10. In the Spirit of Things (1988) by Kansas: This the best Kansas album of the

Eighties and is, in my estimation, a shining jewel in the sometimes cracked and conflicted crown of now-retired singer, keyboardist, and lyricist Steve Walsh. After five very good to classic albums in the 1970s (see my review of the documentary “Miracles Out of Nowhere”), Kansas started to unravel. Monolith (1979) was a step down from previous efforts, and Walsh left after Audio-Visions (1980) and was replaced by John Elefante, and while the results certainly were not horrible, they were mixed. Walsh pursued a career as a solo artist and then as head of the AOR-oriented Streets, to mixed ends, to put it kindly.

A Walsh-led, Kerry Livgren-less Kansas reformed in the mid-Eighties, featuring one of my all-time favorite musicians/guitarists, the incomparable Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Flying Colors, Deep Purple, Steve Morse Band). The first go was Power (1986) which had some interesting moments and was played with professional precision. For example, the title track has a rather epic ’80s drum sound and a stellar call-and-response chorus while the power ballad “Can’t Cry Anymore” is both extremely emotional—Walsh certainly shines—and rather clinical all at once; it seems evident the group was looking for a hit. And, in fact, the straight ahead pop song “All I Wanted” charted in the Top 20, the last Kansas song to make any noise on the charts.

Oddly enough, Power was co-produced by the English arranger and producer Andrew Powell, who had worked with Alan Parsons Project and helped produced Kate Bush’s first two albums. I say “oddly enough” because the production on Power, while clean and professional, was quite sterile sounding, with little sense of immediacy or liveliness. On the whole, the album came across as if the band members were not entirely certain of what the reformed Kansas should be other than a band trying to regain some traction in an industry that had changed dramatically in less than a decade’s time.

In retrospect, In The Spirit of Things appears to be the work of a group trying to establish a new and forward-thinking identity. With an album under their collective belt and with highly regarded Canadian producer Bob Ezrin at the helm, the group created a concept album of sorts based loosely on the 1951 flooding of the small town of Neosho, Kansas. However, having listened to the album hundreds of times, I’d say the two biggest themes are lost love and the seeking of faith amid the material and emotional ruins of one’s life. “Ghosts”, the opening song, is a piano-driven dirge that reflects on the remains of “an old ghost town”, noting that there’s a ruined belltower that once upon a time “must have softened every soul that came to pray”. It’s hardly an accident that the final song, “Bells of Saint James”—one of my all-time favorite Kansas cuts—is about the recollection of love lost due to the Korean War—

I don’t remember when those words changed
Like Kansas summer turns to fall
But she quit talking ’bout the future
Never mentioned dreams at all

—and the sounding of church bells:

Are the bells of St. James still ringing
The bells of St. James still ringing down
Lifting the eyes of those homeward bound

The reference to those “homeward bound” is, I think, meant to refer to earthly and heavenly homes, as the album is shot through with the desire for spiritual rest and insight. While the first half of the album is very good, the songs still have a bit of that “gotta have a single” feel. And, in fact, the song “Stand Beside Me”, co-written by professional songwriters Bruce Gaitsch and Marc Jordan, got the music video treatment, with the standard ’80s shots of couples getting friendly on dark city streets with steaming manhole covers.

The second half of the album, however, is a masterpiece, with all songs being co-written or written by either Morse or Walsh:

“I Counted on Love” (Morse, Walsh) – 3:33
“The Preacher” (Morse, Walsh) – 4:18
“Rainmaker” (Ezrin, Morse, Walsh) – 6:44
“T.O. Witcher” (Morse) – 1:39
“Bells of Saint James” (Morse, Walsh) – 5:39