Undoubtedly their finest album, Leftoverture warrants Kansas a spot right alongside Boston and Styx as one of the fresh new American bands who combine hard-driving group instrumentation (with a dearth of flashy solos) with short, tight melody lines and pleasant singing. Each song on side one of Leftoverture is strong, especially the opener, "Carry On Wayward Son," which is blessed with a tough melody line and strong vocals by Robby Steinhardt. Most of side two is taken up by "Magnum Opus," an extended, primarily instrumental passage (in six movements, the first of which is "Father Padilla Meets the Perfect Gnat") that has a lot more to do with the Flock than with the recent works of Rick Wakeman. (RS 231)

ALAN NIESTER