There's Know Place Like Home

Performer: Kansas
Producer: Jeff Glixman; Kansas
Distributor: RED Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Billy Greer, Billy Greer (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, background vocals); Steve Walsh (vocals, keyboards); Richard Allen Williams M.D. (guitar, acoustic guitar); David Ragsdale (electric guitar, violin, background vocals); Mario Martin Zelaya, Carlos Cabezas (violin); Christopher Roth (flute); Jose Salazar (oboe); James Kirkwood, James Kirkwood (trumpet); McKay, Neil, Neil McKay (trombone); Raul A. Rodriguez (horns); Phil Ehart (drums); Mathew Bell , Brandon Graves (timpani, percussion). Audio Mixer: Jeff Glixman. Directors: Jeff Glixman; Phil Ehart; Zak Rizvi. Starting in the 1990s, quite a few hard rock bands decided to go "the symphonic route," by putting on concerts that merged big guitar riffs with swirling strings. The Scorpions, Kiss, and Metallica all immediately come to mind as bands that have taken the symphonic plunge. But admittedly, the results varied wildly. But one band that seemed custom-made for a symphonic collaboration was Kansas -- who have always favored technicality and layered compositions over your basic three-chord rock. And in 2009, Kansas officially joined the "symphonic rock age," with the release of CD and DVD sets (sold separately), titled There's Know Place Like Home. Recorded/filmed live at Washburn University's White Concert Hall (in Topeka, KS), the group is joined on-stage by the 50-piece Washburn University Orchestra, and the results make such already-bombastic-sounding tracks as "Carry on Wayward Son" even more grandiose. And since songs like "Dust in the Wind" contained strings on the original studio version, it's not that far of a stretch for Kansas to reconnect with their symphonic side. Add to it appearances in the set by former members Kerry Livgren and Steve Morse, and you have certainly one of the better (if not the best) Kansas DVDs to be released so far. ~ Greg Prato

Like Styx and Queen, Kansas found fame in the 1970s with a mixture of prog-rock complexity, hard-rock riffs, and pop hooks. But the group's early albums--marked by Robby Steinhardt's violin work--were much closer to real progressive rock than to the "pomp-rock" of their counterparts.

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