Twenty one, and strong as I can be

Cause I know, what real means to be

And I can’t think of any reason why

That I should ever wanna die

 

Or something like that.

I have very specific memories from my formative years where I developed my musical appreciation.  Granted, those memories by in large came by way of a console stereo  which had a radio, a turntable, and an 8-track tape player.

There were two specific albums that got a lot of play on the turntable in those days.  The first one was Wings At The Speed Of Sound.  This Paul McCartney classic featured insightful lyrics such as:

Someone’s knocking at the door

Someone’s ringing the bell

It was actually the song Silly Love Songs which perpetuated the purchase of that that album for the Tharp household.

The other album I remember hearing a whole lot was by a band called Kansas Rain.  I believe the album was called Outlaw.

Along with a cover of Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show by Neil Diamond and We Go Together from Grease, that album contained a small handful of songs which I expect had been written by the band.  Aside from the two covers, the songs were country in nature.

It’s quite easy to say that it’s been probably 30 years since I’ve heard that album, yet still I was able to rattle off lyrics from one of their songs at the beginning of this post.  I believe that one was called 21.  Some of the other songs on that album included Outlaw, 5 o’clock In The Texas Morning, City of New Orleans (whoops, there’s another cover), and Hey What About Me.

For each of those songs I listed, I can still remember a lot of their words and how they went.

How is that?

I would expect it’s due to the fact that the album was so popular around the house back then that it got a-looooooooooooot of airplay.

Good Lord in butter, I just remembered another cover that appeared on that album.  How could I forget Rocky Top?

I know what you’re thinking.

Who in tarnation is/was Kansas Rain?

That’s a good question.  I’m glad you asked.

Kansas Rain was a band which toured what I’m assuming was the mid-west in the mid-70’s.  I can remember my parents going to see them several times at the lounge housed in the local Holiday Inn in Casper, Wyoming.  Mom and Dad obviously enjoyed the band based on how much they went to see them.  I can only surmise that the band had their record for sale in the lobby.  If they didn’t, I’d be writing something else right now.

All these years later, those songs still go through my mind all the time.  I have Willie Nelson’s version of City of New Orleans on my iPhone.  For that matter, I also have Neil’s Diamond’s version of Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show on there too.

Whether you’re aware of it or now, I quoted one of those songs in yesterday’s blog.  Today I got an email from one of my favorite readers.  She expressed gratitude to me for helping to get Christmas songs out of her head.  “I don’t know if you remember this, but there was a really good band – Kansas Rain…….”

Rest assured Mom, I do remember them.  Fondly.  In fact, you made a recording of that album for me many years ago.

Hmmmm.

Earlier I said I hadn’t heard that album since the early 80’s.  The more I think of it, I suspect I listened to it several times back in the 90’s when she made that cassette for me.

Anyway, the recovered memories of a bygone era are now captured on a cassette somewhere here at my house and I suspect at Mom’s as well.  The goal now is to transfer those songs to a medium which is more consistent with survival in the 21st century.

Granted, the first part of that goal dictates that I actually go *find* that cassette, and then figure out how to transfer it without degrading the sound quality.

My fear is that if I do so, the recording won’t sound as good as what my mind has made it out to be.  Regardless, it may be worth the risk of disappointment to hear those songs again.