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Leftoverture

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Untitled

Leftoverture is the fourth album by American rock band Kansas, released in 1976. The album was reissued in remastered format on CD in 2001.

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 four songs (one of which he would not receive credit for). It fell on Kerry Livgren to fill the void, as he had done on Song for America. The new compositions retained much of the classically inspired complexity of Livgren's previous work. Kansas recorded the album at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana. The Studio in the Country was so named because, as Kerry Livgren described on In the Studio with Redbeard in the episode spotlighting Leftoverture that "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, laughing."

Leftoverture begins with the hit single "Carry On Wayward Son". Kerry Livgren wrote the song as a sequel to the final song, "The Pinnacle", from the previous album, Masque.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
Robert Christgau(D+) [2]

The album was met with strong critical praise. 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."[3]

Retrospective reviews, on the other hand, utterly condemned the album. Allmusic contended that for all Kansas's pretensions, "these compositions aren't particularly complex, rhythmically or harmonically, and are in their own way as ambling as boogie rock, which still feels to be their foundation." They concluded with the damning praise that Leftoverture is still better than any other Kansas album aside from Point of Know Return.[1] 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.[2]

Track listing

All songs written by Kerry Livgren, except where noted.

  1. "Carry On Wayward Son" (5:23)
  2. "The Wall" (4:51) - (Livgren, Steve Walsh)
  3. "What's on My Mind" (3:28)
  4. "Miracles Out of Nowhere" (6:28)
  5. "Opus Insert" (4:30)
  6. "Questions of My Childhood" (3:40) - (Livgren, Walsh)
  7. "Cheyenne Anthem" (6:55)
  8. "Magnum Opus" (8:25) - (Livgren, Walsh, Phil Ehart, Rich Williams, Dave Hope, Robby Steinhardt)

2001 CD reissue bonus tracks

  2. "Carry On Wayward Son" (Live) (4:45)
  3. "Cheyenne Anthem" (Live) (6:41)

Personnel

Additional personnel

  • Toye LaRocca – vocals
  • Cheryl Norman – vocals

Production

  • Producers: Jeff Glixman, Kansas
  • Arranger: Kansas
  • Engineer: Bill Evans

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1977 Pop Albums 5

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1976 "Carry On Wayward Son" Pop Singles 11
1977 "What's On My Mind" Pop Singles none

References

  1. ^ a b Leftoverture at AllMusic
  2. ^ a b Album review, Robert Christgau.
  3. ^ Niester, Alan (27 January 1977). Album Review, Rolling Stone. (Archived from [1]).
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