Kerry Livgren Was a Sharp Dude

Kansas. No one's really been to the state, and no one's really heard any Kansas song other than "Dust in the Wind." And they've only heard it as ol' Blue's In Memoriam, as performed by Will Ferrell.

But, despite a few sterile synth-drenched passages in the key of schmaltz, and the sincere but ponderous lyrics, Kansas were a pretty cool band. I'm serious kids, they rocked. And it's a good place to kick off this blog.

They're one of the first 70's bands my father introduced to me. I was lost in a sea of jangly music with empty hooks, folks. And believe it or not, Kansas, before Zep, before Sab, only slightly before Deep Purple, taught me the beauty of rock 'n' roll. I remember waiting, in the dawn of P2P file sharing, for Fath's downloads to finish on our dial-up connection. And as I searched for his long-lost favorites, I'd blast "Icarus--Borne on Wings of Steel" from the KaZaA downloads folder. It was so epic, so grandiose, but with a bit of grit from those electric guitars.

Thirty years before you kids were even old enough to take blurry, low-light cellphone camera pictures of the Attack Attack! show, Fath was rocking out to "Carry On" in its infancy, taping the performance on cassette to hear later. I don't purport to put down today's rock and roll music (except for Attack Attack). Just not a big fan of cell phones at concerts.

But I digress: great musicians, and some killer songs. Here's a link to "Mysteries and Mayhem," from Kansas' '75 album, Masque. It kicks off with a pre-New Wave of British Heavy Metal sort of speed riff, with a wicked backbeat courtesy of drummer Mr. Phil Ehart (who?).

Be sure to check the dark riff of madness at 2:40. Wish Livgren would've played it a few dozen times to let it soak in.