Styx (Official Thread)

METALPRIEST

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Dennis DeYoung Brings the Music of Styx to Nashville

DDY.jpg

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Former Styx frontman Dennis DeYoung brought his solo show titled ‘The Music of Styx’ to Nashville’s historic War Memorial Auditorium on Friday night (June 28). The show is billed as a Styx greatest hits show, and that’s exactly what DeYoung delivered, turning back the clock for two hours of pure Stygian magic.

DeYoung entirely re-vamped his solo band a couple of years ago after seeing guitarist August Zadra online singing Styx songs in a cover band. DeYoung had deliberately avoided Styx songs sung by Tommy Shaw in his solo career, but when he heard what a ringer Zadra was, he decided to put together a show that brought together all of Styx’ most important songs on one stage.

Friday night’s show was an adventurous amalgam of all of the different styles Styx ever put to tape, from heavier fare like ‘Renegade’ and ‘Blue Collar Man,’ to progressive rock like ‘The Grand Illusion,’ ‘Suite Madame Blue’ and ‘Fooling Yourself.’

Ballad hits were also well represented, with obvious tracks like ‘Lady,’ ‘Babe,’ ‘The Best of Times’ and ‘Show Me the Way’ all in the set. Perhaps the best of the lot was a re-working of the power ballad ‘Don’t Let It End’ for acoustic guitar and voice, which worked so well that it made it seem like the original record was the wrong arrangement all along.

DeYoung’s band is very strong not only vocally, but instrumentally. Zadra and co-guitarist Jimmy Leahey stole the show several times, most notably during ‘Rockin’ the Paradise,’ where they departed from the script for a tradeoff guitar solo that featured Leahey on slide guitar and Zadra contributing wah-wah inflections over the track.

DeYoung himself provided one of the evening’s instrumental highlights with the climactic keyboard solo in ‘Fooling Yourself,’ and at 66 his entire vocal range remains intact. He delivered all of the songs in their original keys in a vocal performance that put singers half his age to shame.

Not everything about the concert was a home run. The sound started off weak and almost one-dimensional for the first two songs, with the instruments and voices all pulled too close together in the center of the mix. That caused an unpleasant, distorted overall sound at first, making it difficult to distinguish lyrics. Once that got sorted out, by the third song the band were together and sounding good, and just got better from there, earning several standing ovations during the course of the show.

So, was it classic Styx? In a word, no. But on Friday night in Nashville, Dennis DeYoung and his band delivered a show that was strong enough to impress even the most skeptical Styx fan — and maybe even win over a few detractors.
 

EJD1984

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Does anyone know if Dennis DeYoung is part of the band's lawsuit against A&M for past royalties?

I hope so. This may have them talking again, and eventually we'll see a reunion at some point in the future. From what I read in the press lately it seems like it's really down to JY having the real animosity towards DDY. Seems like Tommy may have softened somewhat, and is just following JY's lead.

I just hope they're not suing only under the band's name which could possibly exclude DeYoung from any financial settlement.

Overall I still like the band, but still on the DeYoung side of the debate. I kinda still see Styx as his band and he's just on an extended vacation. He might very well be a pain to work with, but he's one hell of a producer, and appears the key person behind their classic sound. In fact I think his 2009 album sounded more like classic Styx than Brave New World or Cyclorama.

PS - My favorite last original song by Styx was 1997's On My Way. In my top 10 from the band!
 
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LG

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^^Probably my favorite studio album Styx released, from Equinox to Pieces they were at the top of their game.

Does anyone know if Dennis DeYoung is part of the band's lawsuit against A&M for past royalties?

I hope so. This may have them talking again, and eventually we'll see a reunion at some point in the future. From what I read in the press lately it seems like it's really down to JY having the real animosity towards DDY. Seems like Tommy may have softened somewhat, and is just following JY's lead.

I just hope they're not suing only under the band's name which could possibly exclude DeYoung from any financial settlement.

Overall I still like the band, but still on the DeYoung side of the debate. I kinda still see Styx as his band and he's just on an extended vacation. He might very well be a pain to work with, but he's one hell of a producer, and appears the key person behind their classic sound. In fact I think his 2009 album sounded more like classic Styx than Brave New World or Cyclorama.

PS - My favorite last original song by Styx was 1997's On My Way. In my top 10 from the band!

He would have to be part of any settlement as far as I know, unless he signed away his claim to any Styx songs/royalties etc. when he left.

I don't see JY ever letting him back in Styx, the only possible scenario would be if JY left the band for whatever reason, then DeYoung could come back I don't think Tommy Shaw has a problem with Dennis.
 

EJD1984

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^^Probably my favorite studio album Styx released, from Equinox to Pieces they were at the top of their game.



He would have to be part of any settlement as far as I know, unless he signed away his claim to any Styx songs/royalties etc. when he left.

I don't see JY ever letting him back in Styx, the only possible scenario would be if JY left the band for whatever reason, then DeYoung could come back I don't think Tommy Shaw has a problem with Dennis.
It seems to me that Lawrence Gowan might be looking for an exit from the band, with his recent solo shows and working on a new album.

I'm thinking that if Gowan does eventually leave Styx, at this late stage in their career, they just may be forced into a corner and have talks with Deyoung.
 

Ar-Pharazon

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^ That's not really the way we should want it to go, as a kind of forced thing.

I'm all for classic line-ups getting back together, but only if the chemistry that made them great can be there too.
 

EJD1984

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^ That's not really the way we should want it to go, as a kind of forced thing.

I'm all for classic line-ups getting back together, but only if the chemistry that made them great can be there too.
I agree, but (sadly) a lot of bands (d)evolve into more of an business partnership than a musical partnership.

As far as Styx is concerned, they haven't been warm and fuzzy for 35 years. I'm sure even today there really isn't much love between Shaw and Young, just a (lucrative) business arrangement.
 

METALPRIEST

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All the bad mouthing from those guys against DeYoung.......my real opinion is jealousy.

That more than being angry over 'Babe' and 'Mr. Roboto' :bonk:
 

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