Classic JY - the genius of the band

[Boomchild]

he mentions it in his book and also the behind the music deal. It's pretty apparent unless we're burying our heads in the sand. The fact that he voted Dennis out (twice) also speaks volumes on how he thinks of him.

Also, those that constantly say that JY hasn't brought anything to the band, listen to the harmonies on any Styx song. More often than not JY is the high voice of those signature harmonies. Anybody could sing the DDY, TS harmony parts. Not everyone could do those super high harmony parts that JY pulls off. He really has a lot to do with their signature sound. Maybe not the writing, but definitely the vocal sound which is a huge part of their success.

But we don't want to hear about that...

I disagree about the harmonies. It was the combination of all three of their voices that made those Styx trademark harmonies. If it was mainly just JY that stuck out and anyone could fill in on the others then the harmonies of the current Styx would be exactly the same. That just isn't the case. They pale in comparison to the classic Styx harmonies.

Not saying he was soley responsible. I am saying that his voice in those harmonies really added a LOT and people don't give him credit for it. Listen to his solo albums and tell me the harmonies don't sound like Styx. Now listen to Tommy's. Doesn't sound like Styx harmonies to me at all. Dennis' do more, but mostly JYs stacked harmonies on his solo stuff (at least to me) have that Styx sound. The albums are terrible, but when I tried to sit through them, I was immediately struck by the harmonies and how Styx they were compared to the others. If you listen to 100 Years From Now, Dennis has kind of gone out of his way (my opinion) to make the harmonies sound very Styx-ish. There's also a guy there in the harmony mix that sounds suspiciously like JY to me on some of the tracks. I think Froy said that was Kevin Chalfont, but I don't know enough of his stuff to comment.

JY certainly deserves credit to contributing to what can be called the Styx trade mark harmonies. It's those three specific voices that made it and that is what is lacking in the current Styx line up. With regards to DDY's OYFN album, certainly Dennis did put effort into making some of the harmonies Styx like. Theres nothing suspicious about it. Dennis has been upfront about that. He has stated he was trying to recreate music like he did with Styx. That's what the record label had asked from him. It's not like DDY has stated the opposite.

[Rockwriter]

he mentions it in his book and also the behind the music deal. It's pretty apparent unless we're burying our heads in the sand. The fact that he voted Dennis out (twice) also speaks volumes on how he thinks of him.

Also, those that constantly say that JY hasn't brought anything to the band, listen to the harmonies on any Styx song. More often than not JY is the high voice of those signature harmonies. Anybody could sing the DDY, TS harmony parts. Not everyone could do those super high harmony parts that JY pulls off. He really has a lot to do with their signature sound. Maybe not the writing, but definitely the vocal sound which is a huge part of their success.

But we don't want to hear about that...

I disagree about the harmonies. It was the combination of all three of their voices that made those Styx trademark harmonies. If it was mainly just JY that stuck out and anyone could fill in on the others then the harmonies of the current Styx would be exactly the same. That just isn't the case. They pale in comparison to the classic Styx harmonies.

Not saying he was soley responsible. I am saying that his voice in those harmonies really added a LOT and people don't give him credit for it. Listen to his solo albums and tell me the harmonies don't sound like Styx. Now listen to Tommy's. Doesn't sound like Styx harmonies to me at all. Dennis' do more, but mostly JYs stacked harmonies on his solo stuff (at least to me) have that Styx sound. The albums are terrible, but when I tried to sit through them, I was immediately struck by the harmonies and how Styx they were compared to the others. If you listen to 100 Years From Now, Dennis has kind of gone out of his way (my opinion) to make the harmonies sound very Styx-ish. There's also a guy there in the harmony mix that sounds suspiciously like JY to me on some of the tracks. I think Froy said that was Kevin Chalfont, but I don't know enough of his stuff to comment.

Of course, a lot of the reason the harmonies on Tommy's and Dennis' solo records sound different is because they deliberately chose to try a different approach, while JY stayed with just about exactly what he had always done. That's both the strength, and ultimately the weakness of his solo albums.


Sterling