Styx was just about my favourite band growing up. I had all of their stuff, even the RCA / Wooden Nickel stuff (including a very cool blue vinyl best of). Once Tommy was added to the mix the band really hit its stride. Heck I even wanted to be Tommy, sadly I was far too tall, and resembled JY more than anyone.

I followed the band right up to their weird disappointing finale, and then again when they regrouped not once, but twice.

Although they're not the same band I grew up with, they are still around which is more than can be said for a lot of their contemporaries.

Not meaning any disrespect but they even have a dead drummer to their credit. If that's not real rock and roll I don't know what is.

The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings (©2005 Hip-O)

STYX (1972) 1: Movement For The Common Man 2: Right Away 3: What Has Come Between Us 4: Best Thing 5: Quick Is The Beat Of My Heart 6: After You Leave Me

STYX II (1973) 7: You Need Love 8: Lady 9: A Day 10: You Better Ask 11: Little Fugue In "G" 12: Father O.S.A. 13: Earl Of Roseland 14: I'm Gonna Make You Feel It 15: Unfinished Song

The Serpent is Rising (1973) 1: Witch Wolf 2: The Grove Of Eglantine 3: Young Man 4: As Bad As This 5: Winner Takes All 6: 22 Years 7: Jonas Psalter 8: The Serpent Is Rising 9: Krakatoa 10: Hallelujah Chorus (From Handel's Messiah)

Man of Miracles (1974) 11: Rock & Roll Feeling 12: Havin' A Ball 13: Golden Lark 14: A Song For Suzanne 15: A Man Like Me 16: Lies 17: Evil Eyes 18: Southern Woman 19: Christopher, Mr. Christopher 20: Man Of Miracles

Holy crap! I'd forgotten most of this, and written it off. When I was in highschool I leaned more to the late 70's era STYX, and although I had all of the RCA / Wooden Nickel albums, I didn't really appreciate them. If for nothing else the band should be remembered for the opus that kicks of their first album. Hats off to Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering, someone should give this guy a raise - these albums sound great, additional kudos to Hip-O for giving these albums the royal treatment. The cover art is great, the liner notes, credits, the whole shebang is top notch.

Probably the biggest surprise was how rich JY's voice was - I've never really been a big fan of his singing, but on the early recordings his writing and playing were a huge part of the developing STYX sound. Mister Young, you rock. Not to mention the writing and playing of early member John Curulewshi.

These albums are great (in fact they're way better to me now, than they were when I first heard them in the later 1970's), and it's hard to imagine these straight ahead full on prog-rockers from Chicago turned into the same guys who flogged Kilroy on their unsuspecting fans.

I think a lot of STYX fans are like me in that they've more or less dismissed the early years as so much crap. Well, let me tell you - I WAS WRONG, and chances are you're missing out too. This was not an expensive set for what you get. Go on, take a chance.

Reviewed May 13, 2005

Cornerstone (©1979 A&M)

Lights / Why Me / Babe / Never Say Never / Boat On The River / Borrowed Time / First Time / Eddie Love In The Midnight

Cornerstone marked the beginning of the end for the band. Oh sure they'd plug away for a few more albums, but Dennis and his sucky songs finally scored bigger than "Lady" with Babe, and the band's rock fans would pay the price from here to the end of time their borrowed time (where do I come up with these?).

By this time the progressive rock Styx was gone, being replaced by the more accessible pop / rock Styx. It's hard to be objective more than 20 years later, but this one holds up pretty well. Sure there's a truck load of nostalgia to sift through, but this is Styx remember? Once one of the most loved and critically hated bands in the world.

I still get a big grin on my face when listening to Borrowed Time (which still kicks ass thank you very much). "Don't look now but here come the 80s." Yeah, and where's our rocket packs?

Love 'em or hate 'em there was no middle ground with Styx.

Reviewed April 2003

Paradise Theater (©1980 A&M)

Tracks: A.D. 1928 / Rockin' The Paradise / Too Much Time On My Hands / Nothing Ever Goes As Planned / Best Of Times / Lonely People / She Cares / Snowblind / Half-Penny, Two-Penny / A.D. 1958 / State Street Sadie

The five stars here are more for nostalgia than how well it holds up. I played the LP to death over twenty years ago, so it wouldn't be fair to knock it down now. Although, it does hold up pretty well at that - I had it cranked the other day and it was fun to take another trip down memory lane (if I go there too often I'm likely to remain).

Funny how some things just don't get better with age. Stupid lyrics then still sound like stupid lyrics now - take Tommy's lament in She Cares - Pretty sad. Half Penny Two Penny has wicked music, but I've never been big on JY's vocals - he's got an okay voice, but between Dennis and Tommy he's really the odd man out. But man he can write a tune.

This was the last of the great Styx albums. Sure they're kicking around still, but it's not the same.

Reviewed November 8, 2002

Kilroy Was Here (©1983 A&M)

1: Mr. Roboto 2: Cold War 3: Don't Let It End 4: High Time 5: Heavy Metal Poisoning 6: Just Get Through This Night 7: Double Life 8: Haven't We Been Here Before 9: Don't Let It End (Reprise)

Oooh, the low water mark for what was during my teens one of my favourite bands. This would be the end of the line for the band for many years. I was in a record store the other day, and a couple of young kids were looking at a Styx CD (really) and the one guy with the pierced eyebrow started singing "Mr. Roboto" and saying how cool that song was. His buddy with the pointed boots and equally pointed hair was humming "Lorelei" - at least that one knew the real classic Styx.

