''In the Spirit of Things'' is the eleventh studio album by

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rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, released in 1988 (see 1988 in music). It is a very loosely organized concept album, telling the story of a

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hitting the real

city of Neosho Falls in 1951. It is the first Kansas album since 1975's ''

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'' to lack a hit single.

History

According to the author Dan Fitzgerald,

Rich Williams Richard John Williams (born February 1, 1950) is an American guitarist, primarily known for being one of the only consistent original members of the rock band Kansas alongside drummer Phil Ehart. Both have appeared on every Kansas album to dat ...

was inspired to create this album after having read the book ''Ghost Towns of Kansas, Volume II'' (1979), specifically the chapter on Neosho Falls. The album is Kansas's last studio effort for a major label. It didn't receive much promotion, as

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

dropped a slew of "older" artists shortly after its release and famously switched its attention to current younger acts such as Tiffany. Kansas got caught in that decision and the album was a commercial failure. The label did produce several promotional materials for the record, including a glossy video for "Stand Beside Me". The song was played regularly on MTV and allowed the single to hit the album rock charts, the last Kansas single to chart in any format. Other songs were released in odd formats, such as a 12" promotional single of "I Counted on Love", an import edited CD single of "House on Fire", and a small-sized CD single of "Stand Beside Me". The album would also be the last Kansas release to appear in vinyl format until the release of '' The Prelude Implicit'' in 2016. A tour in support of this album included a broadcast by the ''

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'', which many years later released the show as a CD.

Reception

In its retrospective review,

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deemed the album "one of the group's more consistent albums and easily a latter-day highlight." They criticized the album's dated production and the lack of a single to compare to their 1970s hits, but argued it to be one of Kansas's most focused efforts.

Track listing

Credits

;Kansas * Steve Walsh -

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, lead vocals *

Steve Morse Steve J. Morse (born July 28, 1954) is an American guitarist, best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the lead guitarist of Deep Purple from 1994 to 2022. Morse has also enjoyed a successful solo career and was briefly a member of ...

- guitars, vocals *

- guitars *

Billy Greer Billy Greer (born January 26, 1952) is an American musician, singer and songwriter known as the current bass guitarist for the band Kansas. He joined the band in their 1985 reformation, making his debut appearance on ''Power''. He had previously ...

- bass,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Phil Ehart Phillip W. Ehart (born February 4, 1950) is the drummer in the progressive rock band Kansas. He and Rich Williams are the only two members who have appeared on every Kansas album. Though his songwriting contributions to the group were few, he c ...

- drums, co-producer on tracks 4, 6 and 7 ;Additional personnel *Greg Robert - keyboard programming, background vocals * Christopher Yavelow - Kurzweil synthesizer sound design *Ricky Keller - percussion programming on track 2, keyboards programming on track 4 *Steve Croes - Synclavier *Terry Brock - background vocals on track 4 * John Pierce - fretless bass on track 7 *

Bob Ezrin Robert Alan Ezrin (born March 25, 1949) is a Canadian music producer and keyboardist, best known for his work with Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Andrea Bocelli and Phish. As of 2010, Ezrin's car ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, vocals, background vocals * Rev. James Cleveland and the

Southern California Community Choir The Southern California Community Choir is a choir founded by the Rev. James Cleveland. It has appeared on several recordings, including by artists such as Aretha Franklin, Kansas (band), Kansas, Elton John and Arlo Guthrie. It performed on several ...

- background vocals on tracks 2, 9 and 10 ;Production *Bob Ezrin - producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, mixing, arrangements with Kansas *

Greg Ladanyi Greg Ladanyi (July 6, 1952 – September 29, 2009) was an American record producer and recording engineer of Hungarian descent, known for his work with many musicians, including Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, The Church, Caifanes, Anna Vi ...

- co-producer on tracks 4, 6 and 7, engineer, mixing *

Garth Richardson Garth "GGGarth" Richardson is a Canadian record producer and music engineer. He is the son of music producer Jack Richardson (Alice Cooper, The Guess Who, Badfinger, Poco), a pioneer of the music recording industry in the 1960s and 1970s. Gart ...

- engineer, mixing *Stan Katayama, Bob Loftus,

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- engineers *Lawrence Fried, Edd Miller - assistant engineers *

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979. Biography Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charl ...

, Mike Reese - mastering *Robert Hrycyna - production and technical supervisor *Jack Adams - equipment assistant *

Storm Thorgerson Storm Elvin Thorgerson (28 February 1944 – 18 April 2013) was an English graphic designer and music video director. He is best known for closely working with the group Pink Floyd through most of their career, and also created album or other ar ...

- art direction *Paul Maxon -

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

, photography production *Tony May, Glenn Wexler, Derek Burnett - photography * Jon Crossland - stylist

Charts

;Album ;Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:In The Spirit Of Things Kansas (band) albums 1988 albums Albums produced by Bob Ezrin Albums produced by Greg Ladanyi Albums with cover art by Storm Thorgerson Concept albums MCA Records albums