What Makes This Song Great?™ Ep.80 KANSAS

I have learned far more about music appreciation from these BRvid videos than I did from a semester of Music Appreciation in college. Rick's enthusiasm and genuine love for it is infectious. Admittedly I'm not a musician myself, but now I'm finding I'm hearing things in older (and some newer) songs I hadn't even noticed before. It's like hearing them again for the first time. Highly recommend this channel for EVERYONE! I thank that man from the bottom of my heart.

Me

I Agree The Best Series of Music Breakdowns Ever!!!!

@Keith Thorgeirson I agree. It was all Plant, Ann Wilson, Steve Perry, Bradley Delp, Lou Graham,. His vocals were so clear.

Agreed!! As you can hear when Rick isolates the piano and the organ solo, Steve Walsh is amazing. That piano is so melodic and beautiful, it's hard to believe it's part of this great guitar rock song.

agreement here. Not only natural deep-throated singing but include handstands on their keyboard along with leg kicks over the ivory while playing some serious keyboards. Wearing an Adidas soccer kit to let the crowd know he was gonna bring movement and energy. Serious performer the likes of which few have matched.

Definitely under-rated, but so is Kerry Livgren!!! Kerry played a mini-moog, as well as multiple electric pianos, synths...

I think Steve Walsh was underrated for his vocals too. Rarely hear his name mentioned when discussions of great rocks vocalists are put forward. But as Rick highlighted, great vocal track, no autotune. Amazing.

your comment is exactly what I was going to comment! I'll never listen to this the same way again.. I will hear it better from this point forward! What and excellent break down this is!

I felt this way when I watched the video on more than a feeling. Insane

More cowbell!

Check out "This Is How The Story Goes" , by John Elephante w/Rich Williams and David Ragsdale of the past and current Kansas. Elephante and his brother, Dino, were famous for their studio productions for other artists, before John got the lead singer role after Steve Walsh left. ONLY ignored because of the plainly said spiritual implications offered. Listen at your own risk!

💯

Well, it is based on Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son, after all.

Well the song does end with “now your life’s no longer empty surely heaven waits for you!”

Rick does a great job here of explaining how this is really a pretty complex song. Lots of people don't tend to think of Kansas as a Prog Rock band, but they really are.

Real KANSAS!!!!

Just a master piece ... all the separate parts expertly crafted ... astounding

And real voices without autotune.

Rick is the master of air guitar!

He is gift to music.

Bang on

I’m 19 and feel like I’ve plateaued in my blues phase

I dig his "woooo"s

True. Non-musician here. Does Rick receive special tracks that has the instruments isolated, or is he using software that isolates them?

@Robert Hansen Yes and Kansas have intermittently toured together since 2005

@Lew Buckles not likely they were the same concert, but it would have been quite a show

Wow what a show. Two of my favorite bands Of all time. How did Kansas sound? I never Saw them in later years only at 1977 Spectrum in Philadelphia. Unbelievable show!

Kansas and Yes? Wow, that must've been one of the best concerts ever.

exactly!

I love the picture you you just painted. Thank you for your story.

Leela Palace by any chance?

You just made my tummy rumble ☺ The childlike passion never gets old. Massive 🥂

That’s a really cool story. For me, the implicit lesson is that people are real, not cartoons, in every part of the world, despite the efforts of the haters to degrade their humanity. I find that people who have spent time in foreign parts have a different worldview than those who only stay home and consume media. Thanks for saying your reality.

Omg what a voice. On pitch loud and awesome

Often followed live by a hand stand on the organ. (Walsh was a phenomenal physical specimen. )

@Brian McCarthy He likely played piano in this song, but both Walsh and Livgren played piano/organ/synth. If Walsh was playing an instrument while singing, it was usually keyboards. When Livgren was playing - it was usually lead guitar. It's hard to say who exactly played what on the various studio recordings. Wikipedia - Leftoverture Album Personnel: Steve Walsh - organ, piano, additional synthesizers, vibraphone, lead and backing vocals Kerry Livgren - electric guitar, piano, clavinet, Moog, Oberheim and ARP synthesizers ......

