Bryn Mawr 1976

Celebrating 40 years as a recording musical collective in 2014, Kansas may not still be the biggest or most successful band to have emerged in the 1970s, but most certainly they remain one of the best if, dare I say it, one of the most underrated too. But unlike virtually all of their contemporaries from a similar era who are still touring today, save for a period of less than a year in the mid-1980s, there has never been a time, since their formation four decades ago, when Kansas have not been a working band. Their debut album was released in March 1974, nearly a year after it was recorded in New York. It defined the band's signature sound, a mix of American-style boogie rock and complex, symphonic arrangements with changing time signatures. Steinhardt's violin was a distinctive element of the group's sound, being defined more by heartland rock than the jazz and classic influences which most progressive rock violinists followed. The band slowly developed a cult following, due to promotion by Kirshner and extensive touring for the debut album and its two follow-ups, Song for America and Masque. This CD contains a radio broadcast of one of the 1976 line-ups best gigs, performed at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Philadelphia, on 22nd February, part of the concert tour for Masque, which had been released six months earlier in September 1975. Featuring a number of tracks from this record, at the time the band's third album, including the sublime 'Child Of Innocence'(which remains one of Kansas's most popular concert favorites) the set on this cold winter evening, 38 years before the release of this CD, also boasted a terrific version of J.J. Cale's 'Bringing It Back' alongside 10 band compositions. Another six months after this electric performance, Kansas hit the big time with their October '76 album Leftoverture, which climbed to number 4 on the billboard charts and included the hit single, 'Carry On Wayward Son'. The album went on to sell more than 4 million copies.