To all you Kansas traditionalists....you would not wish that every car you bought year after year was the same car over and over. Thank GOD for this album, it's a PHENOMINAL record...and Kansas POWER too!!!
The 80s was such a beautiful, nostalgic period in time, everything about it is so distinctive, like the use of chorus effects, suspended chords, synth pads, electronic drums, etc... Also, it is unique in that a lot of the progressive rock musicians from the 70s changed course and tried to go commercial in the 80s, completely changing their style and sound to fit the time in hopes of maintaining or getting more success. I think of Steve Walsh/Kansas here, and also Rush, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood.. it goes on and on...
Agree with you completely, Caiti Watson. I refer to Steve Walsh as the premiere male blues/rock singer/songwriter & musician of my lifetime. His vocal inflections, angelic falsetto, growl & vowel manipulation are extraordinary & unmatched by anyone who came before.
Was in High school when this song came out and I loved so much and now, all this years later, Just listening to that intro, I'm feeling shivers in my spine for the sole reason that that it sends me back to a better time, with the sadness that is long gone, But the Joy that I get to live it. 🤘🤘🤘
There were 3 power ballads from this album that were quite good. Stand beside me Inside of me I Counted on love Especially the first 2 were good enough to be decent hits. I don't think they were promoted enough. The mix and production could be a bit warmer but that's how 80s music sounded. Bells of St James might be one of the 10-12 best songs they ever did.
A real gem, definitely not in the traditional vein of the "classic Kansas sound". In the Spirit of Things was made in the late 80s, a time where 70s classic rock music simply wasn't happening. Notwithstanding, Kansas managed to come up with one of its best, yet more under-appreciated releases. Steve Walsh's soulful and pasionate singing here is breathtaking. Walsh's solo album Glossolalia is also one of the best kept secrets in music. It takes a while to get it, just like the best music does
I fell in love with "Glossalalia", "Shadowman" & the brilliant "Black Butterfly" from the introduction of the first chord. Steve Walsh is not only the finest male blues/rock singer of my generation-or perhaps any generation-his discography is brilliant, as is his ability to play almost any instrument he sets his heart & mind on. Steve is a mind-blowing artist & human, in every aspect of the word!
Kansas is an awesome band. My daughter, also had an opportunity of seeing them, front row, center, when she was 4 years old. She loves Kansas, especically Carry On! Anyway, Kansas is a very positive band!!! Thanks for sharing this song!!!
Being a "wheathead" since time outa mind it's great to read your knowledge of the band; proves you have great taste in all music genres whether it be the original 6 or.all that follow, it is the music.If it feels and moves,you ROCK ON!!
Saw Kansas during this concert tour and Walsh's voice was still as great as ever. (In fact, through the 1990s, during the beginning of any concert tour, Steve's voice was still Right On. 200 gigs a year, along with smoking and drinking and whatever did finally take its toll. No opera singer could have survived all of that.
Steve Walsh looks quite different here, even without taking the alternate mullet into account, from the previous album's "All I wanted" video. Good music and great singing by Walsh!
lol every one griping and argueing, just chill and enjoy. Dont forget to throw in Brad Delp as one of the greatest vocals of the time! Love Steve and them all, thanks for so many memories:)
"In The Spirit of Things" was a great album! These guys are and have been my "All Time Favorite" band. Going to see them tonight at Sunset Station in Henderson, NV. Loved them, then AND now!
To swernick1960 this is not John Elefante singing - You're wrong by a mile if you think this is Elefante. Elefante had already left the group (2 albums only) and this is Steve Walsh after he gotten back with the group, first album back was 'Power' and then this one 'In the Spirit of Things'. How could you not tell?
I remember KEZY in Anaheim, CA played this on regular rotation, about the same time as "Never Be the Same" by Crowded House and "Believed You Were Lucky" by 'Til Tuesday. All underrated, excellent songs.. man I miss that station - they played the hidden gems, not all the overplayed garb you heard everywhere else...
This is incredible. I am discovering some of their music I have never heard. I was into other bands in the 70's and 80's as a teen. Wow, thanks for posting.
Without a doubt, "bells of St. James" was the best song from the "In the Spirit of Things" album. I wish there was a video for that one. I never knew there was a video for "Stand Beside Me". This is a very underrated album.
