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By Jeb Wright
Kansas was not your
average rock band. They didn’t hail from LA or New York City and aside from
the singer none of them had what could be called pin up good looks. They
didn’t follow trends and they were not flashy. Their music was progressive
in nature and their lyrical themes were philosophic instead of about puppy
love. Because of this the band did not have immediate success. It took
four albums and nearly being dropped by their record label before Kansas
broke big. One song changed everything. "Carry on Wayward Son" from
Leftoverture transformed the traveling band of Midwestern musicians into
rock stars.
After going platinum
for the first time Kansas was faced with coming up with the follow up to
Leftoverture. Guitarist Rich Williams discusses the pressure the band
was under to repeat their previous success, “I don't recall any extra
pressure. Every album has an equal sense of importance and pressure at the
time you're making it. This question arises much later, usually by writers
like yourself, or during radio interviews. We certainly don't sit around
asking each other our thoughts on anything like this; not that it's a bad
question. It just usually has us scrambling for an answer that doesn't make
us look uninterested, dull or stupid."
The album was released
and climbed to #4 on the Billboard Pop Charts and spawned three hit singles
in the title track, “Portrait (He Knew)” and the massive “Dust in the
Wind.” “Dust” climbed the singles charts to #6 and saw the band get airplay
on both pop stations, rock stations and country stations. Kansas embarked
on their most successful tour to date and released the live album Two for
the Show the following year. Oddly enough, success did not sit well
with everyone in the band. Vocalist Steve Walsh actually quit Kansas during
the recording of Point of Know Return. “I don't remember the
details. I buried my head deep in the sand when it happened because I
couldn't understand any of it and didn't want to face it. Why jump ship
when the cruise is finally underway? It was the usual artistic differences
in opinion over direction. A band has everything to do with compromise.
This is a painful concept for a songwriter. I'm not pointing fingers, it's
just a friction point that eventually turns into a blister and pops.”
Eventually, Walsh
returned to the fold but problems continued to hound the band during the
recording process. “We started at the Studio in the Country in Bogalusa,
Louisiana where we had also recorded Masque and Leftoverture.
There were many maintenance issues and we were losing entire days as they
tried to work out the kinks. Finally, we became frustrated and moved to
Nashville and Woodland Studios. All of "Dust," with exception of the
vocals, was recorded in Nashville at the Woodland Studios. The equipment in the
room we were in was very old and antiquated, even for those times. The
monitors were old Voice of the Theatre cabinets. Just goes to show
ya that a great song is a great song. It doesn't matter where you record
it. That being said, the opposite is also true. You can't polish a turd."
The success of having
back-to-back triple platinum albums meant that the band was finally starting
to reap financial rewards for their efforts. When asked if the money was
lopsided between members Williams responds with humor, “That question has a
dab of bitterness to it. Of course things became lopsided. It was the ‘I
got mine, you get yours’ syndrome – The ‘Have's vs. The Have Not's.’ Just
kidding. Here's the way it works: The songwriters make money from the
songwriting royalties, as they should. They wrote the songs. It's fairly
easy to figure it out. Makes perfect sense. Not to say the sudden
financial gap between us wasn't noticed. Envy would be a better word than
bitter. Green with envy. A friggin' deep, dark and bitter green!”
Kansas marketed the
album using a then almost unheard of medium called the music video. The
band were filmed miming to “Dust in the Wind” and “Point of Know Return.”
“These videos were made pre-MTV for European TV and not intended to be seen
by anyone we knew – EVER! We were very uncomfortable with the
lip-sync/fake-it aspect of it all. If you look closely at the "Dust" video
you can see that we are all dead and in Hell. When we first saw the video,
it would be safe to say we were disappointed but when we saw "Point" we were
shocked. This was the cheesiest use of ‘cutting-edge video technology’ of
all time. I couldn't look at it for years. Now, I love it. If you can't
laugh at yourself then you can't laugh at anybody – even if it does take 30
long years of therapy.”
Williams has had to
live with ribbing stemming from the “Point” video for the last three
decades. During the song, the viewer gets a close up of Rich doing his best
to ham it up for the camera. “When you look at that full-faced image of me
in the tux - with that hair - you don't really get any clue that I'm feeling
shame unmatched by any other moment in my life. I have seen the still photo
from that shot uncounted times and it will surely be one of the last images
I see on my death bed.”
