom and making sure you appreciate it when you have it. According to the liner notes on the remastered album, this was the song that got the label interested in signing the band. There's only one verse in this song. It's sung three times with a lengthy instrumental section between the second and third verses. It sets the mood of what you can expect from Kansas: while their songs usually contain lyrics, and these lyrics are often intellectual and sometimes mystical, it's the music and the musicality of the band that really sets them apart. Even though unusual in a hard rock band, the violin is certainly not an afterthought. It carries the music through most of the instrumental before the guitar and organ trade solos, backed by a great rhythm section in Dave Hope and Phil Ehart, the latter being probably the most underrated drummer in rock music.
Next we hear Bringing it Back, a cover of a song by J.J. Cale about a man in jail reminiscing about getting caught bringing drugs back across the border from Mexico. Kansas really puts their own spin on it, playing the song a lot faster than the original. I had no idea it was a cover until recently, it sounds so much like they could have written it. Steve Walsh's piano playing really shines on this song.
After that we get Lonely Wind, a piano ballad written by Steve Walsh. It's a nice song, and the violin just soars in the intro and the solo. The meaning of this song has always been kind of obscure to me. Most of the interpretations I found on-line are that this is a song about a man who goes out into nature to commune with God. This doesn't sound plausible as the band is well known in its early incarnation for exploring various religious faiths, especially eastern religions, although the song does contain the lyric "Sometimes he seems to be the only one beside me/Who can feel the Lord's breath all around him", so who knows? Maybe it's correct. They wouldn't become a Christian band until the early 80's and Steve Walsh left the band after Livgren's and Hope's conversion because their lyrics had become too Christian. Another interpretation I found took a more literal approach: the protagonist is a man without friends who finds comfort in the wind as his only companion. As for me, I've always thought about it as a man who has been unable to find love but can find solace in the arms of a friend, which can make the pain of loneliness more bearable. At any rate, it's a nice ballad but I wouldn't consider it among the best songs on the album.
Next up is Belexes, a song that is inspired by the pseudo-Asian sound of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, an opera about an Asian man who wants to marry a princess, but must answer three riddles on pain of beheading if he answers incorrectly. As far as I can tell, it's inspired by the music, not the story. Livgren was fond of making up words for the titles of his songs, and this is one such example. Belexes doesn't mean anything, it's just a word that came to him when he was thinking of a title (according to his book, Seeds of Change). The meaning of the lyrics seems a little obscure, but it appears, at its heart, to be a song about making sure you make wise decisions. Despite what others may say about your future, it's ultimately up to you to choose how best to proceed. After bringing it down a bit with Lonely Wind, Belexes kicks it back into high gear with a general swing feel at a fast pace.
After this we get Journey from Mariabronn, a song inspired by Herman Hesse's novel Narcissus and Goldmund, a story of a man, Goldmund, who is at a Catholic monastery and forms a close bond with his teacher, Narcissus. Goldmund meets a Gypsy woman who seduces him, causing him to decide he was never meant to be a monk. So he searches Germany in search of the meaning of life. The book appears to be heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche's theory of the Apollonian and Dionysian spirit, as well as Jung's union of polar opposites. I have not read this book myself, but you can read the synopsis and explication of the general themes at the Wikipedia page. As for the musicality, this is one of the most progressive songs on the album. Just the key signatures, alone, are varied, moving from 10/4, to 7/8, to 6/8, to 4/4, and others. Despite how fast the song is, it still clocks in at almost eight minutes long.
The Pilgrimage comes next, another song with a swing feel though it's even more bluesy than Belexes was. There are even some elements of southern rock you can hear from the violin during the solo. The guitar gets a chance to shine during the solo, and the keyboard is evident throughout the verses and turnarounds. It's not clear from the lyrics what kind of pilgrimage Kansas is singing about, but considering how great the musicians are, you're happy just to be taking the journey.
The penultimate song is Apercu, a word which may be unfamiliar to you (as it was to me), but it simply means "an immediate impression", or "insight". Again, the insight the song is talking about is not very clear from the lyrics, but then again the vision that the protagonist is seeking is still hazy and concealed by "the mists of time", so perhaps the listener is meant to be as in the dark as the protagonist. It is worth noting, however, that one reviewer I found said the song is about reincarnation (e.g. talking about how we've "done this all before"). This is a song that shifts from quiet and introspective during the verses to big and bombastic during the choruses. All of the instruments are heard clearly throughout the song. Kansas is not the kind of band to just feature one instrument but often has very complex arrangements that requires extraordinary skill from each player. That's no more evident than on this song and Journey to Mariabronn.
Apercu leads right into Death of Mother Nature Suite, a song that outright condemns humanity's destruction of the environment set to an eight minute rock epic. This one has more esoteric elements than the others, incorporating a lengthy violin solo over sustained organ and wailing from the vocalists. The song is definitely a strong closer, if a bit heavy-handed in its message.
Overall, Kansas is an excellent debut album from a band that would become world-famous but would also have its ups and downs. This album, like all of Kansas' albums, is worth checking out. To fans of classical music like me, there's a lot to love from Kansas' progressive output. And for fans of hard rock (also like me), there's much to love in their more straight ahead rock offerings.
Album: Kansas (1974)
Band: Kansas
Phil Ehart -- drums
Dave Hope -- bass guitar, vocals
Kerry Livgren -- Lead and rhythm guitar, piano, organ, moog synthesizer, vocals
Robby Steinhardt -- violin, lead vocals and harmony
Steve Walsh -- organ, piano, congas, lead vocals and harmony
Rich Williams -- guitar
Track list:
1. *Can I Tell You (3:32) -- Williams, Walsh, Ehart, Hope
2. *Bringing it Back (3:32) -- J.J. Cale
3. Lonely Wind (4:17) -- Walsh (additional harmony by Jay Siegel of The Tokens)
4. Belexes (4:24) -- Livgren
5. Journey from Mariabronn (7:56) -- Livgren, Walsh
6. The Pilgrimage (3:43) -- Livgren, Walsh
7. Apercu (9:36) -- Livgren, Walsh
8. Death of Mother Nature Suite (7:53) -- Livgren
* denotes a single
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