Styx - Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings
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Music Reviews of Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings
Music Review: But WHEN should you buy it? Why . . . "Right Away".
Rating: 5 Stars
Sorry, but I just had to mention my favorite song in my review title.
Styx I is something special. Other reviewers note the outside songwriting on it, as if that was a fault. But first of all, these aren't exactly "covers", in the sense that "Lies" (on Man Of Miracles) was. They're not hits you've heard elsewhere, with the possible exception of George Clinton's "After You Leave Me".
I'm talking about songs like "What Has Come Between Us" (by Mark Gaddis), "Quick Is The Beat Of My Heart" (Lewis Mark), and "Right Away" (Paul Frank). Who are these people? I have no idea. Gaddis is apparently still active, but I don't know how I'd begin to find Lewis Mark or Paul Frank.
"What Has Come Between Us" (justifiably included on RCA's Best Of Styx) could be a textbook example of how to be excitingly progressive within the confines of a short song. The intro is positively cinematic, with a two-note ostinato on piano leading to a stair-stepping riff, aggressively frustrated -- the guitars aren't merely "fuzzy"; they have thorns. After this brief, wordless drama plays out, the song descends into minor key, with organ vibrato'ing like a sigh. Then, there's another short "intro" for the song's new key and tempo. I'm not sure exactly what instruments I'm hearing -- Harpsichord, definitely, perhaps a mandolin, and
THE SINGLE MOST TASTEFUL USE OF A SITAR IN THE HISTORY OF POP MUSIC.
You'll just have to hear it. And it might take you more than one listen to notice it. Sneeze and you'll miss it. It's just the tiniest touch, way back in the mix, to conclude a miasma of melody. But the resonance, even at such low volume, will warm the back of your neck -- even if you don't realize what's doing it.
Now that is class.
Dennis DeYoung's verse singing is surprisingly, wonderfully humble. It's a real treat to hear him, throughout this collection, unaware of his operatic capacity, with a touch of insecurity. His upper range can be unbearably strident, but he sings this one in a sweet, round baritone. Then there's the chorus, in smooth harmony, with a minimum of the vibrato and piercing shrieks of the Tommy Shaw era (Shaw is a minor genius, yet I still feel he ruined the band.) The song also features a break reminiscent of the intro, more elaborate harpsichord work, and a beautifully bittersweet conclusion. I'm not sure any of the band members ever wrote a song this good.
"Quick Is The Beat Of My Heart" is a relentless, teeth-grinding tale of speed addiction, with a churning guitar tone unlike I've ever heard. James Young belts out the tune in a flawless blues style, unafraid to go nasal to hit those high notes. The simple, recurring theme "I wish I could quit, but I can't, and it's rough" is heartbreaking in it's stupid truth. The song repeatedly resolves to a brooding E minor, and ends with a harsh, inhuman echo that YES, PREDATES Pink Floyd's "Dogs".
"Right Away" is just a sweet, short tune that ranks alongside "Dear Prudence" and "I'm Not The One" in the D-Major-With-Descending-Basslines category. The intro is especially touching, with two guitars in octaves (one on slide), outlining a simple melody absent from the rest of the song. A slight sense of hurriedness lends a modest charm. J.Y. sings this ballad in his high voice, which could be a disaster but somehow isn't. He repeatedly alternates between the major and minor thirds (F# and F natural) in classic blues style -- and on the second verse, doubles his lead perfectly with the slide guitar. The chorus is chordally similar to another Floyd tune, "Comfortably Numb", though certaintly far more upbeat, even rollicking. If there's any flaw to this song, it's the endless, cheery repetition of the chorus, while the bittersweet verse structure is too-soon abandoned.
. . . *whew*. And that's just a fraction of Styx I, which is just one-quarter of this set (Be glad I didn't delve into analysis of "A Day" from Styx II!) The band members themselves wrote many great tunes, but I wanted to point out that the outside material might be a *strength*, and not a detraction.
Music Review: I've been waiting for this one for a while...
