The Best of Kansas
| The Best of Kansas | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Greatest hits album by Kansas | ||||
| Released | August 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1974–1984 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 48:11 | |||
| Label | CBS Associated Legacy/Epic | |||
| Producer | Various | |||
| Kansas chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
  (original)
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| Allmusic |
 (reissue)
|
The Best of Kansas is the first compilation album from the American progressive rock band Kansas. It was originally released in 1984, and featured one new track, "Perfect Lover," written by then-lead vocalist John Elefante and his brother Dino Elefante. The compilation was re-released in 1999 in a version supervised by the original band members, so "Perfect Lover" was dropped in favor of three additional tracks to make it fit on a single CD. Added were "The Pinnacle" from Masque, "The Devil Game" from Song for America, and a live track deleted from Two for the Show called "Closet Chronicles", originally from Point of Know Return. The album has sold over 4 million copies in the U.S. and was certified quadruple platinum in 2001.
The versions of "Carry On Wayward Son" and "The Wall" on the 1984 release of The Best of Kansas are specially remixed versions 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 1999 reissue also dropped "Perfect Lover" which had previously been available only on this album, making the track out of print in the U.S. The original track listing and mixes were restored for the 2014 180-gram vinyl release of the album by Friday Music.
The album cover art is a parody of Grant Wood's 1939 painting of the author Parson Weems pointing to the famous scene of George Washington and George's father inquiring after young George had just chopped down a cherry tree with his hatchet. The cover contains elements of nearly all previous Kansas album covers:
Surprisingly, the sailboat on the front cover is later used for Sail On: The 30th Anniversary Collection.
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Wikipedia