Walsh's voice, though not what it used to be, can still sound pretty good as long as he doesn't wear it out. I think he sounded great on the DVD. And I've seen them about 5 times in the last 5 years. On a few nights, it sounded worn out. But on two it sounded as good as it did on the DVD.
Any band who wants to eat has to have commercial appeal. 8 minute songs don't get played on the radio. ITSOT is a great album. Walsh says it's his favorite. Certainly one of the best Kansas albums, at least in the top 4 or 5.
Steve Walsh with a very nice vocal. I saw them on this tour "In The Spirit Of Things" and it was a tremendous show. "In the Spirit" is highly underrated IMHO
This single was out at roughly the same time Cheap Trick's "The Flame" was. That song went to #1 pop while this one reached #13 rock. I feel I should've been a much bigger hit. Someone pointed out though that A&M were too focussed on Tiffany to really get behind Kansas. It's too bad. "Once In A Lifetime" is another song off of In The Spirit Of Things that could've been a monster single. I mean it's way better than anything White Lion was putting out.
Great song off a very underrated album. But do the lyrics strike you as odd to anyone else? "Like flesh on a neon sign" "like a rumblefish" what are these supposed to mean
It was his throat? I heard it was his nasal passages were destroyed. He always sounds like he has a cold. I guess maybe a combination of both. He had a great voice, but I've gotten used to his voice now and it's not so bad.
I'm guessing that this was one of the songs that was written by outside writers for 'In The Spirit Of Things' (I have that album on vinyl but haven't got it to here to check the songwriting credits) as the record company insisted on some 'commercial' songs (which usually means catchy but soulless).To me,this was one of the songs that detracted from that fine album-if it wasn't for the distinctive voice of Steve Walsh, 'Stand Beside Me' could be by any one of dozens of tedious eighties bands.Personally,I much prefer songs like 'Ghosts','Rainmaker' or 'The Bells of St. James' which still sound great today,as opposed to 'Stand Beside Me' which sounds dated (as so many eighties songs do).
As for the comments about Steve's voice... age is always a factor in any vocalists career. Steve gave 100% all the time and stretched his voice night after night. That has more to do with the sound than anything. Cigaretts are by far the worst thing for you voice and lungs. How many singers smoke? He's still a great musician period. That's what counts. I defy anyone to sing as well as he did. He had it when he needed it.
Spirit of things was a very different album partly because of the Bob Ezrin's influence. It came in a bad moment and was undermarketed by the studio. Personally I consider it the late Kansas' best outing. If they had released One man, One heart as a second single, I think it would have gained more attention. And Ghosts/ Rainmaker (2 parts of the same song) are a pure delight to hear. Poetic, meaningful and powerful. Also this album captures Steve in the very peak of his vocal power, it went downhill from there.
+vigil12348 Agreed...although admittedly I wasn't around (or too young) for the "vintage" Kansas, I think this album and Power were some of Steve's finest moments as a vocalist. Yes, he could no longer sustain the powerful upper register live performances of the 70's, but his voice took on a deeper, more complex texture. It's a damn shame this era of him wasn't more successful.
@trucker274 Only because I LOVE so much of what Kansas has done in the past. This is a huge disappointment to me, to see brilliant musicians in decline. It happens all the time, guys get so big that they forget how they did it in the first place. That said I owe a lot to these guys and have huge respect for them but they need to be called out on this one. I sing for Scrap Metal Bomb ( video on my page) You probably wouldn't like my stuff either but it's just an opinion. LONG LIVE KANSAS!!
@ScrapMetalBomb What's wrong with this song? Yes, it's far from the prog rock they did in the '70s, but it's still a pretty good AOR power ballad. Still much better than the crap on the radio these days.
Steve Walsh looked pretty different from here and just a few years earlier. Thinner face, somehow, and there might be something with the eyes. I've heard about plastic surgery but I don't find any rock solid sources.
