OFF: Kerry Livgren

[Craig Shipley]

>
> >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).
>
Get DECADE, it has a nice write-up on Livgrens' spirituality (in addition to
most of the music from SEEDS OF CHANGE). BTW, you may have to hit a Christian
bookstore for this one...

> >(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 ?
>
Most of the material on the first two releases, but listen to "Devils' Game"
and tell me that that don't sound like some down-home preachin'!

> >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)

Wrong, absolutely. The first one _was_ released first, as I remember seeing
it in the stores in '74. I bought SfA first, but went out and bought the
first release the next day. And by 1977, MASQUE and LEFTOVERTURE were out
(I definitly remember this, LEFTOVERTURE was on the cassette deck alot whenn
I was recovering from breaking up with my first fiancee).

> 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.
>
Yeah, I stuck with them thru MONOLITH, but that was the end of my Kansas
purchases (although I did snag POWER from the used CD bins. Don't remember
being impressed, don't remember much at all of it...)
>
>
> Alex S. Garcia.
>
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