Leftoverture

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Leftoverture is the fourth studio album by American rock band Kansas, released in 1976. The album was reissued in remastered format on CD in 2001. It was the band's first album to be certified by the RIAA, and remains their highest selling album, having been certified 5 times platinum in the United States.<ref name="platinum">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

BackgroundEdit

Steve Walsh began to experience writer's block prior to the recording, and his contribution to the album would ultimately be limited to co-authoring three songs; it fell on Kerry Livgren to fill the void.<ref name="booklet" >Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> The new compositions retained much of the classically inspired complexity of Livgren's previous work.<ref name="booklet" /> As with their previous album, Masque, Kansas recorded Leftoverture at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana. The Studio in the Country was so named because, as Livgren described on In the Studio with Redbeard radio show in the episode spotlighting Leftoverture, "it was in the middle of a swamp. We'd walk out of the studio and there would be gators in front of the studio, mosquitos the size of B-52s and at times armadillos would run into the control room."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Leftoverture opens with the song "Carry On Wayward Son", which Livgren wrote as a sequel to "The Pinnacle", the final song from the previous album Masque (1975).

The album's title, Leftoverture, is a portmanteau of leftover and overture.

ReceptionEdit

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The album was met with mixed reviews. Rolling Stone called Leftoverture Kansas's best album to date, and said that it "warrants Kansas a spot right alongside Boston and Styx as one of the fresh new American bands who combine hard-driving group instrumentation (with a dearth of flashy solos) with short, tight melody lines and pleasant singing."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The magazine Playboy reviewed the album as "extremely strong" and lauded Kansas for representing "the solid, Midwestern values of our vast musical heartland."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In contrast, Robert Christgau said the album lacked the intelligence and conviction of European progressive rock, and that the self-deprecating humor implied in the song and album titles is completely absent from the record itself.<ref name="CG"/>

More recently, AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album contains "neither hooks nor true grandiosity to make it interesting" and, despite the great single "Carry On Wayward Son", the fact that Kansas "never manage to rival it anywhere on this record is as much a testament to their crippling ambition as their lack of skills."<ref name="allmusic"/> Gary Graff was more enthusiastic, finding Leftoverture to be "Kansas' breakthrough album and a thorough representation of its assorted musical sensibilities."<ref name="graff"/> Ultimate Classic Rock critic Matt Wardlaw considered "Carry On Wayward Son", "Magnum Opus", "The Wall", "What's on My Mind" and "Opus Insert" to be classics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ultimate Classic Rock critic Eduardo Rivadavia rated "Carry On Wayward Son" as Kansas' greatest song and "The Wall" as Kansas' sixth greatest song.<ref name=ucr>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian rated "The Wall" as Kansas' all-time best song, as well as rating "Carry On Wayward Son" number 2 and "Miracles Out of Nowhere" number 5.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Classic Rock critic Dave Ling also ranked three songs from Leftoverture among Kansas' 10 best – "Magnum Opus", "Miracles Out of Nowhere" and "Carry On Wayward Son".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ronnie Platt, who became Kansas' lead singer in 2014, rated three songs from Leftoverture as being among his 10 favorite Kansas songs – "Carry On Wayward Son", "The Wall" and "Miracles Out of Nowhere".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Track listingEdit

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PersonnelEdit

Kansas

Steve Walsh – organ, piano, additional synthesizers, vibraphone, lead and backing vocals
Kerry Livgren – electric guitar, piano, clavinet, Moog, Oberheim and ARP synthesizers
Robby Steinhardt – violin, viola, lead vocals on "Miracles Out of Nowhere" and "Cheyenne Anthem", backing vocals
Rich Williams – electric and acoustic guitars
Dave Hope – bass guitar
Phil Ehart – drums, percussion