This is a collection of demos from the Point Of Know Return sessions in the summer of 1977. It is obvious from the start of “Paradox” that these are not just different mixes but alternate recordings altogether. The tapes sound like mutitrack recordings maybe from someone’s home studio and the songs are almost in completed form and have a nice raw demo feel and sound to them. It’s great to hear these songs without the big studio production. Every song from the Point Of Know Return album is featured here with the exception of the title track and “Dust in The Wind”. It makes me wonder if someone is holding back on these or if they were just not finished or even written at this point.
The quality is about the same on all the tracks although some of the tapes sound like they are in better condition than others. There are slight fluctuations in the volume and in the bass guitar but nothing too distracting. “The Spider” is played at a slower pace as opposed to the more rapid tempo on the finished version and “Portrait” returns to the main theme as it fades. A tape garble leads us to a cut in “Closet Chronicles” and the end of “Nobody’s Home” cuts directly into the beginning of “Hopelessly Human”, missing about a minute of the intro. This disc also features one unreleased song titled “Another Slant” which has more of a straight ahead rock feel than the rest of the tracks.
All in all, this is a good addition to anyone’s Kansas collection and is worth owning.
