"POINT OF KNOW RETURN" ● Kansas
KANSAS / Publicity Photo River North Records / The Albright Entertainment Group / IVOX MEDIA collection
"POINT OF KNOW RETURN" ● KANSAS
Song● Point of Know Return
Writers● Steve Walsh, Phil Ehart, Robbie Steinhardt
Producer● Jeff Glixman
Recorded● June and July 1977 at Woodland Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, and Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana
Released● September 1977
Players●
:: Steve Walsh -- vocals, keyboards
:: Robbie Steinhardt -- violin, vocals
:: Kerry Livgren -- guitar, keyboards
:: Rich Williams -- guitar
:: Dave Hope -- bass
:: Phil Ehart -- percussion
Album● Point Of Know Return (Kirshner, 1977)
Also On●
Two For The Show (Kirshner, 1978)
The Best Of Kansas (Epic, 1984)
Live At The Whiskey (Intersound, 1992)
Kansas (Legacy, 1994)
Live: Dust In The Wind (EMI-Capitol, 1998) and other live albums and compilations
Kansas formed in 1970 in Topeka, Kansas, by members of rival bands White Clover and the Mellotones. The band had a cult following until the 1976 hit "Carry On Wayward Son" turned them into a rock radio and arena concert act.
The pressure to follow up "Carry On Wayward Son" and the successful Leftoverture album was so great that singer-keyboardist Steve Walsh briefly left Kansas during the sessions for Point Of Know Return. "It was me trying to take control of things and make it all work, and other people questioning my decisions," said Walsh. "I made a lot of enemies, and they were all my friends before the album started. I was a little bit of a prima donna. I quit the band for three days and then I just said, 'What the hell is going on? I don't know if I even wanna go out by myself.'"
The title for the Point Of Know Return album was a combination of ideas by percussionist Phil Ehart and manager Bud Carr. Guitarist-keyboardist Kerry Livgren said, "It's a play on words which is designed to make people look twice at the title. If it just said 'Point Of No Return,' that strikes a particular image in everybody's mind, where everyone would think pretty much the same thing about it. You stick in the 'k,' and everybody really starts to wonder."
The album title and Tom Drennon's cover art -- which depicted a sailing ship tipping over a waterfall and into infinity -- inspired Walsh's lyrics for the song "Point Of Know Return."
The song "Point Of Know Return" was the album's first single, and peaked at Number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Point Of Know Return album was certified gold less than a month after release and platinum within three months. The album peaked at Number Four on the Billboard 200 chart.
KANSAS ● POINT OF KNOW RETURN
Point of Know Return is the fifth studio album by Kansas, released on October 11, 1977, by Kirshner/CBS - Kirshner/Epic.
Steve Walsh left the group in 1981 and was briefly replaced by John Elefante before the band broke up in 1983. They've since reunited and continue to record and perform.
Livgren became a contemporary Christian artist in the 1980s. He was replaced in Kansas for their 1986 reunion by guitarist Steve Morse of the Dixie Dregs.
Kansas released their most recent album in 2000. Somewhere To Elsewhere marked the return of Livgren to the fold, although he didn't tour with the group.
Livgren still writes and records with Kansas, but no longer tours with them. he has a side band called Proto-Kaw. Violinist Robby Steinhardt has also left the band. He was replaced by David Ragsdale, who was in the band in the '90s.
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