Point of Know
Return mixed straight ahead rock
music with progressive rock and layered it with a sound that was accessible
to fans of popular music. The formula worked and the band has never looked
back. “With back-to-back huge hits like "Wayward" and "Dust," we jumped from
obscurity into ahh...hmmm... not so obscurity. These two songs have left
our collective Kansas footprint in rock music and I'm certain they are the
reason why we are able to continue doing what we still do today, which is a
wonderful thing. I'm too old to start over. We've been very fortunate. I
still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.”
In the end, Point
of Know Return was the second push needed to gain momentum for the band
and push them into a period of superstardom. Looking back now, Williams
recalls the wild ride Kansas went on. “It was all a blur. Things were
happening fast and we didn't really have any experience to measure it
against. I think that's what I enjoy most about touring today. Instead of
trying to remember it I can finally enjoy the moment.”
The
Songs
Point of Know
Return
The working title of the album was "Point of No Return." Steve later wrote
the song using the title as a theme and Budd Carr, our manager, suggested
changing "No" into "Know" to make us deep and dark – something for the acid
heads to ponder. Very silly!
Paradox
Personally, I never heard this song as a potential single. I don't think
any of us did. Too many parts, too many time signature changes even for
radio in those times. We still play it. It keeps you on your toes.
The Spider
Our reaction to the song was "Damn, that's cool – and watch his hands when
he plays it. They look like spiders bouncing on the keyboard. Wait ...
that would be a great song title!" Seriously.
Portrait (He Knew)
The song and theme are from the brain of Kerry [Livgren]. As to how the
music fits the theme, I think the listeners brain links the two together
once given the instruction to do so. [Editors Note: The song is about Albert
Einstein.]
Closet Chronicles
I always enjoyed playing this one. We have brought up the possibility of
playing it once again but it's lost all relevance to Steve and when the
singer can't get into it anymore there is no point in kicking a dead horse.
Lightning's Hand
The middle of this is really strong and we are still playing it as a part of
“Belexis.” The rest of it has become a comedy for us. When we started
playing it on tour, we had a lightening machine we got from KISS. To make a
long story short, it was a lack luster effect and when Robby "commanded
lightning's hand" the bolt went from the lighting truss, down his bow and
bit him on the neck with great vigor. We sent the thing back. Did I
mention that Robby wore a cape for this? Very Spinal Tap indeed.
Dust in the Wind
The equipment and recording process was barbaric compared to today's
standards. "Punch-in's" weren't an option on a track as naked as "Dust" and
most things had to be performed beginning to end. If you blew the last
note, you started over. I had only recently started playing acoustic guitar
and the only finger-picking experience I had was from banjo lessons a few
years before. With a banjo, one uses metal finger picks and a huge plastic
thumb pick, and the picking patterns are quite different due to the tuning.
Anyway, I finally got
the first track on my Martin D-28, then we doubled it. After that I did a
Nashville tuning track with the same Martin but equipped with only the high
strings of a 12-string set on it. This creates a nice shimmering effect.
Then we called it a night. The next day when I arrived at the studio I
could tell by the looks on everyone's faces there was a problem. Due to ear
fatigue the night before we hadn't noticed the
"CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLACK" of the metal picks attacking the
strings. It sounded like "Bonanza" with horses galloping through the
track. So, we erased it and started over, this time without the picks. My
fingers were raw by the end of that day. If you want to see a grown man get
mean, stick one of those friggin' metal banjo picks in my face.
Sparks of the Tempest
Nothing really comes to mind about the recording of this track. I do
remember that Phil wore a wizard hat like Mickey Mouse wore in Fantasia
while doing the drum track. I asked him why, and he got mad and slapped
me. We don't talk about it – NOT! But it makes for a more interesting
story. So the answer is: Nothing really comes to mind about the recording
of this track.
Nobody's Home
That damn door knock. It was one of those things that we didn't quite get
to when recording and Jeff [Glixman] did it during the mix. The concept of
"a huge knock like a gorilla beating down the castle door" type of thing was
not sufficiently conveyed to him thus the polite "tap-tap-tap" on the
restroom door at your Grandmothers house. To quote Derek Smalls and
Spinal Tap once again, "Making a big thing out of it would have been a
good idea."
Hopelessly Human
Another great example of a Livgren epic. As original a song as one could
possibly be. The one thing I remember most is Jeff's idea of recording that
huge drum wack during the "I am waiting" THUMP part of the song. It was a
roto-tom tuned down so low that we thought he was nuts. We were wrong.
What a great sound. It really accented the rising tension of the music.
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