Search - Styx :: 2

2 & 1/2

Empty Sky7 | Columbus, Ohio United States | 04/19/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"While this definitely is not the ideal Styx album, it does deserve some merit and it's really about the only place you can find the group's first top ten single "Lady".
Let me start by saying, I'm really in the dark as to why John Curlewski was kept in the background so much, he had a good voice, better than J.Y.'s(sorry), most of his songs seem to be crafted a little better than the other guys, and he managed to incorporate a certain amount of humor into his material.. Don't get me wrong, I think Tommy was a great addition to the group, but it's too bad they had to lose John and that they didn't really use him all that much when they had him..Ahh, what could have been..
My favorite track would probably have to be the John Curlewski penned "You Better Ask", it doesn't seem like many other reviewers share my appreciation for the song, but it's catchy, and pretty funny too; who knows, it might have made a good single..
Next in line would have to be the classic "Lady", the DeYoung song that finally gave the band a breakthrough(nearly two years after this album's release); the drumming near the end is classic, and no other drummer, except for Mr. John Panozzo has ever gotten it exactly right; "Earl Of Roseland" has some great, classic rock music, set to some DeYoung lyrics on the verge of sentimentality; and finally, Curlewski hits it again with "A Day", a song that has always reminded me a bit of Pink Floyd..
Unfortunately though, other than these four songs, I don't find this album to really feature anything else too worthwhile.. I just don't think that "I'm Gonna Make You Feel It" is a good song, and while "You Need Love" has a somewhat catchy chorus, I feel it misses the mark as well..
When it comes to Styx, while being a pretty big fan, I'm really more partial to the Tommy years, but I find the earlier releases have their moments too.
Also, a word of advice.. if you are just now delving into the earlier releases of Styx(RCA, Wooden Nickel), and you consider yourself to be a somewhat big fan, it would probably be worth your while to attempt to find all four of the albums, rather than going with the best of compilation that RCA put out in the early '80s. For one thing, the sound quality is fairly poor, and it just misses on too many of the better songs from this period.."

Now I Remember!!

bojangle12 | APO, AE United States | 12/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have been trying to rebuild my music collection over the last 14 years, and keep trying to remember things I had in a different format. I first owned this as an 8-track and remember purchasing it and Queen II about the same time. I had put off getting this on CD as I don't remember liking it all that well. Shows how my memory has faded over the years. "Lady" is what drew me to this in the first place, but turned out not to be my favorite song. In fact, "A Day", "Father O.S.A" and "I'm Gonna Make You Feel It" are my personal favorites. Even "Earl of Roseland", which is a little wierd, and begins a road Dennis DeYoung kept going down in later work sounds good here. Granted this is pre-Tommy Shaw, but it has a lot ballzier feeling than the more commercial stuff that came later. Yes, I have those also, but this will be in my CD player for the next couple weeks as I think back and remember when. Listening to this and the music I grew up with makes me sad for the kids that have to choose from the...that is coming out today. No originality and it all sounds the same. I'm sure I'm prejudice, and my Dad said the same thing about my music, but this one is a keeper and was well worth the bucks. Of the 50 CD's I've purchased this year, this one and Rare Earth's 20th Century Masters were by far the best two that are now back in my collection."