The Best of Kansas

The Best of Kansas
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedJuly 31, 1984
Recorded1974–1984
StudioPakaderm Studios, Long Beach, California ("Perfect Lover")
GenreHard rock, progressive rock
Length48:11
LabelCBS Associated, Epic
ProducerVarious
Kansas chronology
Drastic Measures
(1983)
The Best of Kansas
(1984)
Power
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[2]

The Best of Kansas is the first compilation by American progressive rock band Kansas. Originally released in 1984, it featured the new "Perfect Lover," written by then-lead vocalist John Elefante and his brother Dino Elefante.

The compilation was rereleased in 1999 in a version supervised by the original band members. "Perfect Lover" was dropped in favor of three additional tracks from the original lineup: "The Pinnacle" from Masque, "The Devil Game" from Song for America, and a live track deleted owing to space limitations from the CD version of Two for the Show called "Closet Chronicles," originally from Point of Know Return.

The album has sold over 4 million copies in the United States and was certified quadruple platinum in 2001.[3]

The versions of "Carry On Wayward Son" and "The Wall" on the 1984 release of The Best of Kansas are remixed by Kerry Livgren and unique to the first version of this collection. For the 1999 reissue of the collection, the original 1976 mixes from the album Leftoverture are used instead. The removal of "Perfect Lover" – previously available only on this album – made the track out of print in the United States. The original track listing and mixes were restored for the 2014 180-gram vinyl release of the album by Friday Music. That version was released on red vinyl a few years later.

  1. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Kansas - The Best of Kansas review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  2. ^ Cross, Charles R. (2004). "Kansas". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 446. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  3. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum Database: Search for Kansas". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved December 26, 2017.