Search - Kansas :: Live at the Whisky

Not their best live album but not horrible

Darth Pariah | North America | 12/13/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is the lineup I saw a couple of times in small theatres and hole-in-the-wall clubs in the '90s:



Steve Walsh - vocals and keyboards

Greg Robert - keyboards

Billy Greer - bass and vocals

Richard Williams - guitars

David Ragsdale - violin and guitar

Phil Ehart - drums



This is a very rough recording, and, as has been noted, Walsh's vocals are not his best, but it's still commendable. However, it is definitely not on the same level as "Two For The Show" or "Device Voice Drum".



Kerry Livgren makes a "guest" appearance on "Dust In The Wind". I wonder if this was done just to give the album a bit of a push sales-wise..."Hey, Kerry Livgren's on it!"



There is also an old recording of the hard blues "Lonely Street" done with the original lineup, which is actually better than most of the rest of the album.



It's not horrible. Listening to it brings back good memories of when I saw them live. But get one of their other live albums instead."

The disappearance of a beautiful voice

lorien@maitreya.demon.co.uk | Edinburgh | 06/06/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I recently reviewed Kansas 1978 live album Two For The show calling it probably the best live album of all time. And with that pleasant rosy feeling and memory I came to buy Live At The Whisky. If Two For the Show is a candidate for the best of all time then one can only call Live At The Whisky a candidate for the worst. This is a truly awful live performance from a band once noted for great live performances.My main over-riding criticism, and one that is pertinent to every track on the album is pointed directly at Steve Walsh's voice. Its gone, and not just slightly. He strains, squacks, croaks, grinds and makes himself painfully hoarse trying to reach notes in classic songs he can longer reach and indeed embarrassingly fails to reach upon trying on many occasions. And its painful to listen to how a once great singer has fallen, a long, long way. Walsh once had one of the greatest voices in rock - with Two For The Show proving he could sustain his incredible power and range during concerts and not just the studio. It's very sad but true.My other main criticism is with the band's performance itself and production. It's a 'going through the motions' performance from a band standing very much in the shadows of the once great spotlight they stood in. And its not helped by the fact that key band members Kerry Livgren and Robbie Steinhardt are missing, although Livgren does make a guest appearance at the very end for Carry On Wayward Son. In fact only a deteriorated Walsh, Williams and Ehart survive from the original line up.This album came as a great disappointment even though I should have suspected Walsh's vocal ability was finished from his performance on In The Spirit Of Things (see my review on this site).If you don't own Two For The Show or the King Biscuit Flower Hour live recordings then get these instead, both are superior with Two For The Show being simply incredible. It should also be noted that the Live Dust In The Wind CD is just a cut down version of Live At The Whiskey with 2 tracks having been removed.Definitely one for hardcore completists.Recommendation to avoid."

KBFH kicks this disks butt, but still worthy of a listen

muunrakr | 10/29/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Of, the three 'released' live albums by the band, this one suffers from comparison to the other two. Still a good disk in its own right, it doesn't have the energy of the King Bisquit offering, nor the perfection of the Two for the Show disks. It does have some good material . . .For a bar act, Paradox, PoKR, and SfA are done pretty well. Walsh hokeys it up on the Wall but Hold On contains an awesome pick grind that I only WISH was in the studio version - WTG! Dust in the Wind features Kerry Livgren in a guest spot and David Ragsdale's violin which is technically far superior to Robby Steinhardts. Miracles suffers without Steinhardt as does Mysteries. Down the Road is good but lacks the raw power of the song played in the mid 70s.The bonus track 'Lonely Street' drops the hint that there is a soundboard recording from '75 out there that begs to be released. We can only hope.So there's a little bit for everyone except the Elefante fan, who would miss Fight Fire With Fire or Play the Game Tonight.Not a bad disk, but get other Kansas live shows first.Comments, email me"