ddregs wrote:conversationpc wrote:Matthew wrote:I'm less sure about their 80s AOR period though. Not bad - but does anyone agree the qualities which made them special were ironed out a bit in the 1980s? Or is this unfair?
I agree. Though both "Power" and "In the Spirit of Things" are awesome AOR albums, the lack of violin and those classic Kansas arrangements really made them seem like a whole other band. Unfortunately, it was also the era where Walsh's voice started going downhill due in large part to his substance abuse and also using bad technique.
So true.
But these 2 records contain some unnamed gems like Musicatto (a great instrumental) or Rainmaker (the middle instrumental section is nothing short of spectacular).
While different, it's also good hearing bootlegs with Morse playing the violin parts on his guitar, it sounds special.
Agreed. Both great songs and awesome instrumental performances on those tunes.
Morse actually played violin during "Dust in the Wind" in that incarnation of the band, at least on the ITSOT tour. BTW, check out my previous post. I added a link to a video of Kansas during the John Elefante era. Pretty good performance.