In Praise of Kansas

I haven't done one of these in a while.
My first exposure to the band Kansas was in early 1974. I was working at a Team Electronics store at Ridgeview Mall in East Moline. We would get cool releases from the record companies and the first thing I noticed about this record was that it was on the "Kirshner" label. I knew of Don Kirshner and yes it was one in the same. At the time, I dug finding something new and I put it on one of our demo systems. "Can I Tell You" came blaring out of the speakers and once I got to the third song, "Lonely Wind", I was nailed. Being a fan of Yes and King Crimson and all the other prog-rock stuff, this was something that sounded new but familiar. The album went nowhere. "Song For America" was next in 1975, it did marginally better in sales but didn't garner much more of a midwest following. The third album "Masque" was a bit of a letdown but with album number four "Leftoverture", the rest is history. After I heard "Carry On Wayward Son" for the first time, I knew they weren't our Kansas any more but everyone else's.
My favorite radio story about Kansas was the time that Al Hofer refused the chance to interview Steve Walsh and passed it to me. Apparently, Steve was a dick to Al in the past and Al wasn't going to speak to him. Steve has had that reputation in the rock circles. It went OK. With that in mind, my top seven Kansas tunes...

1. "The Wall"-the best song they have ever done, bar none.
2. "Lonely Wind"-this band was very centered around native culture, great song.
3. "He Knew"-very spiritual, too.
4. "On The Other Side"-heard this for the first time at about 4am. woof.
5. "What's On My Mind"-good, midwest rock and roll
6. "Hold On"-the best of the "later" stuff
7. "People of the Southwind"-played that on am radio in 1979