Freaks of Nature

• Artist: Kansas
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1995
• Total Time: 41:20
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rock

Review

Unbalanced. This record should have been what the small but rabid masses of Kansas fans had been waiting for, but for some reason it misses. Every moment of greatness on this record is accompanied with a conspicuous flaw. "I Can Fly" -- a revisitation of Kansas' recurrent "Icarus" theme -- opens the disc with an exciting violin line and a soaring vocal sounding strong and fresh. Enter the drums -- precise, thick, and metrical, or in other words clunky -- invoking a feel for the song about as far from "flight" as is possible. Other songs fall prey to the excesses of '80s anthemic rock ("Hope Once Again"). Other embarrassing tracks such as "Under the Knife" or "Black Fathom 4" make an attempt at a dark, disturbing mood but come off like B movies in execution. Original member Kerry Livgren contributes the song "Cold Grey Morning," which, sad to say, is not one of his best. Taken solely in terms of the performances, however, the record is astonishingly good. Arrangements are well-layered and complex. Each player plays with stunning virtuosity. Notable is David Ragsdale's violin -- every bit as good as Steinhardt's playing. ~ Mark W.B. Allender, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
I Can Fly	Steve Walsh, David Ragsdale	Kansas	(5:21)
Desperate Times	Steve Walsh	Kansas	(5:24)
Hope Once Again	Steve Walsh	Kansas	(4:33)
Black Fathom 4	Steve Walsh, David Ragsdale	Kansas	(5:53)
Under the Knife	Steve Walsh, David Ragsdale	Kansas	(4:59)
Need	Steve Walsh	Kansas	(4:01)
Freaks of Nature	Steve Walsh, Phil Ehart, David Ragsdale	Kansas	(4:05)
Cold Grey Morning	Kerry Livgren	Kansas	(4:13)
Peaceful and Warm	Steve Walsh	Kansas	(6:45)

Credits

Sean Poland (Engineer), Billy Greer (Group Member), Zahir Khan (Assistant Engineer), Phil Ehart (Group Member), Jeff Glixman (Engineer), Rich Williams (Guitar (Acoustic)), Tom Cassel (Engineer), Billy Greer (Guitar (Acoustic)), Steve Walsh (Narrator), Phil Ehart (Drums), Steve Walsh (Group Member), Richard Williams (Group Member), Rich Williams (Guitar), David Ragsdale (Guitar), David Ragsdale (Vocals), Marti Griffin (Photography), Richard Williams (Guitar (Acoustic)), Steve Walsh (Vocals), Richard Williams (Guitar), David Ragsdale (Violin), Jeff Glixman (Producer), Greg Robert (Keyboards), Greg Robert (Group Member), Billy Greer (Bass), Ken Wells (Art Direction), Renee Castle (?), Billy Greer (Vocals), Sean Poland (Assistant Engineer), Steve Walsh (Keyboards), Greg Robert (Vocals)

• Genres: Rock

Biography

There was one single issued on Island in the U.K. in late 1966 credited to the Freaks of Nature, "People Let's Freak Out"/"The Shadow Chasers," that will probably continue to confuse collectors and discographers for eternity. For the Freaks of Nature were actually the Belfast Gypsies, a spinoff group of Them (with their own complicated, confusing history). Both of the tracks were issued on a U.S. single crediting the Belfast Gypsies, and also a little later on the Belfast Gypsies' sole LP, Them Belfast Gypsies. Probably someone not in the band (which broke up in late 1966 and didn't exist by the time the single was issued) felt that the single would get more attention if the band name was changed to something freakier and more psychedelic. Neither the Belfast Gypsies nor producer Kim Fowley had any prior knowledge of the name change, and according to Fowley, just 100 copies of the U.K. single bearing the Freaks of Nature name were pressed.

The confusion doesn't stop there. First of all, the B-side, "The Shadow Chasers," was actually just a Belfast Gypsies track that had already been issued as the B-side of their first single under a different title, "Secret Police." Second, the version of "People Let's Freak Out" on the Freaks of Nature single wasn't exactly the same as the more familiar version that came out on the Belfast Gypsies LP. The Freaks of Nature version had weird, overdubbed, and frankly incongruous psychedelic/electronic effects. For a long time it was much rarer than the un-overdubbed Belfast Gypsies version of the song, but the psychedelicized overdubbed Freaks of Nature version did come out on the 2003 compilation Impossible But True: The Kim Fowley Story.

As for the songs themselves, "People Let's Freak Out" was a cool Bo Diddley-styled slice of mid-'60s British R&B-rock, though with some psychedelic sloganeering in the lyrics. "The Shadow Chasers," aka "Secret Police," was in a similar mold, though with a more paranoid, slightly more psychedelic bent. Both tracks are good, but they're more properly heard and appreciated as part of the Belfast Gypsies' album than on the misleading Freaks of Nature single. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

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