Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just as advertised, June 4, 2005
No, this is not the latest studio attempt of new material from Styx. It's an old rock and roll band having some fun with some of their favorite old numbers from some of their favorite old artists. I used to find Gowan's voice a bit irksome, but I like it more and more as I find myself comparing it to Deyoung's less and less. I am the Walrus is a gem, as is, It Don't Make Sense(You Can't Make Peace). A few of the other songs are good, and a couple are stinkers, but all in all I think this CD makes for a nice listen.
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56 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great when you consider what it is....., May 10, 2005
Which is a quick, thrown-together album the record company wanted when they didn't have enough new material ready. As "I Am the Walrus" was hitting airwaves in the midwest, they decided to put this package together to ride the momentum. And consider that portions of this album sale go to charity (WD's Blue Heaven Foundation) you can understand why the guys wanted to have a little fun.
So how does a Styx cover album work? For one thing, it's full of riff-laden big arena-rock guitar hooks last heard on "The Grand Illusion". It's like listening to a closet classics show on the radio. Sure, there are some misses (Summer in the City rocks hard, but Tommy sings it and his vocals are just too pretty for it, and Manic Depression never quite cuts it for me), but the hits are great:
- I Am the Walrus is a great rendition, I Can See For Miles almost thrashes, Can't Find My Way Home features great acoustic guitar work over a passable Tommy Shaw vocal, I Don't Need No Doctor gets the heads banging, One Way Out channels the Allmans in this take of Willie Dixon (with great slide guitar work) and A Salty Dog is a great rendition with stunning Lawrence Gowan vocals. The best cover, though? An almost-acoustic, stripped-down, slowed-down version of Blue Collar Man. A great reinterpretation.
So it's a pleasant listen biding the time between the great Cyclorama and whatever comes next. Oh, by the way, I liked Dennis DeYoung too, up through Kilroy, and felt the conflict between him and the band as far as styles led to some great work. But on Brave New World his work was definitely the low point, and I think Mr. Gowan has creatively fired up these guys. Just my $0.02.
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61 of 81 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
These guys had a great time doing this and it shows!, May 11, 2005
Okay...first things first. All the WHINING about Dennis being gone from the band is probably coming from the people who JUST heard Steve Perry isn't in Journey any longer. Wake up folks...
Steve said on Behind the Music he didn't feel like part of the band (and after I broke my jaw on the ground after that statement I went and saw Journey with the guy that's singing for them now and it was FANTASTIC)...Dennis felt he was in charge of Styx and couldn't handle it when they decided to carry on without him. They aren't doing stuff like Babe anymore, and I couldn't be happier. I like Dennis and a lot of his songs are excellent...but Styx is what they always wanted to be now...a ROCK band (or as JY said onstage the last time I saw them "a CLASSIC rock band")...and this album is classic rock done Styx style...and I could tell right away, they had a BLAST doing this. I am the Walrus is no easy song to carry off...they do it. And the rest of the covers here are done remarkably well, as one other reviewer put it very nicely, they make the songs sound like they could've been written last week and not last millenium!
There isn't a dud here...and the reworking of Blue Collar Man is tastefully done and shows they can reinvent themselves without any problem. I have no problem with a band like this doing a covers album...they didn't miss a thing here, and for those of you complaining that these guys must have run out of creative juices to not do anything new for this album, haven't you got something more important to complain about? These guys are out on the road this summer with 38 Special...and their new CD is incredible too. This promises to be a great summer tour! For the whiners that think Styx isn't Styx or Journey isn't Journey without the people who deserted the bands close to a decade ago...remember the words of Don Henley: get over it!
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