ONCE I ROSE ABOVE
THE NOISE AND CONFUSION
JUST TO GET A GLIMPSE
BEYOND THIS ILLUSION
Leftoverture
is the fourth
studio album
by American
Rock Band
released
in 1976.
Background
Steve Walsh began to
experience writer's block
prior to the recording,
and his contribution
to the album would
ultimately be limited
to co-authoring
three songs;
it fell on
Kerry Livgren
to fill the void.
The new compositions
retained much of the
classically inspired
complexity of
Livgren's
previous work.
As with their
previous album,
Masque,
Kansas recorded
Leftoverture
at Studio in the Country
in Bogalusa, Louisiana.
The Studio in
the Country was
so named because,
as Livgren described
on
In the Studio with Redbeard
radio show
in the episode spotlighting
Leftoverture,
"it was in the middle
of a swamp.
We'd walk out
of the studio
and there would
be gators in front
of the studio,
mosquitos
the size of B-52s
and at times armadillos
would run into
the control room."
Leftoverture
opens with the song
"Carry On Wayward Son",
which Livgren wrote
as a sequel to
"The Pinnacle",
the final song
from the
previous album
Masque (1975).
The album's title,
Leftoverture,
is a portmanteau
of leftover and overture.
The album was met
with mixed reviews.
Rolling Stone
called
Leftoverture
Kansas's
best album to date,
and said that it
"warrants Kansas a
spot right alongside
Boston
and
Styx
as one of the
fresh new
American bands
who combine
hard-driving
group instrumentation
(with a dearth of flashy solos)
with short,
tight melody lines
and pleasant singing.
The magazine
Playboy
reviewed the
album as
"extremely strong"
and lauded
Kansas
for representing
"the solid,
Midwestern values
of our vast
musical heartland."
In contrast,
Robert Christgau
said the album lacked
the intelligence
and conviction
of European
progressive rock,
and that the
self-deprecating
humor implied
in the song
and album titles
is completely absent
from the record itself.
More recently,
AllMusic's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
wrote that the
album contains
"neither hooks nor
true grandiosity to
make it interesting"
and,
despite the great single
"Carry On Wayward Son",
the fact that
Kansas
"never manage to rival
it anywhere on this record
is as much
a testament to
their crippling ambition
as their lack of skills."
Gary Graff
was more enthusiastic,
finding
Leftoverture
to be
"Kansas' breakthrough album
and a thorough representation
of its assorted
musical sensibilities."
Ultimate Classic Rock
critic
Matt Wardlaw
considered
"Carry On Wayward Son",
"Magnum Opus",
"The Wall",
"What's on My Mind"
and
"Opus Insert"
to be classics.
Ultimate Classic Rock
critic
Eduardo Rivadavia
rated
"Carry On Wayward Son"
as Kansas'
greatest song
and
"The Wall"
as Kansas'
sixth greatest song.
Bonus
IN THE STUDIO
with REDBEARD
By October 1976,
it was go big
or go home for
Kansas,
the intrepid
six-man
Progressive Rock band
from Topeka, Kansas.
Because of the hit
"Carry On Wayward Son"
submitted by the prolific
Kerry Livgren
even as the band was packing up
to leave rehearsals
and radio hits
"Miracles Out of Nowhere",
"The Wall",
"Cheyenne Anthem",
and
"What's On My Mind ",
"Leftoverture"
gave Kansas
rock statehood to
the tune of over
four million sold.
Livgren is joined by
Richard Williams,
Phil Ehart,
Steve Walsh,
and the late
original
Kansas
violinist/singer
Robbie Steinhardt
here In the Studio.
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