Kansas celebrates their 50th anniversary with Another Fork In The Road – 50 Years Of Kansas. Across three discs, containing a whopping 39 songs, we get a wide spread of music from the band’s career, plus a new version of “Can I Tell You,” which was originally released on their 1974 self-titled debut. It’s rerecorded here with the current lineup featuring original drummer Phil Ehart and original guitarist Richard Williams, plus bassist and vocalist Billy Greer, vocalist and keyboardist Ronnie Platt, violinist and guitarist David Ragsdale, and keyboardist and vocalist Tom Brislin.
The song actually begins the first disc, and it is a blistering version of the highly kinetic tune with the slightly hippie-lyrical sensibilities. Songs following here include the title track from the band’s 2020 The Absence Of Presence album, plus the heavy Rush-like (save for the violin) “Throwing Mountains,” a handful from their 2016 release The Prelude Implicit, a lush orchestrated version of “Dust In The Wind” from Always Never the Same, as well as two from from one of this band’s most overlooked albums, 1995’s Freaks of Nature — “Under The Knife,” the building ballad with a big, catchy chorus (which will surely make one miss singer Steve Walsh for sure!) and “Desperate Times,” with the killer drive of Ragsdale’s violin matching Ehart’s drums.
The second disc features songs from the early 80s, including selections from 1980’s Audio-Visions and 1982’s Vinyl Confessions, the album where John Elefante took over the vocal spot from a departed Steve Walsh. For an older Kansas fan like me, the inclusion of the epic guitar wailing of “On The Other Side,” “Angels Have Fallen,” and “How My Soul Cries Out For You,” from 1979’s Monolith is extra special.
Some live cuts from Two For The Show open the third disc. There’s the obligatory “Carry On Wayward Son,” “Portrait (He Knew),” and “Sparks Of The Tempest,” plus “Miracles Out Of Nowhere” and “Magnum Opus” from the band’s hit albums 1976’s Leftoverture and 1977’s Point Of Know Return. The disc starts to wind down with songs from 1975 — the Kansas show stopper “Icarus-Borne On Wings Of Steel,” along with “Child Of Innocence” from Masque, plus “Down The Road,” “Song For America.” and “The Devil Game” from Song for America. We finish up with a trio from the band’s first eponymous LP, including “Death Of Mother Nature,” the supremely rockin’ “Belexes” and “Journey From Mariabronn.”
Surviving their many band member departures, 16 studio album releases, and 30 million albums sold worldwide, Kansas represents the nadir of American popular progressive rock and is a band that surely should be celebrated. Another Fork In The Road – 50 Years Of Kansas manages to do this at a very high level.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
