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Thread: Styx!

  1. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by ItalProgRules View Post
    I finally bit the bullet and added CORNERSTONE to my Styx collection even though I know it sucked. Lyrically they largely crossed over from good cheeze to bad cheeze and the production was so much lighter, wimpy even.

    couple decent trax there but what a letdown after the stellar Illusion/Pieces 1-2 punch.
    I have a little bit of a soft spot for “Cornerstone”. I got a job working on a radio station right about the time the album came out, and the very first song I played on the air was “Lights” from the album. I also liked “Never Say Never”, “Boat On A River”, and “Eddie”. It was definitely a step down from the band’s previous stuff, but I still like some of it.

    Steve Sly

  2. #27
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    I saw Styx on the Grand Illusion Tour and the Pieces of Eight Tour back in the 70's and loved both of them. I played both of them as well as Equinox and Crystal Ball a ton. When they came out with Cornerstone it was such a dissapointment to me. Although Paradise Theater was a good comeback, they fell off track after that. I saw them last summer with REO and they were very good. It brought back some great memories. Like some of you have said, it was Styx that got me into Prog in the first place. In the world of Prog, Styx is like High School and Yes is like College. I wasn't ready for Yes in 1977 but Styx helped me get ready for them a few years later.

  3. #28
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    Equinox thru Paradise was a pretty good run. Nothing worth having after that IMO.

  4. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by mozo-pg View Post
    I strongly agree with your sentiment it is what it is. Too bad so many are locked in the past like the same people who whine about Jon Anderson. I prefer my fellow Canadian, Gowan, over Dennis and I've seen both acts.
    I agree. If you've ever seen the Behind On The Music on them, DDY is not painted in a good light. Like Jon Anderson, he doesn't seem like a team player. For those who think that Styx was better with DDY, remember that he wrote Babe and decided to make Paradise Theater and Kilroy concept albums. As JJY said on Behind The Music, Dennis was good for Styx for the first ten years, but was all about him after that. Btw, I believe DDY was fired(Styx went on tour with Larry and left him behind). Apparently, DDY had an illness that made him sensitive to light. I have The Wooden Nickel collection, as well as Equinox-Kilroy, and Cyclorama(I like it all). I agree that Styx went downhill with Cornerstone, but it's still good(love the guitar synth on Eddie). Styx went from great to good. Also, I do classify Styx as full-blown American prog from '72-'78. They(like Yes, Kansas, and Genesis) just mixed the prog with the mainstream. While those other bands did it with the balancing of the short and long songs, Kansas and Styx did it with the simple and complex.

  5. #30
    Ok, for shits and giggles, lets some of us talk about the Wooden Nickel albums. What of the four are your favorites? Styx II and Serpent is Rising are mine, tho in truth it took me years to give Serpent enough of a chance to learn I like it so much. I also enjoy Styx I for its dark and doomy atmosphere, tho its obviously less original than the albums that follow.

    What are some of your favorite / most underrated songs from the Wooden Nickel period? I love "Movement for the Common Man" at the point where Copeland's Fanfare kicks in. "Quick is the Beat of My heart" is a grooving JY tune, and I like their first attempt at a hit "Best Thing". Great vocals!

    Off Styx II I love that first tune, something about "all you really need is love" (cant remember the title just now!) cuz the groove just flies, a great driving fast song. "A Day" is one of the most unique Styx songs ever, heavy dose of Allman Bros. thrown in, with dual lead gtr and an awesome Dennis Hammond solo. "Father OSA" gives me southern rock chills of the "cant ya See?" variety. "Earl of Roseland" has some very Who-ish moments, and "Im gonna Make Ya Feel It" is just ass kickin in the driving-rhythm dept. (Yeah, I think John was one of the secret weapons of the original band) tho it has my vote for silliest rock lyric of all time - "Every time that we're together / my head starts to rock and roll!" But what-the-hell!

    Serpent just rolls with great tunes, from the heavy rock of "Witch Wolf" thru the southern rock meets prog "Grove of Eglantine", the wicked, powerful, even spooky "Young Man", followed by the Cerulewski trip thru the utterly depressing yet beautiful "As Bad as This" / plexi-glass toilet pairing (yep, this was Styx' drug album) After a couple clinkers you get "Jonas Salter", a prog-rock pirate song (what is with Dennis and his ship imagery?) then the title track, an homage to raising kundalini. Then another Cerulewski freak-out with Krakatoa and the Hallelujah chorus. Pretty damn ballsy, even (gasp) pretentious!

    Man of Miracles is my least favorite of the four, mostly cuz its just very mediocre rock tunes, with the exception of the beautifully haunting "Golden Lark", the very catholic-insider sounding defense of St. "Christopher, Mr. Christopher", and of course the title track, the most black magic sounding "Man of Miracles".

