AMG Review of Setlist: The Very Best of Kansas Live

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Sony’s Setlist series isn’t a standard budget-line compilation: these discs bypass hits in favor of live tracks cut throughout the years, mixing up highlights from classic live albums with a handful of rarities, including some unreleased cuts. In the case of Kansas’ entry, live bonus tracks from expanded editions of Kansas, Song for America, Leftoverture, and Two for the Show provide the source material, and there are previously unreleased versions of “Dust in the Wind” from 1980 and “Play the Game Tonight” from 1982. This winds up being a representative sampler of the prog rock titans toward the peak of their powers.