I stumbled on this song 01Oct2019 looking for Steve Morse videos. Despite Steve Walsh's great vocals and Steve Morse's great guitar skills, the rest of Kansas' In The Spirit of Things is full of tedious, bland, nothing melodies and grossly dated DX7 keyboard samples. However, this one song--Stand Beside Me--has an amazing melody and arrangement. Looking on wikipedia, the Thing Not Like The Others, is the writers: Marc Jordan and Bruce Gaitsch--apparently hired-gun songwriters back then, with a long track record. And it shows. With another 2 or 3 songs at this level, I might have even heard of this album before 2019.
Kansas is one of my favorite groups. In the Spirit in my opinion is better than what you say. It is not on the caliber of early Kansas albums but it is a very good 80's album.
I disagree with you vehemently, antera77. Steve Walsh is not only the best male, blues/rock vocalist in my lifetime; he also writes incredibly touching, thought provoking & kick ass lyrics. He is a superlative musician-along with an insanely passionate vocalist/song portrayer & frontman!
@@bethleinicke8108 "I disagree with you vehemently..." Steve Walsh is one of my favorite vocalists too! I didn't say anything negative about his lyrics or musicianship. And I specifically noted his 'great vocals." If you were arguing for bland melodies and dated keyboard sounds, then we would disagree.
This is John Elefante singing, not Steve Walsh (for luvpants2012)...A marked improvement in my humble opinion, although Walsh also has a very distinctive voice and still is and always will be the original 'voice' of Kansas...
![FNAF vs TF2 - Episode 2 [SFM]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/z5b3V2-VLb0/mqdefault.jpg)
Without a doubt, Kansas is the most underrated rock band ever. So good.
Totally underrated album and one of my favorites!!
Agreed. This is a terrific album. The only time I was fortunate to see Kansas was their tour supporting this album.
The best Kansas line-up and albums with the great Steve Morse on guitar!!! ❤❤❤😂😂😂
God Bless Kansas
John Pierce's fretless bass work on this song is beautiful
To all you Kansas traditionalists....you would not wish that every car you bought year after year was the same car over and over. Thank GOD for this album, it's a PHENOMINAL record...and Kansas POWER too!!!
Charles Halas I so agree with you..I feel Steve’s voice was at its zenith during this period...btw it’s Mr. Walsh’s favorite Kansas record..
The 80s was such a beautiful, nostalgic period in time, everything about it is so distinctive, like the use of chorus effects, suspended chords, synth pads, electronic drums, etc... Also, it is unique in that a lot of the progressive rock musicians from the 70s changed course and tried to go commercial in the 80s, completely changing their style and sound to fit the time in hopes of maintaining or getting more success. I think of Steve Walsh/Kansas here, and also Rush, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood.. it goes on and on...
New chapters for a new time. This kind of change should be celebrated for what it was and not denigrated for what it wasn't.
Walsh is the greatest pure rock singer off all times hands down
Agree with you completely, Caiti Watson. I refer to Steve Walsh as the premiere male blues/rock singer/songwriter & musician of my lifetime. His vocal inflections, angelic falsetto, growl & vowel manipulation are extraordinary & unmatched by anyone who came before.
Yea?
He’s up there among the best, especially in the 70s.
I tend to agree.One of my all time favorites since day one.😊
I loved this cd, "In the Spirit of Things." Vastly underrated.
,,, and "Power" from 1986! Great stuff!
Love this album for 30+ years now
Was in High school when this song came out and I loved so much and now, all this years later, Just listening to that intro, I'm feeling shivers in my spine for the sole reason that that it sends me back to a better time, with the sadness that is long gone, But the Joy that I get to live it. 🤘🤘🤘
This album is full of great songs. And man some awesome vocals.
This was Walsh at his finest, IMO...
Utwór jeden z najlepszych jakie w zyciu słyszałem ♥️
Esses caras sabem fazer musica👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Excellent song, haunting chorus... The last of Steve in full power. "In the spirit..." is a very underrated album.
i read somewhere on the web it'was the favorit's steve walsh kansas album
It is his favorite!💞🎶😘🎹🎤🎶
I dont care what anybody says-I love this song!
👏🤝🤘
man, the fretless bass on this song...raises the fur on my arm.
This is a song along with another that I feel very strongly about .I hope you are touched..I love you my brother.
I like hearing any song by Kansas.