    Do we have many John Cerulewski fans here? (hope Im spelling that right) What became of him? I heard for years that he died of alcoholism, then just recently heard he's alive and well. What's the deal?

  6. #31
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Werbinox View Post
    Ok, for shits and giggles, lets some of us talk about the Wooden Nickel albums. What of the four are your favorites? Styx II and Serpent is Rising are mine, tho in truth it took me years to give Serpent enough of a chance to learn I like it so much. I also enjoy Styx I for its dark and doomy atmosphere, tho its obviously less original than the albums that follow.
    ?
    Only cared for II, and even then I never bought it (my brother did though)

    I borrowed all four from the library some 10 years ago, and decided it was the last time I'd ever willingly heard them
    the first one is IMHO their proggiest, but it must be the most amateurish prog album ever released... absolutely embarrassing

    the 3rd and 4th are simply completely uninteresting and totally forgetable, IMHO
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  7. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Werbinox View Post
    Ok, for shits and giggles, lets some of us talk about the Wooden Nickel albums.
    Ultimately forgettable and patchy. Not that the four that followed (and are considered as their peak) are spectacularly better but at least they have three to four good songs on them... From "Cornerstone" onwards they are simply unlistenable.
    Macht das ohr auf!

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  8. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by spacefreak View Post
    Ultimately forgettable and patchy. Not that the four that followed (and are considered as their peak) are spectacularly better but at least they have three to four good songs on them... From "Cornerstone" onwards they are simply unlistenable.
    Where they really that bad? Heard that Cyclorama was a return to form but never heard any albums without Tommy Shaw in the band ! What was that tribute album like ?

  9. #34
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    Styx has become their own cover band. Cyclorama was a decent album, but the Burtnik & Gowan tracks just don't seem to fit in with the Styx trademark. Tommy's writing with outside people also doesn't set well with the album. Equinox thru Paradise Theatre was classic. the chemistry is long gone. but as long as a buck can be made touring endlessly- more power to them and their accountants.

  10. #35
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    I am a DeYoung guy all the way. One Hundred Years From Now is the best Styx album since Paradise Theater to my ears. Yes, it counts as a Styx album, because Dennis IS Styx. This has been scientifically proven and verified by 27 different independent study groups. So no arguments. You simply can't deny the scientific data.

    Paradise is my favorite and I like Cornerstone just fine for what it is. Hell, I even like Babe. The hate that song seems to inspire is quite amusing to me. "Oh yes, I like Styx...but not Babe! That song sucks!". Actually, I sang the entire song, acapella, to my wife when I left for air force training many years ago. I think it is a beautiful song, but then I am not looking to wave my prog-cred flag (not saying that everyone who claims to dislike it is doing so, but I have a feeling there a few).

    It is a bit odd that I don't accept Styx as Styx without Dennis, but I am cool with the current versions of Heep, Journey and Renaissance missing key members.

  11. #36
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    Styx II is absolutely essential for any Styx fan, IMO. A solid album of tuneful rock & prog flavored tracks, with great vocal harmonies and tasty guitar. The other 3 wooden nickel albums are forgettable. The don't even sound like Styx albums really. Not until Equinox did the new Styx sound start to jell. Probably because "Lady" from Styx II was a late bloomer as a hit single. Taking several years to get radio play, the band looked back at what they did on Styx II and improved on that formula.

  12. #37
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Man In The Mountain View Post
    Styx II is absolutely essential for any Styx fan, IMO. A solid album of tuneful rock & prog flavored tracks, with great vocal harmonies and tasty guitar. The other 3 wooden nickel albums are forgettable. The don't even sound like Styx albums really. Not until Equinox did the new Styx sound start to jell. Probably because "Lady" from Styx II was a late bloomer as a hit single. Taking several years to get radio play, the band looked back at what they did on Styx II and improved on that formula.
    Indeed, all (well most of) of Styx's sound of their successful era comes from that one Lady song...

    That the Lady song eluded radio airplay the first time around is not a surprise.... tons of great songs never did get their chances....
    But under what circumstances did Lady come out the second time?? I seem to remember Lady being a "hit" on Toronto radios just before Equinox came out (I was 12 or 13)...

