How Kansas Briefly Rebounded After a Huge Lineup Change
In the following exclusive excerpt from Let It Be Your Guide: The Kansas Album Review, former singer John Elefante joins Tim Durling as part of a larger roundtable discussion about his debut with Kansas, 1982's Vinyl Confessions. The album was home to "Play the Game Tonight," with Top 20 sales that were only outpaced by "Carry on Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind."
Still, Elefante was in the unenviable position of attempting to follow Steve Walsh, who sang both of those career-making hit singles. Vinyl Confessions went to No. 16, but Elefante exited after one more LP. In a period of deep transition, Kansas would lose early principal songwriter Kerry Livgren, too:
TIM DURLING: There can be no bigger shakeup in a band’s lineup than a change of lead vocalist. More often than not, it spells the end of a career, with a few standout exceptions. Kansas had the good fortune in finding John Elefante, who not only sounded like a smoother version of Steve Walsh, but was also an accomplished songwriter.
READ MORE: Top 10 Kansas Songs
Not only did the band rebound with a new vocalist, I’m guessing they proved a lot of naysayers wrong with “Play The Game Tonight.” After two studio albums which failed to produce a single that charted higher than No. 23, this first taste of the “new” Kansas went all the way to No. 17 on Billboard, becoming their third highest-charting single on the Hot 100.
Second single “Right Away” hit the Top 100. John and his co-writing brother Dino Elefante brought a more commercial sound to Kansas, no question. I still think this is a great song, though, and those high harmonies are courtesy of no less than Queen’s Roger Taylor.
John, how did Roger Taylor end up on this track? And, after a Top 20 single, why do think this one struggled on the charts?
JOHN ELEFANTE: Because Kansas did a fair amount of touring with Queen, [stalwart Kansas drummer] Phil Ehart was able to phone his friend, Roger, and he agreed to sing along with me and David Pack [of Ambrosia fame in the ’70s]. Your question about “Right Away” lies inside record company backroom meetings.
TIM DURLING: I really enjoy “Face It.” I almost get a Survivor vibe from this one – and coming from me that isn’t a putdown. I just don’t think this was the right song to include another sax solo. Maybe they were giving a nod to Foreigner’s “Urgent,” a huge hit from the previous year.
JOHN ELEFANTE: I don’t think it was a big thought-out decision. We just thought it would be a cool departure to have Warren Ham play the sax solo.
Watch Kansas' 'Play the Game Tonight' Video
TIM DURLING: Originally written in 1977, “Windows” finds Kerry Livgren in full-on prog rock mode. Super exciting and catchy, and somehow not hindered by its really complicated time signature. Elefante’s vocals are so close to Walsh’s that it’s easy to imagine a version of this on previous Kansas albums. Curiously, they also did a video for this song. Worth a watch for that early-’80s nostalgia.
JOHN ELEFANTE: Yes, it was a song in Kerry’s arsenal of songs, and a great one at that. I personally wasn’t a big fan of that video ...
TIM DURLING: “Play On” is the album’s only collaboration between Kerry Livgren and the new guy. It’s a fairly traditional Kansas-sounding song – a shuffle, with clever keyboard/violin interplay. John, I can only imagine it was a thrill to write with the man himself.
JOHN ELEFANTE: A dream come true! His ability to add that Kansas touch — and overall Kansas sound — was amazing.
TIM DURLING: In pretty short measure, Kansas returned with [1983’s Drastic Measures], their second and last album of the John Elefante era. A very different sounding album to its predecessor, this time the band dives fully into ’80s reverb and electronic drum sounds with producer Neil Kernon. Kernon would go on to produce albums for heavier bands like Dokken, Queensryche, and Helix. Drastic Measures was the end of a lot of eras for Kansas. I think one of the most obvious signs that this might be it for the band was the fact that Kerry Livgren only wrote three of this album’s nine songs.
John, you and Dino contributed heavily to this album.
JOHN ELEFANTE: I was actually very disappointed that there wasn’t much more of the Kerry DNA on that record. Dino and I were not trying – or making a conscious effort – to do a majority of the writing. I would have been happy with all Kerry-penned songs.
Phil Ehart Looks Back at 8 Key Kansas Albums
Gallery Credit: David Chiu