Milestones

Kansas

Name: Kansas – Leftoverture
Item: Leftoverture
Author: Federico Romagnoli

Leftoverture

1976 (Kirshner)

arena rock, progressive rock

by Federico Romagnoli

Despite the fact that British bands had carried progressive rock into the upper reaches of the American charts, the style struggled to take root among musicians on the new continent. Sure, the path between jazz and virtuoso rock opened up by Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa was somehow connected, but the classical component remained on the sidelines, aside from the odd awkward foray into contemporary territory (and not only by Zappa: consider Chicago, who dedicated a track to Edgar Varèse).

A largely fragmented scene, with isolated excellences that weren't enough to give it a defined character, and which only had a relative connection to prog proper. The few bands that tried to follow the British method did so with scant support from record labels, and negligible commercial returns compared to what Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Yes and the like were reaping at the time.

Among the first names to attempt the feat were Styx and Kansas. Although destined for great things, their beginnings were anything but exciting: a mix of Bach-like fragments and blues-flavored instrumental workouts, all in all not far removed from Foghat's boogie rock, the product of a perhaps simplistic vision, far from the alchemy needed to bring a new movement to life. What's more, their use of the recording studio fell well short of the meticulous standards set by prog's historic names. Not that this mattered for Foghat, but it did for those aiming to introduce refined elements and unusual arrangements into the recipe.

While Kansas had no trouble flexing their musical muscle, they struggled to come across as refined thinkers and to master elements that American rock culture only knew through reflections from the other side of the ocean. They had to proceed by trial and error, through gradual steps, but their dedication to the cause was such that they ultimately won the challenge.

It was probably inevitable that this cluster of American bands would end up hitting the mark, both artistically and commercially, right as the second half of the Seventies dawned - that is, just as British progressive rock stalled. Even though it still had a few winning moves left in it, the constant shifts in technology and market forces led it to unravel within a few seasons: in Britain it partly flowed into the new wave, while in the United States it spawned precisely the arena rock wave.

Kansas were among the names who brought that transformation to completion, sealing it on their fourth attempt, in 1976, with “Leftoverture”. That same year Rush released “2112”, the first of a long string of classics, and Boston released a debut full of shapeshifting movements that left no room for doubt (just think of “Foreplay/Long Time”). Styx would soon sink their teeth into the mainstream with the epic “The Grand Illusion”, while the debut of Foreigner would go on to conquer the airwaves, buoyed by the production of Ian McDonald (chief songwriter on the debut of the King Crimson). In no time at all, the United States fell to its knees for a string of bands that, while filtering out some of the rhythmic intricacies and abandoning suites altogether, took progressive rock as their model, injecting it with dazzling hard rock guitars, pop sensibility and copious harmonies. The recording studio once again became king, and the blues component was muzzled, though never purged entirely as many of the British godfathers had done.

This is an immensely important current in rock music, one that pioneered new recording techniques that would later become emblematic of the Eighties (don't the layered vocal stacks typical of Mutt Lange productions have their roots right here?) and, for one last time, placed tracks with unusual structures in the ears of the mainstream public. The fact that institutionalized criticism has yet to grant it any recognition is merely further proof of its short-sightedness.

As is often the case with albums that mark a turning point, "Leftoverture" was born out of one of the band's most difficult periods. Not so much because of the anecdote about John Kirshner threatening to tear up their contract if the album failed, but because of the sheer strain the band members were under at the time: an endless string of live dates, broken up only by stints in the studio to record (three albums released between 1974 and 1975).

Probably as a result of that pressure, keyboardist and singer Steve Walsh was hit by writer's block, leaving guitarist Kerry Livgren to write almost the entire album by himself (up until then the two had split songwriting duties more or less evenly).

As luck would have it, one of the songs he pitched to his bandmates - at the very last possible moment, no less - was "Carry On Wayward Son", the track that would make them famous.

"Don't stop, my rebel son / There will be peace when you are done / Let your tired head rest / Cry no more": these are simple lines, introducing a song about growing up and the search for spirituality, notable for its gentleness and lack of judgment. Unfortunately, in the years that followed Livgren gradually abandoned this neutrality, becoming an evangelical Christian in 1980, with the attendant sermonizing and decline in the quality of his lyrics.

“Carry On Wayward Son” is one of the great masterpieces of chart-topping rock. Sure, prog had already broken into radio years earlier, even in fairly complex forms, just think of Yes's “Roundabout”, but Kansas managed to condense that scope without giving up the classical quotations or the winding, unpredictable structure. In just five minutes, the song runs through riffs guitar hooks memorable enough that each one could have anchored a hard rock anthem in its own right, piano-driven pop breaks, electric organ counterpoints, adventurous solos and illusory metric shifts that manage to sound oblique while staying in 4/4 throughout. Walsh's powerful voice alternates with FM-radio-ready choruses, marrying the high notes of harder rock with the sonic textures of the West Coast. This vocal style, at once aggressive and airy, made hard-rock-leaning singers accessible even to audiences culturally distant from the stereotypical excesses of “sex, drugs and rock'n'roll”, and it explains the huge success Kansas and stylistically related bands found in America's heartland. It probably also explains their association — again, a stereotypical one — with a conservative audience, and the resulting distaste critics had for them.

The album's most famous track, however, isn't its most representative. The rest of the tracklist dilutes the hard rock component, widening the spectrum toward a multitude of synthesizers (Moog, Oberheim, Arp) and instruments such as acoustic guitars, vibraphone and violin.

It's the violinist, Robby Steinhardt, who leads “Miracles Out Of Nowhere” with his relaxed voice, acting as the perfect counterpoint to Walsh's. The track has a fairly pronounced Celtic flavor and shows how Kansas could by now handle the most disparate territories.

As proof of the confidence they'd reached, Livgren isn't ashamed to scatter here and there tributes to his own guiding lights, whose shadow he no longer needs to fear. The ballad “The Wall”, with its somewhat fairy-tale atmosphere, thus seems to hint at a beefed-up version of the Genesis, while the little marches and the frenzied synthesizer interludes of “Opus Insert” look to Emerson Lake & Palmer. The acoustic introduction to “Cheyenne Anthem” is a direct link to the most bucolic Yes, though soon every kind of keyboard arrives to turn the landscape into an explosion of color.

The closing slot goes to “Magnum Opus”, the most ambitious track right from its title. Eight minutes of metamorphosis in which every instrument gets its moment of glory, touching opposite poles that range from a Debussy-esque passage around the five-minute mark, to the finale, with its imposing, cinematic feel (listening to it, one can't help thinking of a surprising foretaste of the Bathory of “One Rode To Asa Bay”: you could bet that Quorthon studied this passage thoroughly, learning from it how to best blend epic atmospheres with arcane allure).

“Leftoverture” reached fifth place on the American chart within a few months, eventually selling four million copies. The follow-up, “Point Of Known Return”, brought their peak years to a fitting close, just before their decline into an increasingly radio-friendly, but overly polished, brand of rock.

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11/03/2018

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This article is an English translation of the original Italian text by Federico Romagnoli, published on OndaRock.it. It was translated with the help of artificial intelligence, under the editorial responsibility of OndaRock's editor-in-chief, Claudio Fabretti.

Read the original in Italian · About the English edition