Published on Jun 4, 2001
Whew… seems like only yesterday, Styx had released a live
album, and things in the band looked rosier than a Chicagoan’s
cheeks in the middle of winter. Everyone was still coming to grips
with the death of John Panozzo, but with new drummer Todd
Sucherman, it sounded like everything was going to be all right in
the world of arena rock.
Of course, it was a mere four years ago that
Return To Paradise was thrust onto the market – and less
than one year since
Arch Allies – Live At Riverport, a dual live album recorded
with REO Speedwagon, was thrown at us. It’s also been two years
since
Brave New World, the last crapburger-posing-as-a-Styx-album,
crashed with a thud off the charts. Since that time, Dennis DeYoung
has been fired from the band he co-founded (while fighting a
mysterious illness that kept him laid low), Chuck Panozzo has
played less dates with the band (opening the door for one-time Styx
guitarist Glen Burtnik to come back as bassist), and Lawrence Gowan
stepped in on keyboards/vocals.
The end result,
Styxworld Live 2001, is nowhere near as satisfying as
Return To Paradise was. (Granted, almost all the “radio
hits” are on
Arch Allies; to re-hash them again would have been silly.)
Simply put, this is not Styx.
No, wait, that’s not entirely true. When Gowan tries to front
the band, it sure as hell isn’t Styx. Gowan just doesn’t have the
vocal ability to pull off songs like “Come Sail Away” and “Lorelei”
as lead vocalist. Sure, anyone filling in for DeYoung would have a
hard enough path, and he’s a capable enough backing vocalist, but
Gowan’s undoing is based on his own limitations. Still not
convinced? Imagine Tiny Tim replacing Lemmy in Motorhead. ‘Nuff
said.
When the band relies on James “JY” Young or Tommy Shaw to sing,
things get a little better. Tracks like “Snowblind” and “Crystal
Ball” do have some evidence of the sparks that made this band so
wonderful in their early days. The choice to include some rare
nuggets from Styx’s past, including “Half-Penny, Two-Penny” (from
Paradise Theatre) and “Sing For The Day” (from
Pieces Of Eight) is also a nice step. However, Styx
resorting to covers from other artists (and I don’t give a damn
that Shaw was in Damn Yankees,
it
‘s not a Styx song
!!!) raises one mother of a red flag. (Memo to the band:
Consider dropping “Love Is The Ritual” – I mean
permanently.)
So what does
Styxworld Live 2001 ultimately suggest? First, the band
would be better off retiring the songs that DeYoung used to sing
leads on, and just focus on material that Young or Shaw can cover.
Second, stop performing covers – for the love of all things holy,
don’t do that again. Third, fans need to get used to the fact that
DeYoung will probably never be welcomed back by his former
bandmates – and that the listeners need to do some adapting. Is it
worth the effort?
Styxworld Live 2001 doesn’t quite answer that clearly – and
this disc, in fact, will undoubtedly leave more questions than
solutions.