Kansas - Mayhem Symphony - Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, USA - October 31st, 1976 (PRRP 018) (EX FM Broadcast)

Artist: Kansas
Title: Mayhem Symphony
Date: October 31st 1976
Venue: Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, USA

Tracklisting
Disc One
01. Intro 00:46
02. Carry On Wayward Son 05:22
03. Icarus - Born On The Wings Of Steel 05:44
04. Down The Road 03:29
05. Good Evening Introduction 01:28
06. Mysteries And Mayhem 04:12
07. Lamplight Symphony 02:30
08. The Wall 04:49
09. Introduction 01:38
10. Lonely Wind 06:55
11. What's On My Mind 03:33
12. Miracles Out Of Nowhere 06:44
13. Guitar Solo 03:24
14. Child Of Innocence 04:30
15. Introduction 01:07
16. Keyboard Improv/Drum Solo/Magnum Opus 13:44

Disc Two
01. Song For America 09:45
02. Violin Solo 04:07
03. Cheyenne Anthem (ending) 03:32
04. Belexes 04:45
05. Bonus Track: Interview With Band Members 07:21
The Opening Act: Ambrosia
06. Make Us All Aware 06:30
07. Can't Let A Woman 06:38
08. Holdin' On To Yesterday 06:12
09. I Wanna Know 07:45
10. World Leave Me Alone 04:33

Personnel
Steve Walsh: Vocals & Keyboards
Kerry Livgren: Guitars & Keyboards
Rich Williams: Lead Guitars
Robby Steinhardt: Violin & Vocals
Dave Hope: Bass Guitars
Phil Ehart: Drums & Percussion

Liner Notes: Home Away From Home
The band Kansas started as a small musical project in the heartland of America. As they grew in popularity they formed a bond with the people of the East coast state of Pennsylvania. During the early years, Kansas played the great north east state as a warm up band for headliners such as The Kinks, Mott the Hoople, and Queen. By 1975, Kansas became a headliner themselves and played an impressive concert at the Stanley Theater in downtown Pittsburgh in December of that year. In October of 1976, they were back to play for their Pittsburgh fans again. This time, it was at the Syria Mosque; site of a very impressive Genesis concert just six months before. They brought with them a band called Ambrosia from California to warm up the crowd. Both bands were making their name in the developing genre of Progressive Rock but Kansas, with their unique driving melodies and use of violin was the band everyone was coming to see.

Kansas had just released another impressive album called Leftoverture, the forth album in just two years. With this productive output and their tireless devotion to touring, Kansas was developing a loyal fan base. The previous album Masque sold 250,000 copies but this new album Leftoverture would push them over the top. Songs like Carry On Wayward Son would help to boost the new album to number 5 on the charts. The Pittsburgh crowd at the Syria Mosque was one of the first to hear this new material. The Leftoverture tour had just started the month before and the band were already masters at performing the new material.

The show presented on these discs consists of three parts. First is the Kansas concert itself. The band provides a nice mixture of both old and new material for the enjoyment of the crowd. The second piece is an interview of the band members that occurred at the end of the concert. During this interview they discuss the tuxedo worn during the performance by Rick Williams, the masks worn by many of the band members during the show and many other things. The final segment is the Ambrosia performance. As the warm up band, they did play before Kansas but for the purposes of this package putting them at the end of the discs seemed appropriate.

The exact date of this performance is still in question. During the interview a reference is made to Halloween. As the show likely finished after midnight this would give the date as October 30th. Other sources argue that the masks worn on stage were, in part, motivated by the fact that the concert was occurring on October 31st. Either way, this show is an excellent record of the bands power and proficiency as one of the leading Progressive Rock bands of the era.

Notes from the Re-Master
This great Kansas show was remastered from a CD copy of the original Pre-FM radio station tapes. The sound quality is excellent with harmonics and music signal up to 18,000 Hz. The clarity and crispness of the sound are also superb, however a number of changes needed to be made to improve the show. First, the noise level was moderate in volume and interfered with the appreciation of the subtle and quieter sections; therefore it was reduced. The tracking was incomplete and off in some sections so tracking was re-aligned. The tonality also needed adjustment. Mostly, the bass was deficient and needed boosting. In a few sections the frequencies in the 5-8kHz (treble) range were cut to remove a piercing characteristic to the symbol crashes and other high pitched events.

Applause sections were often inconsistent or cut. Some were too loud and others too short. We attempted to obtain some uniformity in the applause sections between songs to enhance the listening experience.

The interview track was obtained from a separate tape source. At its baseline this recording had quite a bit of shrill loud noise that was reduced as much as possible. It is most noticeable between spoken words but, using multiple techniques, now has been minimized.

The Ambrosia tracks were obtained from a third source and were not part of the master radio tapes. The quality is good but not at the outstanding level of the Kansas segments. Noise was in the high range for this segment so a great deal of time was spent reducing the offending component. Many pops also occurred during this segment that required manual removal even after whole-segment routines were run to remove these noises. Many segments of the Ambrosia tracks were also at low volume and needed adjustment to be comparable to the remainder of the show. This was easily done.