Sadly I have to admit nostalgia has managed to make "Mr. Roboto" palatable (domo arigato Mister DeYoung), something I thought would never happen. "On Broadway", er I mean "Cold War" is without a doubt the worst song Tommy ever wrote (although it is kind of catchy in it's own way).

I'm not saying this was all a giant pile of yak droppings. It was a Styx album for crying out loud - there were glimmers of hope scattered throughout. They were just buried in medium sized piles of yak droppings. How else does one explain "High Time"? Tommy manages to pull off a six minute opus in "Just Get Through This Night", which along with "Haven't We Been Here Before" pulls this one out of the crapper. Poor James, his songs just didn't work for me at all - it's not like he didn't try.

There are those who would point to this as one of Styx's best albums. Those must be the same people who raise yaks in their spare time.

Reviewed May 22, 2005

Brave New World (©1999 CMC International BMG)

the songs: I Will Be Your Witness / Brave New World / While There's Still Time / Number One / Best New Face / What Have They Done To You / Fallen Angel / Everything Is Cool / Great Expectations / Heavy Water / High Crimes & Misdemeanors (hip hop crazy) / Just Fell In / Goodbye Roseland / Brave New World (reprise)

Okay, before you start calling me a dinosaur lover, let me explain myself.  I am a dinosaur lover.  Can't help myself.  I still like Journey, Foreigner, BTO, and all those terrible commercial bands that helped kill music as we knew it.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I had every Styx album. A few years ago my record collection was destroyed, and I cried.  All of those great records gone, and to be honest a bunch of crappy ones too . . .

Brave New World is the first Styx album with Tommy Shaw since 1983.  I've been playing it a lot over the last month, and it's really grown on me.  I don't think the boys will ever regain their glory days, but there are some good tunes here.  The music doesn't sound like the Styx of old, but it's nice to hear a band that a lot of us grew up loving making music again.

Reviewed Fall 1999

Cyclorama (©2003 CMC International)

Do Things My Way / Waiting For Our Time / Fields Of The Brave / Bourgeois Pig / Kiss Your Ass Goodbye / These Are The Times / Yes I Can / More Love For The Money / Together / Fooling Yourself (Palm Of Your Hands) / Captain America / Killing The Thing That You Love / One With Everything / Genki Desu Ka

Styx is dead. Long live Styx.

I'll stay away from taking any Dennis DeYoung shots. That's water under the bridge, so to speak. What we have is a road tested version of the band with James and Tommy as the only stalwarts from their glory days. Lawrence Gowan (you can call him Larry) Glen Burtnik and Todd Sucherman now round out the band.

What is evident is the cohesive nature of the band. This is a unified effort, with each of the three vocalists sharing duties, and credits attributed to the whole band. Something which hasn't been seen in a long long time on a Styx record. All that was missing was to see who played which guitar solo.

Styx is a band stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place. They tour constantly playing their greatest hits to the classic rock crowd, but they're also still in the studio recording new stuff. Their live audience doesn't want new stuff, they want the nostalgia band. Since I've never seen them, I lean to looking to the new stuff. And Cyclorama is really good. Surprisingly so.

Even James Young's songs are pretty good this time around, which is rare (sorry big fella, you're a hell of a player, but you're voice has never appealed to me). There are a couple of stinkers on the album, but they don't distract from the overall effect of the album. Oh, you want me to name names? Okay, the aw-ful-pella "Fooling Yourself" just doesn't work. And the closing track sounds like a commercial jingle and wastes the talent of John Waite and Jude Cole.

Styx is back, and there are a lot of good songs on this one that bridge the then and now. If you liked them then, you'll like this now.

Really.

Reviewed April 2003

Big Bang Theory (©2005 New Door / Universal)

1: I Am The Walrus 2: I Can See For Miles 3: Can't Find My Way Home 4: It Don't Make Sense (You Can't Make Peace) 5: I Don't Need No Doctor 6: One Way Out 7: A Salty Dog 8: Summer In The City 9: Manic Depression 10: Talkin' About The Good Times 11: Locomotive Breath 12: Find The Cost Of Freedom 13: Wishing Well 14: Blue Collar Man @ 2120

I'm not sure what it is about old bands who feel the need to put out an album of covers. Toto did it a couple of years ago with Through the Looking Glass and here we have Styx pulling out a collection of known and obscure covers ranging from The Beatles to The Pretty Things. Some of them are pretty good, but one has to ask "Why?" It's not like people other than the faithful (yeah, I paid full price - still have to work out getting evaluation copies) will line up to get this one. Their choice of covers is cool, and mostly self indulgent since most people won't recognize most of what's here. I have a better than average grasp of music, and I found myself looking up a few of the songs here.

To be honest I'm probably being more than generous giving this three stars, but the guys can still play, and there are enough solid moments here to put this over the hump. The long drawn out cover of their own "Blue Collar Man" is a bit of a stretch, and I'm sure fans will be divided on this one - me I don't like ti at all. It won't be an album that will go down in the annals of Styx history as one of their better moments.

Reviewed July 13, 2005