Rating: 5 Stars
When most folks think of Styx, they obviously think of "Come Sail Away", "Renegade", "Blue Collar Man", etc. The late 70s / early 80s hits. Most folks aren't familiar with the band's first four albums, recorded for a small label with sometimes crappy production before getting signed to A&M Records. And that's too bad, because there are many treasures to be discovered here.
I've been a fan of these four albums for many years now, and I'm very excited to see them remastered and in a single collection.
In many ways, the least Styx-ish of the set is the first album, STYX. Only about half the album was written by Dennis DeYoung and/or James Young; the rest is made up of cover songs, and even includes a George Clinton tune! :-) Oddly, the album opens with the longest track the band, in any of its incarnations, would ever record: "Movement for the Common Man". However, it also gives us one of the band's early gems, the wonderful "Best Thing."
STYX II is a real triumph, a huge leap forward, with all the material coming from Dennis (mainly) and John Curulewski. Its a very cohesive album, much moreso than the first and third. It features the only enduring hit from this era, the lovely (and overplayed) DeYoung ballad "Lady". But in addition to this, we also get a few other winners: Dennis' "Father O.S.A." (I never knew what the initials stood for) and "Earl of Roseland" (a fun song about his early pre-Styx days in Chicago ["I can see Charlie on the porch, Johnny clicking his sticks / And two boys I don't even know rehearsing electric string tricks"]), and John C's absolutely superb "A Day". Spend some time with this song and it will reward you handsomely.
While II belonged mostly to Dennis, THE SERPENT IS RISING has JY and JC taking the reins, and what we find is what an unpredictable character JC is. Each of his few songs sound totally different from each other, ranging from II's gorgeous "A Day" to SERPENT's quirky title song and completely bizarre "Krakatoa" (and let's not overlook the silly and completely weird "Plexiglass Toilet"!!!). Both are very strong works, with "Krakatoa" being very experimental and 'soundscape-y'. JY turns in a couple of real gems here as well: "Witch Wolf" and "Young Man" are both terrific songs. He also gives a really great vocal performances on two Dennis-penned tunes, "Winner Takes All" and the excellent "Jonas Psalter". Plus, this album features one of my favourite Dennis songs of all time, the enigmatic "The Grove of Eglantine".
MAN OF MIRACLES closes the Wooden Nickel era, and is not only less experimental than STYX or SERPENT, but gives us glimpses of what's to come. This is much more a band album, with each guy contributing equally strong material (as opposed to II being very Dennis-driven and SERPENT being steered by JY and JC). Most of the stand-outs here come from Dennis. Most people point out "Golden Lark" and "Song for Suzanne", but for me, the highlights are "Mr. Christopher" and the absolutely excellent "Evil Eyes". Go have a listen to these less obvious tunes and see why they're so damn good. JY's songs here are mostly okay, "Man Like Me" and "Southern Woman" being the best. But the real surprise comes at the end: the title track is a brilliant song, and gives us shades of some of Styx's later mini-epics. JY's vocals on this song are absolutely outstanding, and Dennis' keyboards in the middle are foreshadowings of "Come Sail Away".
All-in-all, these are four very good albums, that show a band coming into its own, expanding its talents and abilities, and experimenting with classical music, church organs, spoken word pieces, cover tunes, and still turning in some very good, straightfoward rock music. They also show what a prominent role JY had in the band prior to Tommy Shaw's arrival in 1976.
And I'm completely thrilled to have them in my CD collection in newly remastered form.
Music Review: Extraordinarily eclectic progressive hard rock
Rating: 5 Stars
This excellent, economy-priced compilation repackages the first four Styx albums together including Styx (1972), Styx II (1973), The Serpent is Rising (1973), and Man of Miracles (1974), along with some very nice liner notes, the original cover artwork, and exceptional sonic clarity.