    Actually I didn't even find out Styx had four albums before Equinox until the early 80's as none of the WN albums were to be found in the record bins... I have only recollection of seeing as vinyl Styx II (since my brother bought it along with Paradise Theater), but never the other three.... I thought Lady was just a non-album single for most of the time before/until that "discovery"
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  13. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    But under what circumstances did Lady come out the second time??
    I heard Dennis talk about this, this is from Wiki:
    "Lady" was written by Dennis DeYoung for his wife, Suzanne Feusi, the first song he ever wrote for her.[2] DeYoung recounted to Contemporary Keyboard magazine for the January 1981 issue that the first time he ever played acoustic piano was when the band arrived at the recording studio to record "Lady" and saw the piano in the studio; DeYoung had written the song on an electric piano, but decided to try it out on the piano instead, and liked the sound so much that he switched to the piano for the recorded version. It didn't get much promotion and went nowhere, until a DJ named Dick Biondi on WLS in Chicago who was determined to make it a hit played the song every night at 8pm, until it became a national hit.[3]

    This is the only song from the bands' four Wooden Nickel-era albums that is still performed live, all other material from those years has been long disowned by the band. Former lead singer Dennis DeYoung also performs the song regularly on his solo tours."


    I also recall DeYoung saying he felt this "hit" was a verification of his song writing talents, that gave him far more say in the direction of the writing and sound for future Styx albums, starting with Equinox. There apparently was a lot of head-butting prior, as to the direction of the band. Which I guess continued again later for the band, having several members writing hit singles.

  14. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by Man In The Mountain View Post
    It didn't get much promotion and went nowhere, until a DJ named Dick Biondi on WLS in Chicago who was determined to make it a hit played the song every night at 8pm, until it became a national hit.[3]
    ."[/I]
    Jeebus, that guy--Biondi-- is still putzing around the Chicago radio airwaves today, in 2013, on the "Oldies" station.

  15. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Howler Monkey View Post
    I am a DeYoung guy all the way. One Hundred Years From Now is the best Styx album since Paradise Theater to my ears. Yes, it counts as a Styx album, because Dennis IS Styx.
    I wasn't going to chime in on this thread unless that album was mentioned, because I'd never payed much attention to Styx (aside from the unavoidable hits), but I played electric guitar on about a quarter of "One Hundred Years From Now" (and on a few tracks that never made it to the album). The rhythm tracks were all finished by the time I was brought onboard, so the sessions were just Dennis and I (and sometimes an engineer when one that he liked was available, otherwise he did the engineering himself). There were about a half dozen sessions that lasted 7 or 8 hours and consequentially, we talked a lot. He told me that up to that point, he intentionally went out of his way to make his solo albums not sound like Styx. For that album, his record label urged him to make a record that did sound like Styx after the success of a live "Dennis DeYoung plays the music of Styx" album. Apparently, that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull, because after all, he founded that band with the Panozzo brothers and it was as much his band as anybody else's. So he jumped at the suggestion and from the reviews I've read, there were many satisfied Styx fans. It was a fun (and lucrative) experience for me; I found myself liking the guy... and even if I'm not crazy about his style, he sure can sing! Sometimes there wasn't even a "scratch" vocal on a track we were working on and he'd sing the melody for me so I'd know it and get the vibe of the tune (and know where not to play). Every time he did that, it was good enough to record and leave on the album; he's a natural! While this project was going on, I streamed some Styx albums, just for my own reference. Still not quite my bag, but I had to respect how well done it all was.

    Quote Originally Posted by N_Singh View Post
    Jeebus, that guy--Biondi-- is still putzing around the Chicago radio airwaves today, in 2013, on the "Oldies" station.
    True dat! Apparently if you're a disc jockey or news anchorman/woman in Chicago, you can have a very long career, often at the same workplace.

  16. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Werbinox View Post
    Ok, for shits and giggles, lets some of us talk about the Wooden Nickel albums. What of the four are your favorites?
    Styx II and The Serpent is Rising.

    IMHO those 4 albums should have been two albums, with the few good tunes on the outer two albums replacing the few bad ones on the inner two.

    The debut does contain the excellent, highly under-rated "What Has Come Between Us" (great song trapped on a weak and forgotten album-it's really one of their best songs ever) and the not-bad debut single, "Best Thing."

    II and Serpent I pretty much like all the way through except for the boring bar-band crap they always threw on the albums (first and last song on Styx II, "22 Years" on Serpent."

    I don't count "Plexiglass Toilet" since it was a hidden bonus track and not an intended part of the lineup.

    Man of Miracles has its moments. "A Song For Suzanne" and "Golden Lark" plus the title tune, but best of all, the ass-kicking single "Christopher, Mr. Christopher" which is another of their forgotten gems.
    High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rufus View Post
    Where they really that bad? Heard that Cyclorama was a return to form but never heard any albums without Tommy Shaw in the band ! What was that tribute album like ?


    The covers album was just ok. I am not a huge fan of covers albums, so maybe I am not the best to judge.

    Steve Sly

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