Drastic Measures

For the Lisa Dal Bello album, see Drastic Measures (Dalbello album).

Drastic Measures
Studio album by Kansas
Released	July 1983
Recorded	early 1983
Genre	Rock
Length	42:00
Label	CBS Associated
Producer	Kansas and Neil Kernon
Kansas chronology
Vinyl Confessions (1982) Drastic Measures (1983) The Best of Kansas (1984)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
	Allmusic [1]
	Melodic.net [2]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Drastic Measures is the ninth studio album, and tenth album overall, by American rock band Kansas, released in 1983.

The shift in direction that Kansas took with Vinyl Confessions took its toll before recording began on this album. After hearing that Christian fans of Kansas were using lyrics from Vinyl Confessions in religious tracts and handing them out prior to the band's live appearances, violinist Robby Steinhardt had grown tired of Kansas' new Christian affiliation and quit the band at the end of the 1982 tour.

Despite the success of Vinyl Confessions, both among mainstream and Christian audiences, the album was criticized in some quarters—especially by Rolling Stone for being too repetitive of Kansas' prior efforts. Drastic Measures was new lead singer John Elefante's attempt to change that perception, and his compositions dominate the album, with Kansas co-founder Kerry Livgren only contributing three tracks. Because the sound of Drastic Measures is closer to the successful records that Loverboy and Foreigner were putting out at the time, Livgren was greatly displeased. This is bluntly expressed in his lyrics for "Mainstream", which are as much a criticism of the band's new direction as they are a slam at the music industry in general.

With the exception of the last three songs on the record, the Christian lyrical content was mostly indirect and oblique as well, although this was primarily due to Livgren holding back a number of songs for his future projects. Combined with a strange choice for an album cover, the new Kansas presented on Drastic Measures confused long-time fans and disappointed Christian listeners. The album was the band's lowest-charting record since their debut in 1974 and the tensions within the band eventually became too much. Kansas officially disbanded after giving a New Year's Eve concert at the end of their 1983 tour.

Livgren and Dave Hope left the band to found AD, while Elefante went on to become a successful producer of Contemporary Christian music bands like Petra as well as a popular CCM performer in his own right.

One of the first rock videos (along with "Beat It" and "New Frontier") to be blown up to 35mm film and exhibited in movie theaters as a trailer, the music video for "Fight Fire With Fire," directed by Dominic Orlando, was released theatrically across the USA in 1983 as a short subject with Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish. Perhaps this helped the song reach No. 3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart (a format that didn't exist when Kansas was in its late-70s prime).

The album was re-released on CD in remastered form in February 1996 on Legacy/Epic Records, then in 2011.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Fight Fire with Fire" (Dino Elefante, John Elefante) – 3:40
2. "Everybody's My Friend" (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) – 4:09
3. "Mainstream" (Kerry Livgren) – 6:36
4. "Andi" (J. Elefante) – 4:15

Side two

1. "Going Through the Motions" (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) – 5:43
2. "Get Rich" (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) – 3:43
3. "Don't Take Your Love Away" (D. Elefante, J. Elefante) – 3:44
4. "End of the Age" (Livgren) – 4:33
5. "Incident on a Bridge" (Livgren) – 5:37

Personnel

• Phil Ehart – drums
• John Elefante – keyboard, vocals
• Dave Hope – bass
• Kerry Livgren – guitar, vocals, keyboard, Synclavier II programming
• Rich Williams – guitar

Additional personnel

• Terry Brock – vocals, background vocals
• Kyle Henderson – vocals, background vocals
• David Pack – vocals, background vocals

Production

• Producers: Kansas, Neil Kernon
• Engineer: Neil Kernon

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1983	Pop Albums	41
1983	The Billboard 200	75

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1983	"Fight Fire with Fire"	Mainstream Rock	3
1983	"Fight Fire with Fire"	Pop Singles	58
1983	"Everybody's My Friend"	Mainstream Rock	34

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Melodic.net review