This Day in Music History (10/11): Kansas/Point of Know Return

Point of Know Return is the fifth studio album by American rock band Kansas, released on this day in 1977. It would be Kansas' highest charting album in the US, peaking at #4, and would sell four million copies in the US and be certified Quadruple Platinum by the RIAA.

The title song "Point of Know Return" was a later addition to the album, but reached #28 on the Billboard charts. "Portrait (He Knew)" was written about Albert Einstein and reached #64. "Closet Chronicles" is a Howard Hughes allegory.

The best known song on the album though is "Dust in the Wind". It was a Top 10 single that peaked at #6. The guitar line for the song was written by Kerry Livgren as a finger exercise for learning fingerpicking. His wife, Vicci, heard what he was doing, remarked that the melody was nice, and encouraged him to write lyrics for it. Livgren was unsure whether his fellow band members would like it, since it was a departure from their signature style. However he did offer it to them, and the song was accepted and then recorded. The rest is history.

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