@that70sgeek Livgren plays piano on this song. In fact Livgren played almost all the piano while he was in Kansas.

@Janice Kates and wrong again...look at the 1975 Don Kirshner rock concert video if it's still up, it goes and comes, Walsh clearly has a Hammond and an ARP soloist sitting on top which had piano and synth sounds and he played both ALL the time; by 76 he had a triple stack, Hammond, ARP pro soloist and and ARP Omni on top of that and had every sound imaginable and he was used them all two handed ala Keith Emerson like he used the double stack in 1975. Livgren was fantastic but don't post junk that's not accurate. By

Steve Walsh sang two songs in Steve Hackett's second album "Please don't touch" (1978). Drummer Phil Ehart played on some tracks too.

@Janice Kates dead wrong... pigeon holing Walsh on organ, I saw them 11 times from 75-1982, their unquestioned halcyon days, and he played organ, synth & piano, underrated on all of them and was the farthest thing from straight ahead rock as I am from being an astronaut. Covered them in an incredible band from 78-94 playing lead guitar and won a battle of the bands in 1980 with 75% Kansas material... pretty much know this stuff backwards and forwards. There's absolutely no reason to set up this Kerry v Steve crap, they were both amazing, legendary.

Robbie is still playing in the Tampa Bay area with a band called Stormbringer

And played violin 👍

I had the pleasure of seeing them a few years ago at their annual Homecoming show in Kansas City. Both Kerry and Robby were there and played on a few songs. They’d just gotten their new singer (who I wasn’t totally impressed with), and Robby came out at the end and did “Carry On” with them. Not until that performance did I realize how integral his vocals are to this song. Without him it doesn’t sound half as good.

I saw them live in a smallish venue a couple of years ago- not long after Walsh retired and maybe a year before Prelude Implicit. Ehart was mind blowing, even well into his 60s (and I’m not far behind him, so I know how difficult that is!).

Fortunately, the drums are mixed a little higher on The Prelude Implicit so you can appreciate what's going on.

Yes he is.

Taylor Swift fans.

the good old days when you could Thumbs Down. BTW, I gave it thumbs up. I'd give it two thumbs up if I could.

Trolls and other vegetable life forms. Digital phone zombies.

woke cancel culture gave it a a thumbs down... Beato's review of this song is amazing.

fake accounts and bots mostly

Absolutely! That's why he's known as "The Maestro!"

Luke Robinett - I think Martin meant no one is arguing with you.

The story behind the song is worth telling, too.

Luke Robinett 100% agree the majority (if not ALL) songs that reach the top of the charts use some variation of the verse/chorus format. By that I mean a verse portion leads into a repeating, climactic chorus. Most of the time, songs utilize some kind of build and release, loud/quiet/loud idea. Not that using this formula is necessarily a good or bad thing, it’s just that music is much easier to get into when you’re familiar with the basic conventions a song utilizes. Songs can be huge hits by alienating as few people as possible. Here’s the idea: the verse/chorus format is the familiar building block that most popular music is based on. Verse/chorus is kind of a vague concept, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a song that’s gotten decent radio-play that doesn’t have some sort of hook. You know, that one section of a song that you find yourself humming throughout the day? The part of the song you sing to your friend when she asks “how does that song go again?” The part that literally “hooks” into your memory. The verse builds into the catchy hook of the song. It’s tried and true, and is the one defining feature that binds together every song on the best seller list. Think about it like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. But instead of talking about psychology, we’re talking about music. I believe that there is a similar hierarchy that we all go through when listening to music. For many people, song structure one of the most important factors in their enjoyment of a song, even though they might not realize it. People want to hear a song that approaches songwriting in a familiar way that they can innately understand. Once a listener feels comfortable with a song’s structure, then they can focus on the details like melody and harmony. When a song provides an easy to follow and almost universally recognizable format like verse/chorus, then the listener is open to appreciate what the song is doing melodically. Then add repetition on top of that and you have a song that feels familiar on the very first listen. The verse/chorus format is definitely the most valuable tool a pop song has to make someone enjoy it right away. The only issue then is this becomes quite a stale formula and songs like Carry on Wayward Son sound all that much better because of it. Many other fantastic songs too like Bohemian Rhapsody, All Along The Watchtower, Hey Jude, I Walk The Line et cetera. Imo these songs when they work become transcendent.

