Dennis DeYoung
And the Music of Styx Live in Los Angeles

I think Dennis DeYoung should be a well known name in the music world, but for those who do not know it. He formed what was to be the band Styx together with twin brothers John and Chuck Panozzo. Styx became fairly successful in the late seventies early eighties thanks to Dennis DeYoung’s songs, he wrote their first hit Lady and he wrote seven of the band’s eight Billboard top ten songs, all placed higher than Tommy Shaw’s exception Too Much Time on My Hands. The band however split in 1984 due to internal friction between DeYoung and Tommy Shaw along with Jame Young. They reformed twice once in 1990 without Shaw and then again in 1995. They Released the album brave New World in 1999 and following that they were to have a tour but DeYoung had health issues leaving him extremely light sensitive meaning that he was not able to tour due to this. But the band had none of that and fired him.

Some legal action ensued after DeYoung sued the rest of the band for their actions and the outcome was that he lost the name Styx to the other guys but was allowed to use the name to promote himself like he has done on this album. Neither party has been very productive in the studio album department following this split Styx has only released Cyclorama in 2003 and a cover album and Dennis has only released One Hundred Years From Now in 2007. The Styx albums has been awful and I have not heard Dennis’ album. Lately Dennis has formed a band dedicated to the classic music of Styx, something that I find a little bit tragic with a 67 year old man clinging to old successes and not thinking forwards writing new music. The same can however also be said about the band called Styx who also just releases live albums and such. Fact is that Dennis DeYoung is still credited with most Styx songs despite having left the band 15 years ago.

It is the classic songs of Styx, sort of Arena rock/AOR driven by Dennis DeYoungs keyboard sound and his characteristic voice that has always been the mark of Styx as far as I am concerned. The songs are quite varied in style with ballads, rockers, anthems and such, we hear all of that on this live album which is excellently produced with a fantastic sound. And the strange thing is that Dennis DeYoung sounds just as good as he has always done, despite being very old. Styx was however more than the DeYoung-penned songs and there are some of Tommy Shaw’s songs on this album, they are not sung by DeYoung but by August Zadra who probably does a better job performing them than Shaw has ever done. The performances are excellent, I just wish that Frontiers could have sent me the Blu-Ray so that I could have seen it.

Well, I don’t think any band/artist can have a better selection of songs to pick from than Dennis DeYoung and Styx, there are so many magical songs in their catalogue that you cannot begin to understand how brilliant they were. And the selection on this live album is probably the best that can be picked from these songs, even so Dennis decided that one of his solo songs should be included. And why not? Desert Moon is a brilliant song and it fits perfectly with the rest. This is as good as I think a live album can be (more or less) and the only thing keeping me from giving it a full mark is that Rockin’ the Paradise and Don’t Let it End aren’t as perfect as the rest of the songs on the album, I can’t help but feel that these songs could have been a little bit better. It may sound hard but a perfect score requires a perfect album - but I must admit that this is damned near perfect.

Picking a favourite song on this great album is damned near impossible but Grand Illusion, Lady, Lorelei, Blue Collar Man, Show Me the Way, Mr Roboto, Crystal Ball, Too Much Time on My Hands, Desert Moon, Babe, Foolin’ Yourself, Suite Madam Blue, The Best of Times, Renegade and Come Sail Away are the ones that are closest. I will go as far as saying that this is the best live album ever with the music of Styx, and one that should really embarrass the band that calls themselves Styx as they feel like a mere joke compared with this. And with that I think that we can conclude that the music of Styx has never been performed better on a recorded live show and that this album is a must have. Did I say that it was tragic with a 67 year old clinging to old successes? well when the old are this good and performed this well, it isn’t as tragic. I think you all should buy this album and come sail away with it for the rest of times.

HHHHHHH