The first three Styx albums are simply staggering in the range of styles that are utilized within individual compositions, and from one song to the next while Man of Miracles is more straightforward. For example, along with hard rock and "boogie" (these styles dominate the four albums), there are scattered snippets of King Crimson, ELP, Jethro Tull, and southern rock influences, not to mention J.S. Bach (Fugue in G Minor - played on a pipe organ of course), snippets from great American composer Aaron Copland's Fanfare for a Common Man, an excellent rendering of the Hallelelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, covers of pop tunes (e.g. Lies), along with subtle avant-garde influences (found sounds), electronic experimentation, and um...bathroom humor (there is a silly, quasi-Mexican folk music flavored passage on As Bad As This where the subject matter includes a Plexiglas toilet - and ruins an otherwise great song). I'll be honest, even as a huge fan of 1970s English/continental European progressive rock (who loves eclecticism in music) I am completely in the dark as to what these guys were up to, but that is what I love about it - even if the eclecticism gets a bit "Frankensteinian" at times.
Of course, not all of the music is as crazy as I am making it out to be. Lady was a fairly popular hard rocking ballad, the cover song What Has Come Between Us is very proggy, Jonas Psalter is a great hard rock tune, and the Serpent is Rising, Grove of Eglantine, along with Young Man and the Movement for the Common Man suite are all excellent examples of progressive hard rock. With respect to the Dennis DeYoung/Chuck Lofrano authored bonus track Unfinished Song, it is very good and was apparently issued as a single in 1974.
Of the four albums on this compilation, my absolute favorite includes the unbelievably good The Serpent is Rising, which is the proggiest album of the four and comes complete with mellotron and loads of analog synthesizers. Coming in at a close second is the debut album, which is also very adventurous. With regard to the band members in Styx at this time, Dennis DeYoung is my favorite composer. He really hits the progressive rock thing on the head, and contributes a symphonic quality to the music that I find very appealing. Of course, his use of Hammond organ and tons of analog synthesizers including the moog, string synthesizer, and the mellotron does not hurt either.
My recommendation to Styx newcomers is to start with the incredible The Grand Illusion (1977) and work backwards through Pieces of Eight (1978), Crystal Ball (1976) and Equinox (1975) before tackling this 2 CD set. As far as my fellow progheads go, you may like some of the material on the first three albums and may love The Serpent is Rising, although there might be too much hard rock for the typical Yes/ELP/Genesis fan. Chances are that if you like Kansas, 1974-1975 period Argent, 1970-1971 Deep Purple, and early Atomic Rooster you will like this compilation. I know I did.
Music Review: The band that was Styx
Rating: 5 Stars
I can't believe someone gave this collection 3 stars just because there were no lyrics included! What the hey? As for Mr. 2 star---YES, you have to be a Styx fan to truly appreciate this collection. Obviously a four-album compilation of a band you can't stand is going to seem like a ripoff-duh? This is for die-hard Styx fans. This material is pre-Tommy Shaw. There was another member, John Curulewski, who tended infuse a more progressive, left-leaning element into the music. For the lighter fan, this will be an acquired taste, but he was integral to the early incarnation of Styx. If you are expecting Come Sail Away, or Blue Collar Man, walk away man, just walk away. Me, I'm pretty hard core. One of the first Styx albums I bought after the mandatory Grand Illusion was the Serpent album. At first I thought I had bought the wrong band. The album sleeve said Styx. The members had the same names as those on my favorite Styx albums, but the sound was just way too different. After a moment of panic, I listened to the lyrics a little more closely and to James Young's delivery on Witch Wolf and Dennis DeYoung's on The Grove of Eglantine and I was once again on familiar footing. Here's a breakdown of my favorite (but not necessarily yours!) favorite bits on four albums that were once upon a time very very hard to find:
Styx I--Great opener, Movement For The Common Man, then there's Right Away and Best Thing. Next to Equinox and Cornerstone, this album will sound crude to many of the lighter Styx fan contingents out there.
