In The Spirit Of Things

About

In the Spirit of Things is the 11th studio album, and 13th overall, by American rock band Kansa, released in 1988 . It is a very loosely organized concept album telling the story of a flood hitting the real Kansas town of Neosho Falls in the early 1950. The album is often cited by lead vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter Steve Walsh as his favorite Kansas album. Its odd mixture of hard rock, progressive rock, and '80s pop ballads (forced on the band by MCA Record, which selected outside songwriters in an attempt to generate hit singles) failed to catch on with a mass audience but it remains a cult favorite among Kansas fan. The album was Kansas's last studio effort for a major label. It didn't receive much by way of promotion, as MCA 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, though, including a glossy video for "Stand Beside Me," which was played regularly on MTV and allowed the single to hit the album rock chart, the very last Kansas single to chart in any format. Other songs were released in odd format, such as a 12" promotional single of "I Counted on Love," an import CD single of "House on Fire," and a small CD single of "Stand Beside Me." The album also marked the last Kansas release to appear in vinyl format. A tour in support of this album included a broadcast by the King Biscuit Flower Hour, which many years later released the show as a CD. Track listing "Ghosts" – 4:18 "One Big Sky" – 5:17 "Inside of Me" – 4:42 "One Man, One Heart" – 4:20 "House on Fire" – 4:42 "Once in a Lifetime" – 4:14 "Stand Beside Me" – 3:28 "I Counted on Love" – 3:33 "The Preacher" – 4:18 "Rainmaker" – 6:44 "T.O. Witcher " – 1:39 "Bells of Saint James" – 5:39 The Band Phil Ehart - drums Billy Greer - ba, vocals Steve Morse - guitar, vocals Steve Walsh - keyboard, vocals Rich Williams - guitars Additional personnel Terry Brock - vocal, background vocals Rev. James Cleveland - vocal, background vocals Steve Croes - keyboard, synclavier Bob Ezrin - percussion, vocal, background vocals Ricky Keller - synthesizer John Price - ba, fretless bass Greg Robert - keyboard, vocal, background vocals Southern California Community Choir - chorus Christopher Yavelow - synthesizer, Kurzweil synthesizer Production Producers: Phil Ehart, Bob Ezrin, Greg Ladanyi, Paul Maxon Engineers: Bob Ezrin, Stan Katayama, Greg Ladanyi, Bob Loftu, Brendan O'Brien, Garth Richardson Assistant engineers: Lawrence Fried, Stan Katayama, Edd Miller Mixing: Bob Ezrin, Greg Ladanyi, Garth Richardson Mastering: Stephen Marcussen, Doug Sax Drum programming: Ricky Keller Keyboard programming: Ricky Keller, Greg Robert Production supervisor: Robert Hrycyna Technical supervisor: Robert Hrycyna Equipment assistant: Jack Adams Arrangers: Bob Ezrin, Kansas Art direction: Storm Thorgerson Photography: Paul Maxon, Tony May, Glenn Wexler, front cover Derek Burnett Stylist: Jon Crossland Charts Album - Billboard (North America) Year Chart Position 1988 The Billboard 200 114 Singles - Billboard (North America) Year Single Chart Position 1988 "Stand Beside Me" Mainstream Rock Tracks 13 .

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