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Thread: 40 Years Ago... KANSAS Released AUDIO VISIONS

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    40 Years Ago... KANSAS Released AUDIO VISIONS

    40 years have passed since Kansas released Audio Visions. the last of the classic Kansas albums. Kansas was in transition and this album was to point the band into the 1980's. unfortunately Steve & Kerry would part ways forever affecting the future of the band. Audio Visions saw Kansas refining their song writing and moving towards shorter radio friendly songs. although 2 epic Kansas tracks (Curtain Of Iron & No One Together) were included, the rest of the album was a diverse blend of the bands song writing evolution. Hold On & Relentless were both strong tracks. and Steve's rockers Loner & Got To Rock On balanced out the album. many Kansas fans criticized the direction the band was going, but we never got to see what that line up would do in the 1980's. this album also marks the end of the trademark Kansas style they will always be known for. regardless of the different directions the band would go through in the future, they would never be able to duplicate the sound, style and production of the classic years. Happy 40th Anniversary Audio Visions!


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    In my view, Kansas crossed the Prog-Commercial Rock Rubicon with "Point Of Know Return" and from there they were no longer of interest to me. "Point" is a good Rock album and there were cuts on subsequent albums ("Monolith", "Audio Visions", etc) that channeled the earlier Prog oriented output but as commercial Rock band I couldn't remain a follower after that. I realize that later albums in the 2000's saw them return to longer cuts and more Prog related material, but for me the first 4 albums were their heyday and their zenith.

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    I would include Point of know return to that list. I have the 3 albums that came after Two for the show and I don't think they are bad, but I prefer Point of know returns and those before. What strikes me is the CDs after Two for the show don't have bonus-tracks.

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    Member TheH's Avatar
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    ^^

    There ain't much "leftovers" from Kansas to use as Bonus tracks.

    Apart from "Another Slant" from POKR there is only unreleased stuff for Vinyl Confessions (Demos before Elefante joined) and Power (quite a lot)
    Last edited by TheH; 09-06-2020 at 09:33 AM.

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    Just watched that Kansas concert posted by Bravado. That was a lot of fun. Last weekend I watched Device Voice Drum for the first time in 10 years or so. Nothing compares to the original band though.

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    Progdog ThomasKDye's Avatar
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    I know people have disdain for AV, but I always consider it part of a "Classic Seven." Its flaws are mostly in Steve's songs, with their cringey-as-hell lyrics and half-baked arrangements, but it's like the White Album for me... the flaws make the album more interesting. Besides, "Back Door" is quite nice, a very underrated Walsh number, and I really like the bagpipes at the end of it.
    "Arf." -- Frank Zappa, "Beauty Knows No Pain" (live version)

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    Never been a big fan of AV. There are 3-4 very good tracks, the rest is meh. That concert video is classic Kansas. Kerry and Rich are technical guitarists. And the less said about Steve's hot pants and wild dancing the better.....

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    Not a great Kansas album, but not terrible either. I like most of it.

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    Pretty much how I feel. The least inspired of the original seven the classic lineup did. It's worth it for No One Together alone though, one of Kerry's best mini epics, and one of his most intricate. It was supposed to go on Monolith, but got held back. Good thing or this album would be a lesser one. There's some good stuff here though. Relentless is a sort of Sparks of the Tempest on steroids. Curtain Of Iron is another mini epic of sorts. Back Door is Steve's best ballad next to Lonely wind.

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    Not a great album, in my opinion. I thought Monolith was great, though. They had very little left in the tank for AV. Isn't this when Kerry Livgren's "Seeds of Change" came out? A much better record, IMHO.

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    A couple Kansas concerts came up on my YT feed. One was At The Whiskey 1992. I skipped around. Didn't have the patience for Steve's croaking but the band was on fire. Really enjoyed Down The Road. David Ragsdale plays out of his mind on that tune, switching from violin to guitar. Spectacular. The next concert is the FON tour. That's an album I really dig.

