Drastic Measures is the ninth studio album 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 grew 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 more akin 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. and No. 58 on the Hot 100. The song also appeared on Kansas: Small Anthology and on every version of The Awesome Kansas Mix.
The album was re-released on CD in remastered form in February 1996 on Legacy/Epic Records, then again in 2011 on Rock Candy Records.
Track listing
Personnel
;Kansas
- John Elefante – keyboards, lead vocals
- Kerry Livgren – guitar, keyboards, Synclavier II programming
- Rich Williams – guitar
- Dave Hope – bass guitar
- Phil Ehart – drums
;Additional musicians
- Jim Vest – steel guitar on tracks 4 and 7
- David Pack, Terry Brock, Kyle Henderson – background vocals
;Production
- Neil Kernon – producer, engineer, mixing at Bullet Recording, Nashville, Tennessee
- Cliff Bonnell, Guy Charbonneau – Le Mobile engineers
- Danny Mundhenk – Bullet Recording engineer
- Howie Weinberg – mastering at Masterdisk, New York
- Drennon Studio – art direction
- Glen Wexler – photography
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1983)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|}