Kansas Drastic Measures

John Elefante, who had joined Kansas for 1982's Vinyl Confessions, dominated their next album, Drastic Measures, writing six of nine songs. Elefante seemed a little unnerved by the new attention ("Everybody's My Friend"), while bandleader Kerry Livgren seemed burned out by the pressure to sell records ("Mainstream"). In that attempt, Kansas turned toward more of a hard rock/heavy metal sound…

Drastic Measures is the ninth studio album by American rock band Kansas, released in 1983. The shift in direction that Kansas took with Vinyl Confessions took its toll before recording began on this album. After hearing that Christian fans of Kansas were using lyrics from Vinyl Confessions in religious tracts and handing them out prior to the band's live appearances, violinist Robby Steinhardt grew tired of Kansas' new Christian affiliation and quit the band at the end of the 1982 tour…

Sail On: The 30th Anniversary Collection 1974-2004 is certainly the most lovingly crafted of the many Kansas retrospectives. Featuring 27 album cuts that range from classic FM hits like "Dust in the Wind" and "Point of No Return" to fan favorites such as "Song for America," and a 16-track DVD that collects numerous television appearances, videos, and live recordings, Sail On seems to be the definitive tome of the Midwest art rock band's very existence…

Legacy’s The Classic Albums Collection 1974-1983 should provide endless hours of arena/prog/AOR-pop bliss for fans of Kansas, as it features ten of the band’s career-defining albums, including an expanded edition of the live album Two for the Show. Each studio album (Kansas, Song for America, Masque, Leftoverture, Point of Know Return, Monolith, Audio Visions, Vinyl Confessions, and Drastic Measures) has been remastered and peppered with bonus cuts, and all of the original album artwork has been lovingly reproduced. Best of all, the box set is priced to move. Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 6x, Point of Know Return 4x, The Best of Kansas 4x), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind".

Legacy’s The Classic Albums Collection 1974-1983 should provide endless hours of arena/prog/AOR-pop bliss for fans of Kansas, as it features ten of the band’s career-defining albums, including an expanded edition of the live album Two for the Show. Each studio album (Kansas, Song for America, Masque, Leftoverture, Point of Know Return, Monolith, Audio Visions, Vinyl Confessions, and Drastic Measures) has been remastered and peppered with bonus cuts, and all of the original album artwork has been lovingly reproduced. Best of all, the box set is priced to move. Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on album-oriented rock charts and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind". The band has produced nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums (Leftoverture 6x, Point of Know Return 4x, The Best of Kansas 4x), one other platinum studio album (Monolith), one platinum live double album (Two for the Show), and a million-selling single, "Dust in the Wind".

Kerry Livgren was one of the founding members and primary writers for the '70s supergroup Kansas. Having grown up listening to the works of classical composers (notably the Romantics such as Liszt and Wagner), Livgren's songwriting technique has always tended toward orchestration – with an ear for the majestic or the symphonic…