OFF: Kerry Livgren

[Alex S. Garcia]

>He was a Christian for _years_, even in the early days of Kansas

Hmm... I have my doubts about this. I remember an interview of Livgren I
heard on the radio a few years ago while I was in the States, and I seem to
recall him (or was it the interviewer ?) saying that he had left the band
because he had become Christian (which seems to indicate that it both
happened about at the same time).

>(go back and
>listen to the lyrics. _HEAVY_ religious themes...although the band indicates
>that they weren't "preaching" back then...)

I dunno. I know most of their lyrics and I never really noted any religious
themes. Or when there was (like in "Miracles out of nowhere") you really
couldn't be sure whether it was pro- or anti-... You have any specific song
in mind ?

>After leaving Kansas, Livgren
>formed the Christian rock band A.D. (with one Ronnie James Dio guesting on
>vocals on one or two tracks!!!)

I knew about A. D. but not about Dio... interesting. I'll have to get hold
of those tracks...

>SONG FOR AMERICA would have to be one of my Desert Island disks, having seen
>that (or was it the LEFTOVERTURE?) tour...

"Song for America" was their first LP (at least their first released - the
self titled album, which was recorded a year before, only came out in 77)
and remains to date one of their best, along with "Leftoverture" (perhaps my
favorite :-), "Masque", "Kansas" and... uh... "Point of know return". Well
yeah, I agree the band kind of went downhill after that album, but I still
like that one a lot. Maybe not as much as the four previous, but it still
contains several tracks I find really awesome. BTW, the last album to date
("Freaks of nature", released last year) is not half bad. It even contains
one song written by Livgren (although he has NOT reunited with the band).
"In the spirit of things" was pretty good too, IMHO.



Alex S. Garcia.

----------------------------------------------------------
Become a Patternwalker ! Visit Corwin's Pattern...
  http://members.tripod.com/~Mandor/
Read the Icarus Encyclopedia of Fantasy & SF
  http://www.Catch22.com/~icarus/
----------------------------------------------------------