Luke Robinett you do realize you're arguing alone, right?

Far from a straight ahead pop song.

Dave Hope was/is a GREAT bass player! All you have to do is listen. He's been a church leader for many years now. I was a big fan after seeing their debut on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert as a teenager. They were immediately and refreshingly different. I wrote a fan letter to them - the only time I ever did that to anyone in my life. I received a handwritten reply written by Dave Hope. I will cherish it forever.

They'll never get in. They're too Christian leaning for the Lefty run hall of shame. Depeche Mode? 80s pop gets in. Rap and Hip Hop crap; No George Thorogood either. Kerry Livgren is a staunch Christian. Ex bass player Dave Hope is a preacher in Florida. Again, NO WAY Carry On Wayward Son will see the Hall.

They're not but Run DMC , LL Cool J , Jay Z are , just goes to show you Jann Wenner and the RRHOF don't have a fucking clue

The HOF is a complete and utter joke! Dolly Parton was nominated for crying out loud. Why do people keep saying "so and so belongs there". No they don't! No decent rock artist belongs there.

Dear God... They're not? I guess that just proves you don't need talent to get in, it's all rigged...

Agreed. Best musicians I've ever seen live...and I've seen a lot. Incredible composition by Kerry Livgren, as always!!

agreed

No doubt !!

@Angelspawn The R&R HOF is a massive hypocritical and contradictory "political" entity, that has become meaningless by its own shallowness and incompetence. There is no clear cut music criteria, or influence metrics, or talent measurements, or even music genre impact applied that is involved with them. It is just simply all about "trendiness", and a kind of "peer pressure"-based, superficial popularity. In the beginning it was easier to bring attention to the original Rock founders (Berry, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Bill Haley, Holly, Richard, Gene Vincent, etc.), but since there are so many thousands and thousands of bands since then, and so many styles of music within the space of "Rock", it has become an impossible task to really create a true Hall-of-Fame. It inevitably just degenerates into a lowest common denominator thing .. where no talent bands that did nothing 'special' or unique at all but somehow were "trendy" with largely unknown self-appointed selectors - are chosen to be rewarded, while amazing music talents that stretched the boundaries of popular music and blew peoples minds away (like Kansas) are ignored. And it is not about "breaking the mold" or being controversial either - as you have very "play it safe", uncontroversial, purely commercial -pop-rock Bands like Tom Petty in there (due to "popularity"), while Bands that were unique and stretched Rock music in new directions (Jethro Tull, Kansas) are not even considered. And why are Rap and Hip-Hop people in a Rock Music Hall anyway? (when that is not even close to "Rock music" to be begin with). It is all politics, and like a lot of other cultural things that we see today - defies basic logic and common sense -- in order to superimpose some sort of political agenda. .

@FreeSociety1 Rock’n’Roll HOF doesn’t do progressive. They only started putting bands like Rush and Yes in because they were running out of bands. I refuse to go (even when I was living in the area). Kansas, Rush and Boston were to the late 70’s what Zepplin, Yes, ELP and Tull were to the early 70’s and what the Beatles’ Abbey Road and The Who’s Tommy were to the 60’s.

Kansas should be in the Rock-N-Roll Hall-of-Fame. They blew away just about any Band that ever lived with their musicianship, energy, and their brilliant and complex Compositions.

good music is still being written; it's just harder to find. do a BRvid search on The Lone Bellow, I'm With Her, Lukas Nelson and/or Corin Ashley. I think you'll find some good song writing and recording with any of these artists.