It isn't only Steve Walsh, but the whole Kansas band.
Steve!! Your voice is like a warm Lion......
There were 3 power ballads from this album that were quite good.
Stand beside me
Inside of me
I Counted on love
Especially the first 2 were good enough to be decent hits. I don't think they were promoted enough. The mix and production could be a bit warmer but that's how 80s music sounded.
Bells of St James might be one of the 10-12 best songs they ever did.
A real gem, definitely not in the traditional vein of the "classic Kansas sound". In the Spirit of Things was made in the late 80s, a time where 70s classic rock music simply wasn't happening. Notwithstanding, Kansas managed to come up with one of its best, yet more under-appreciated releases. Steve Walsh's soulful and pasionate singing here is breathtaking.
Walsh's solo album Glossolalia is also one of the best kept secrets in music. It takes a while to get it, just like the best music does
You are so right.... Steve was finally doing what "Steve" wanted to do. I listened to Glossolalia for the first time in years.....Masterpiece!
I fell in love with "Glossalalia", "Shadowman" & the brilliant "Black Butterfly" from the introduction of the first chord. Steve Walsh is not only the finest male blues/rock singer of my generation-or perhaps any generation-his discography is brilliant, as is his ability to play almost any instrument he sets his heart & mind on. Steve is a mind-blowing artist & human, in every aspect of the word!
Totally agree
Kansas is an awesome band. My daughter, also had an opportunity of seeing them, front row, center, when she was 4 years old. She loves Kansas, especically Carry On! Anyway, Kansas is a very positive band!!! Thanks for sharing this song!!!
Being a "wheathead" since time outa mind it's great to read your knowledge of the band; proves you have great taste in all music genres whether it be the original 6 or.all that follow, it is the music.If it feels and moves,you ROCK ON!!
Saw Kansas during this concert tour and Walsh's voice was still as great as ever. (In fact, through the 1990s, during the beginning of any concert tour, Steve's voice was still Right On. 200 gigs a year, along with smoking and drinking and whatever did finally take its toll. No opera singer could have survived all of that.
Steve Walsh looks quite different here, even without taking the alternate mullet into account, from the previous album's "All I wanted" video. Good music and great singing by Walsh!
lol every one griping and argueing, just chill and enjoy. Dont forget to throw in Brad Delp as one of the greatest vocals of the time! Love Steve and them all, thanks for so many memories:)
"In The Spirit of Things" was a great album! These guys are and have been my "All Time Favorite" band. Going to see them tonight at Sunset Station in Henderson, NV. Loved them, then AND now!
Kansas the best band of all times!
I will stand beside this band of players anyday...
wow. this is a beautiful song. never heard it before.
To swernick1960 this is not John Elefante singing - You're wrong by a mile if you think this is Elefante. Elefante had already left the group (2 albums only) and this is Steve Walsh after he gotten back with the group, first album back was 'Power' and then this one 'In the Spirit of Things'. How could you not tell?
I so love this too!! Ghosts and Bells of St. James are really great songs as well.
Great song, great album, great singer, what more can you want from music?
One of the best albums ever.
Song writing of the highest order! One of my favourites from In the spirit of things.
2019!! These guys rock...see them live tommro in wheelchairs and they still rock!!
I remember KEZY in Anaheim, CA played this on regular rotation, about the same time as "Never Be the Same" by Crowded House and "Believed You Were Lucky" by 'Til Tuesday. All underrated, excellent songs.. man I miss that station - they played the hidden gems, not all the overplayed garb you heard everywhere else...
Steve Walsh is Kansas is Steve Walsh....no matter what decade!
This is incredible. I am discovering some of their music I have never heard. I was into other bands in the 70's and 80's as a teen. Wow, thanks for posting.
Beautiful
Awesome song from the 80's! luv it
Without a doubt, "bells of St. James" was the best song from the "In the Spirit of Things" album. I wish there was a video for that one. I never knew there was a video for "Stand Beside Me". This is a very underrated album.
Great song man GO STEVE!
A great song from an underrated CD!
Great song with Walsh's high notes.
Thanks. My college age daughters were brought up on the original Kansas LP's. My younger one is 21, and prefers Cream and Pink Floyd to anything else.
