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Mixed ride

With little consistency when it came to members the group still created great music

Influenced by progressive British rock acts such as Yes and Genesis, Kansas, an all-American band, didn't have a following to boast of well after being formed in 1970 in Topeka by Phil Ehart, Kerry Livgren and Dave Hope. Their early years were spent touring the Midwest, playing in bars and clubs.

Adding Robby Steinhardt, the band took the name of White Clover. Ehart went to the source, to England, looking for inspiration. At present, Steve Walsh, the group's major songwriter, and Richard Williams joined, soon after reverting to the name of Kansas. The six-man troupe's first album of the same name sold 1,00,000 copies initially. That grew with the outfit's regular touring and that ensured their next two LPs sold 2,50,000 copies each. Leftoverture that contained Carry on wayward son, sold over 3 million. Point of know return released in 1977 went triple platinum. A live album, Two for the show, also went platinum. Monolith (1979) and Audio-Visions (1980) went gold. Their popularity peaked perhaps at Madison Square Garden in New York, where UNICEF named the group's members Deputy Ambassadors of Goodwill.

Cracks began to appear in 1980, following which Livgren and Hope, who became born-again Christians, left. Walsh quit next to form Streets, a hard rock quartet. His replacement, John Elefante, wrote four songs for Vinyl Confessions. Another studio album later, the group disbanded. Livgren and Elefante found success on the Christian music charts.

In 1986, Ehart, Walsh and Williams reconvened, roping in jazz-fusion guitarist Steve Morse and bassist Billy Greer. This new line-up's first album Power produced a top 20 hit, All I wanted. Subsequent albums didn't find receptive audiences. The original set regrouped for Somewhere to Elsewhere in 2000.

A. GEORGE ANTONY

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