Styx II--Aka the Lady album. Awesome opener, You Need Love-the guitar work on this song is sonic ear candy; everyone pretty much knows the Lady song-it's what got so many of us hooked onto Styx in the first place; A Day is one the most sadly overlooked songs-this is Styx at some of its most progressive (and jazzy); Father O.S.A. seems to go over well with a lot of younger listeners-I played this song to some in a restaurant I used to work at.
Unfinished Song is just plan gorgeous. Great lyrical imagery.
The Serpent is Rising--As mentioned, Witch Wolf and Grove of Eglantine are powerful songs. Jonas Psalter is a great narrative. As Bad As This starts out really dour but then segues into the hilarious Plexi-glass Toilet song.
Man of Miracles--After the highs of the Serpent album, this album as a whole is more evenly paced and harder rocking. There are some moody moments such as Song for Suzanne and Golden Lark, but I'd have to lean towards the one-two punch of Christopher, Mr. Christopher and the mind-blowing and majestic Man Of Miracles (awesome vocal by James Young). You, dear reader, know the rest of the story: platinum, platinum and more platinum. Sadly, in their later albums (after Killroy), gone were the adventurous, hard-rocking and experimental elements that made Styx so appealing in the first place. Gone were the gypsies, sailing voyages, crystal balls, renegade outlaws, and even robots. Yep, when I listen to those first four Styx albums (and the other classics!!), I wonder if it would have been so bad for the Styx of today to have repeated their earlier incarnation even just for a little bit. Like a good cast, a good song is worth repeating.
Music Review: Must Own Styx Collection
Rating: 5 Stars
This collection is a must-own for any fan of Styx and Styx music, past or present. Herein lie the roots of the great band this group would become. There are some wonderful songs in this collection, most notably from the first two Wooden Nickel releases, Styx and Styx 2.
Styx was an ambitious project with the more than 13 minute long medley of hard-rocking, soft-sounding, progressive-leaning, classical-mixing-in, and even talking, starting the album, and the band's career, off. One immediately notices two things with this first recording. JY handles most of the vocals and DeYoung pitched his voice quite a bit lower than on later releases.
Two great numbers, besides the opener, from their first album are Best Thing and Quick is the Beat of My Heart.
Styx 2 was Dennis DeYoung's baby and it's initial failure to become a hit led directly to his lower profile on the last two albums they made for Wooden Nickel. Styx 2 is by far the best among all four of the albums from this era. It is a solid , musical, and intelligent work. Of course Lady was the standout hit on this one and became a standard rock classic, still popular today. It has a soaring vocal lead by DeYoung and superb harmony in addition to the beautiful piano and crashing guitars.
You Need Love is a wonderful rocking song that makes you want to stand up and dance.
You Better Ask is a funny, catchy composition by John Curulewski (with a hilarious coda). He also wrote and sings A Day which has a terrific jazz musical break. Father O.S.A. is a look into the progressive rock future of Styx. It also has some very prescient lyrics. This was just a really great album.
The weaker tracks, although there are some standouts, come from the final two Wooden Nickel albums The Serpent is Rising and Man of Miracles. These two albums were far less cohesive than the first two, but some wonderful music inhabits these as well. Standouts from SIR are one of JY's best on any recording, Young Man. This song is haunting with some terrific lyrics and has one of DeYoung's best keyboard solos to be found on any recording. Winner Take All is a great DeYoung penned rocker as is Curulewski's superb 22 Years. Both songs put a lie to the stupid notion that Dennis DeYoung could not sing or write a rocking number. Look for the hidden, hilarious track, behind Curulewski's Bad as This, The Plexiglas Toilet.
Man of Miracles has more JY penned or co-penned songs than either of the first three recordings and, of course, they are all rockers. The best of these are Rock and Roll Feeling and Southern Woman. One of DeYoung's loveliest songs, Golden Lark, is also on this last album, but this one is very much more rock oriented.
You get a true taste of all the talents of early Styx on this compilation and there is something for everyone. The early promise of this band and its individual performers, truly shines through on this. If you don't already own these 4 first releases from Styx, this is the perfect solution and contains the bonus track as well.