29 March 2019 - Kansas - Hold On

I rarely post on a Sunday, but this song seemed appropriate. 

Kansas was already a pretty popular band when they released Audio-Visons in 1980. This song, the first single from that album, was a top 40 hit, is my favorite Kansas song, and it is a beautiful song with a beautiful story. 

Kerry Livgren - the violinist and one of the leaders of this band - discovered Christianity in the late 1970's. He wrote this song to try to convince his wife to also convert to Christianity. It was successful, by the way - she did convert and they are still together.

Example: in the third verse, you will hear the line "Outside your door, He is waiting, waiting for you.". Note the capitalized "He" - the song is about putting faith in God. 

However, this caused some discord in the band - that led to lead vocalist Steve Walsh leaving the band (he would return in 1985 after Livgren left). So, a new vocalist was found - John Elefante. Those familiar with Christian rock know that he had a pretty successful solo career post-Kansas. Livgren didn't know of Elefante's Christianity when the hiring occurred - but that drove the direction of the next several Kansas albums. 

This version I post is of Elefante-era Kansas.  It seemed appropriate. 

7 February 2020 - Pylon - Crazy

Pylon were an influential band in the Athens, GA scene in the 1980s.   You've probably never heard of them.  That doesn't matter.  What matters is that they were cool and influential.  Their lo-fi punky sound did greatly guide the direction of the entire scene.

This song, remarkably simple and famously and faithfully covered by R.E.M., is probably their best known, and the one everyone wants to hear when they reunite, as they did for this show in 2008.  It sounds as good as it did in 1982.