I love this song even though I still don't know what a "rumble fish" is.
My favorite from the post Livgren years!
Best band I ever heard!:)
Walsh's voice, though not what it used to be, can still sound pretty good as long as he doesn't wear it out. I think he sounded great on the DVD. And I've seen them about 5 times in the last 5 years. On a few nights, it sounded worn out. But on two it sounded as good as it did on the DVD.
great singer!!!almost the best grtz
Essa é Top !
Any band who wants to eat has to have commercial appeal. 8 minute songs don't get played on the radio. ITSOT is a great album. Walsh says it's his favorite. Certainly one of the best Kansas albums, at least in the top 4 or 5.
Hey all Kansas fans. Is there a video to the song Wheels? The track was issued on one of their box sets. One of my favourite songs.
Fantastic fretless bass line (John Pierce)
Steve Walsh with a very nice vocal. I saw them on this tour "In The Spirit Of Things" and it was a tremendous show. "In the Spirit" is highly underrated IMHO
anymore videos from Vinyl confessions, drastic measures, power, or in the spirit of things!
KANSAS RESPECT
Man I heard this playing at a Kroger’s this week. So I immediately played ITSOT again. Love it all over again. Is that Morse on keys?
Greg Robert
Its only rock n roll but i like it.
Kool K Video
P.S Leftoverture is the first rock and roll album I ever purchased with my own money in my life. (;
@shire2005 Not in terms of vocal ability. Walsh is incredible! Go to this song:
Kansas i can't cry anymore.
Guys, Steve was always an athlete, look his energic performances in Kansas. He always was thin and muscular, in fact he is an martial arts expert
He was thin because he was a drug addict, dummy.
***** Whatever you say, moron
He was a cokehead you fng idiot. Coke addicts don't eat!
Gabriel Rearte The reason he's especially thin in this video is because he was a cocaine addict around this time of his career.
Look at the first album ... he was his thinnest at that point and he had never seen coke at that point!
This single was out at roughly the same time Cheap Trick's "The Flame" was. That song went to #1 pop while this one reached #13 rock.
I feel I should've been a much bigger hit. Someone pointed out though that A&M were too focussed on Tiffany to really get behind Kansas. It's too bad. "Once In A Lifetime" is another song off of In The Spirit Of Things that could've been a monster single. I mean it's way better than anything White Lion was putting out.
Great song off a very underrated album. But do the lyrics strike you as odd to anyone else? "Like flesh on a neon sign" "like a rumblefish" what are these supposed to mean
It was his throat? I heard it was his nasal passages were destroyed. He always sounds like he has a cold. I guess maybe a combination of both. He had a great voice, but I've gotten used to his voice now and it's not so bad.
I'm guessing that this was one of the songs that was written by outside writers for 'In The Spirit Of Things' (I have that album on vinyl but haven't got it to here to check the songwriting credits) as the record company insisted on some 'commercial' songs (which usually means catchy but soulless).To me,this was one of the songs that detracted from that fine album-if it wasn't for the distinctive voice of Steve Walsh, 'Stand Beside Me' could be by any one of dozens of tedious eighties bands.Personally,I much prefer songs like 'Ghosts','Rainmaker' or 'The Bells of St. James' which still sound great today,as opposed to 'Stand Beside Me' which sounds dated (as so many eighties songs do).
As for the comments about Steve's voice... age is always a factor in any vocalists career. Steve gave 100% all the time and stretched his voice night after night. That has more to do with the sound than anything. Cigaretts are by far the worst thing for you voice and lungs. How many singers smoke? He's still a great musician period. That's what counts. I defy anyone to sing as well as he did. He had it when he needed it.
Spirit of things was a very different album partly because of the Bob Ezrin's influence. It came in a bad moment and was undermarketed by the studio. Personally I consider it the late Kansas' best outing. If they had released One man, One heart as a second single, I think it would have gained more attention. And Ghosts/ Rainmaker (2 parts of the same song) are a pure delight to hear. Poetic, meaningful and powerful. Also this album captures Steve in the very peak of his vocal power, it went downhill from there.