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    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vic2012 View Post
    A couple Kansas concerts came up on my YT feed. One was At The Whiskey 1992. I skipped around. Didn't have the patience for Steve's croaking but the band was on fire. Really enjoyed Down The Road. David Ragsdale plays out of his mind on that tune, switching from violin to guitar. Spectacular.
    Check out Ragsdale's instrumental solo album, David and Goliath. David plays violin, guitar and keyboards. Jerry Peek's on bass and Tom Nordin's on drums.





    Quote Originally Posted by Vic2012 View Post
    The next concert is the FON tour. That's an album I really dig.
    Ditto!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Guitarplyrjvb View Post
    Not a great album, in my opinion. I thought Monolith was great, though. They had very little left in the tank for AV. Isn't this when Kerry Livgren's "Seeds of Change" came out? A much better record, IMHO.
    Seeds of Change is a CLASSIC. There's isn't a throwaway cut on that record.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vic2012 View Post
    A couple Kansas concerts came up on my YT feed. One was At The Whiskey 1992. I skipped around. Didn't have the patience for Steve's croaking but the band was on fire. Really enjoyed Down The Road. David Ragsdale plays out of his mind on that tune, switching from violin to guitar. Spectacular. The next concert is the FON tour. That's an album I really dig.
    Instrumentally that lineup was really great. I saw them several times. Walsh's vocals had problems, but the band knocked it out of the park every time. I wonder what ever happened to Greg Robert?

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    Quote Originally Posted by dropforge View Post
    Check out Ragsdale's instrumental solo album, David and Goliath. David plays violin, guitar and keyboards. Jerry Peek's on bass and Tom Nordin's on drums.




    Ditto!
    I still remember when Rags solo band headlined ProgDay in 97. It was a fantastic show. For the encore they brought on Mike Dearing from Salem Hill and tore through The Allman Brothers "Whipping Post". I am kind of surprised, but I can't find any YouTube footage of the performance unfortunately. He did a good chunk of the "David And Goliath" album along with some Kansas classics.

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    Worth owning for "No One Together." That track (which is a holdover from Monolith) is great. The rest? Not so much...
    The Prog Corner

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    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    "the fruits of all our labors have left us as we started....."

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    I think it is a solid album. So hard to come off of Leftoverature and POKR. You can hear that Steve and Kerry aren't collaborating, but overall it is a fine album. Better than Monolith

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    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveSly View Post
    I wonder what ever happened to Greg Robert?
    He worked at or owned a studio. He probably went back to doing that.

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    It says a lot about the strength of Kansas' catalogue that I regard an album as decent as Audio Visions as one of their lesser efforts. Plenty of good songs and performances on there though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dropforge View Post
    He worked at or owned a studio. He probably went back to doing that.
    At one point he was in real estate as I remember seeing his web site, but that was a long time ago.

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    PE Member since 7/14/2001 rushfan's Avatar
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    The first two tours I saw were Monolith and Audiovisions. It’s great to have some video from that period, reminds me how great the original band were. I still enjoy going to see them but those performances were on another level.

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    came across this show from the FON tour... 25 years ago. was Steve struggling with his voice at the time?



    tracks:
    Portrait (He knew)
    Song for America
    Hope once again
    Black Fathom 4
    Journey from Mariabronn
    Lamplight Symphony
    The Wall
    Dust in the wind
    Under the knife
    Desparate times
    Miracles out of nowhere
    Carry on wayward son
    Fight fire with fire
    Play the game tonight
    Point of know return

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    I saw that video. WTF is he wearing? Cutoff overalls....

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    ^that was during their "dark period". Musically though, they were cooking. Walsh ruined his voice with cocaine, smoking , and alcohol and having to yell when playing small clubs with inadequate monitors. An unholy combination. He always managed to stay in shape physically, thanks to increasing the mileage of his daily runs the more substances he was imbibing. I read all this in a very candid interview he did.
    Last edited by the winter tree; 09-13-2020 at 09:25 PM.

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