Yep, yep, and yep. Rob, I saw them at Cobo Arena in Detroit in '80 maybe? Same seats as you, from above and behind Steve and saw him like a maniac athlete doing (probably coke-fueled) jump-up hand stands on his organ all night. Also marimbas and congas and perfect rock vocals over all. His vocals are WAY underrated and were what inspired my teenage self to want to be a rock & roll vocal frontman.

They were the Best!

I had to post that when I heard this comment. Although Steve is often credited with playing piano on their early albums, it's usually a much smaller amount compared to him playing organ and synthesizers. Kerry usually did most of the piano work for whatever reason, even though you'd think piano would align better with the singer. My guess is that Steve wanted to be able to detach from the keyboards and be a front-man a good portion of the time while singing and mostly stuck to the keyboards for the instrumental parts, which makes more sense for the instruments chosen over piano. Either that, or Kerry was bringing in the songs with himself already covering the piano so Steve picked other instruments.

@Clem Clemson not sure but you definitely are not……

did his mom think he was "under rated"? lmao

Michele Parker - Happy new year!! ❤️

@Crush Everything Thanks, much love to you and Happy New Year!!!😍😍

Michele Parker - That’s the cherry on top of great music like Kansas made: it has the power to comfort and heal. I wish you and your son the best. Take care.

I use to think about it too... God Bless U

You're like me; I took lyrics to actually mean something back then. Not just "Oh, that word rhymes with this one, so let's use it."

If you’re preaching I’ll join the choir.

Preach!!

@Cognitive Dissonance Child of Innocence. Great song.

This is an absolute blast to play on bass as well. Dial in a SVT growl and let er rip.

Title should be "Bestoverture"

Added to playlist thanks!

@Roach Amen! They need to listen to stuff like The Wall, and The Pinnacle- or just buy the live album and listen to it at full volume like I do, lol

It's a long time coming. When these classic rock songs first came out and like them so much, you listen to them a million times. You tend to listen to each and every instrument and vocals individually and how they go. And now comes Rick and do what you always do in your head for a long time. Where have you been Rick? Or where have I been?

Exactly. I’m listening to music in a whole new way. I don’t understand anything he says , but I think I’m learning. And certainly appreciating as never before.

Exposing multitrack recording is phenomenal content. Multitrack music has affected, in most cases very powerfully, every human on this planet. Usually unintentionally, but it happened. Ha! That's why I think this is this Cat's best series.

@mrz80 haha!

@David Dew Yeah, and include the latest two, too. They are really good.

Actually I saw this tour and found one band that can do it of all bands its panic at the disco live at some festival. The also do a great version of BeeGees lonely days at a tribute to them. They're great musicians when doing class

Muskokwww

mkii1964 damned straight, skippy!

Kerry Livgren and bandmates were in majestic unison.

When Boston came out it was like every 10 minutes it was on. The debut album was a monster in every sense of the word. ALL played by ONE guy.

I believe (at least I think this used to be true) that Rick uses stems from Rock Band in order to do these videos. In other words, if a song hasn't been in Rock Band, Rick can't do the part-by-part breakdowns that he does. And because 90% of the songs in Rock Band are radio singles and chart hits... that's kinda what you're going to end up with.

Great observations

Agreed

Amen brother, this song never fails to make me think of better, more simple times. Keep on keeping on lad, we’ll all get there eventually.

It’s about someone searching for the truth about their existence, to them a seemly unattainable goal. It explains the highs when you think you’ve found the answer and the lows when you realize you haven’t but something inside tells him to CARRY ON because when you truly seek you will find The Answer and when you find it you then have meaning and purpose “surely Heaven waits for you”

The actors are from Texas. The characters hometown is Lebanon, Kansas - the geographical centre of the US

I believe the main actors are from Kansas.