+vigil12348 Agreed...although admittedly I wasn't around (or too young) for the "vintage" Kansas, I think this album and Power were some of Steve's finest moments as a vocalist. Yes, he could no longer sustain the powerful upper register live performances of the 70's, but his voice took on a deeper, more complex texture. It's a damn shame this era of him wasn't more successful.
A good observation regarding Steve's vocal range.
Freaks of Nature was the last good Kansas album.
Sounds like the group Survivor!!
I wonder if they ever made a video for "The Bells of St. James" which clearly is the best tune they did during the Morse era.
VERU HEARTS SONG
By far the best song from that album was "The Bells of St. James." They never made a video for that one? That could have been their next "Carry On."
Great song. Steve Walsh at his best.
Went to # 13 (Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts) & their last song sadly to chart!! Did NOT charted on Billboard Hot 100 or Bubbling Under Charts.
@ScrapMetalBomb
I respect your opinion, but if you don't like this song, then why are you watching this video?
@trucker274 Only because I LOVE so much of what Kansas has done in the past. This is a huge disappointment to me, to see brilliant musicians in decline. It happens all the time, guys get so big that they forget how they did it in the first place. That said I owe a lot to these guys and have huge respect for them but they need to be called out on this one. I sing for Scrap Metal Bomb ( video on my page) You probably wouldn't like my stuff either but it's just an opinion. LONG LIVE KANSAS!!
@tacomonster98 Do u know anyting about music?
Least scary street gang ever!
uh yeah .. OF coarse it's Steve .
. I mean Listen to it ! .
@ScrapMetalBomb What's wrong with this song? Yes, it's far from the prog rock they did in the '70s, but it's still a pretty good AOR power ballad. Still much better than the crap on the radio these days.
😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔😔
Steve Walsh looked pretty different from here and just a few years earlier. Thinner face, somehow, and there might be something with the eyes. I've heard about plastic surgery but I don't find any rock solid sources.
Potentially plastic surgery, and a ton of drugs.
Thinner face is due to natural aging. It happens to all of us eventually.
suprer
sounds like a movie soundtrack song,lol
Yes yes yes this is Steve Walsh. No bickeri ng
Nope, this IS Steve Walsh!!! check their discography
John Elefante, not Steve Walsh...John took over beginning with 'Vinyl Confessions' because he refused to sing the lyrics that Kerry Livgren wrote.
Steve came back, this is him singing. I'd never mistake that voice.
hear hear
Wow...I haven't heard this song in 15 years. Hopefully I'll get to wait another 15...
Singer looks abit like Jim Carrey at the 2:55 mark. Good tune.
Kansas Ford Coppola
Nope, this IS Walsh
I stumbled on this song 01Oct2019 looking for Steve Morse videos. Despite Steve Walsh's great vocals and Steve Morse's great guitar skills, the rest of Kansas' In The Spirit of Things is full of tedious, bland, nothing melodies and grossly dated DX7 keyboard samples.
However, this one song--Stand Beside Me--has an amazing melody and arrangement. Looking on wikipedia, the Thing Not Like The Others, is the writers: Marc Jordan and Bruce Gaitsch--apparently hired-gun songwriters back then, with a long track record. And it shows. With another 2 or 3 songs at this level, I might have even heard of this album before 2019.
Kansas is one of my favorite groups. In the Spirit in my opinion is better than what you say. It is not on the caliber of early Kansas albums but it is a very good 80's album.
I disagree with you vehemently, antera77. Steve Walsh is not only the best male, blues/rock vocalist in my lifetime; he also writes incredibly touching, thought provoking & kick ass lyrics. He is a superlative musician-along with an insanely passionate vocalist/song portrayer & frontman!
@@bethleinicke8108 "I disagree with you vehemently..."
Steve Walsh is one of my favorite vocalists too! I didn't say anything negative about his lyrics or musicianship. And I specifically noted his 'great vocals."
If you were arguing for bland melodies and dated keyboard sounds, then we would disagree.
This is John Elefante singing, not Steve Walsh (for luvpants2012)...A marked improvement in my humble opinion, although Walsh also has a very distinctive voice and still is and always will be the original 'voice' of Kansas...
@bucky468: "Coke addict" to describe SW's past is an understatement. It's more like SW, in his career, did enough coke to kill Godzilla.