Kerry Livgren

    Kerry Livgren

    Also credited as Kerry Livgren and The Corps de Pneuma

    Topeka, Kansas7 reviews across 5 releases

    aorccmclassic rockprogressive rock
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    Kerry Livgren is a Topeka, Kansas, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who helped form Kansas in 1970. His solo work grew from the same progressive rock language, with classical structures, shifting dynamics, dense keyboard parts, and a strong concern with Christian belief. On the 1988 Prime Mover, he played nearly every instrument, building arrangements from programmed or live-sounding drums, guitars, keyboards, saxophone, and harmonica; the songs moved from orchestral passages to Southern rock and blues. The record also established his habit of revisiting earlier material, as "Portrait II" recast a Kansas-era song about Albert Einstein as a portrait of Christ. By When Things Get Electric, the sound remained recognizably Livgren's, though the production felt less tied to a particular decade and the lyrics turned toward end-times imagery.

    After leaving Kansas in 1983, Livgren formed AD with musicians from his recording sessions and toured the Christian-rock circuit until the band's financial problems brought its first run to an end. He returned to Topeka in 1994, founded Numavox Records, and built a recording studio on his farm, which became the base for later projects. In 2000 he rejoined Kansas for Somewhere to Elsewhere, writing the material and producing the album. A stroke on September 1, 2009, restricted his ability to play, but he worked with Proto-Kaw on Forth, released in 2011. Livgren later issued Cantata: The Resurrection of Lazarus in 2021 and continues to write and record.

    5 releases reviewed