Your First Impression Of Larry

[stabbim]

Are they Styx? No. Sorry, but 2/5 of Styx = less than half of Styx! What if Tommy leaves and they replace him with someone else? IS it still Styx even though JY has the right to the name??? At what point does it not become Styx??

When they stop billing themselves as such.

[froy]

Just curious

Larry ?
Who's Larry?

[stabbim]

Larry ?
Who's Larry?

Froy makes a good (if unwitting) point here...when did all this "Larry" stuff start? I have never heard anyone associated with the band call him that.

[StyxCollector]

Luckily we can still see both play, so it's not really an issue

Welcome to the Melodic Rock board, Allan. You're obviously new around these parts.

Right off the boat.

These "debates" (if you can even call it that) are entertaining at best. They all end in DDY vs. JY, so what's really the point, right?

[Higgy]

Name one song that Gowan has written that compares favorably to all the material that DDY wrote while in Styx, that adds luster to the Styx catalog instead of detracting from it.

Still thinking? That's what I thought...

Larry is a good keyboard player. But so is Igor Khoroshev from Yes, who filled in decently enough for Rick Wakeman. But any Yes fan will tell you that they would much rather have Rick on stage. But it's much different when you're talking about the singer...look at how that guy from the Buggles got treated when he replaced Yes vocalist Jon Anderson on the Drama tour back in 1980. Trevor Horn couldn't sing like Anderson, just like Larry can't sing like Dennis.

The thing is that Stynx (what I call the current Styx) has been trying to reinvent itself since 1999. Never mind that they were doing so at such an extremely late stage in their career, 27 years after their first album came out. That was hard enough, but to basically take a symbolic crap on their own heritage in the process was too much. (By this I mean all the DDY-bashing from JY, the never-ending touring, and the constant whistling-past-the-graveyard announcements from guys in the band that "this is the best lineup of Styx EVER." )

Gowan never played on any of those classic Styx albums, and hasn't written anything that comes remotely close in quality. So he brings good keyboard skills...fine, let him play keyboards and bring in a DDY clone to sing the songs as they should be sung, if DDY himself can't do it for medical reasons (or won't because of the presence of JY).

More Love For The Money is a much better song than many that DDY has written with Styx. Better than First Time, Back To Chicago, Carrie Ann, everything off of BNW except Goodbye Roseland, High Time...shall I go on?

But probably not as cool as She Cares, Lonely School, or Superstars right? Its real cool to compare to DDY's dorkiest songs.

[Grotelul]

Name one song that Gowan has written that compares favorably to all the material that DDY wrote while in Styx, that adds luster to the Styx catalog instead of detracting from it.

Still thinking? That's what I thought...

Larry is a good keyboard player. But so is Igor Khoroshev from Yes, who filled in decently enough for Rick Wakeman. But any Yes fan will tell you that they would much rather have Rick on stage. But it's much different when you're talking about the singer...look at how that guy from the Buggles got treated when he replaced Yes vocalist Jon Anderson on the Drama tour back in 1980. Trevor Horn couldn't sing like Anderson, just like Larry can't sing like Dennis.

The thing is that Stynx (what I call the current Styx) has been trying to reinvent itself since 1999. Never mind that they were doing so at such an extremely late stage in their career, 27 years after their first album came out. That was hard enough, but to basically take a symbolic crap on their own heritage in the process was too much. (By this I mean all the DDY-bashing from JY, the never-ending touring, and the constant whistling-past-the-graveyard announcements from guys in the band that "this is the best lineup of Styx EVER." )

Gowan never played on any of those classic Styx albums, and hasn't written anything that comes remotely close in quality. So he brings good keyboard skills...fine, let him play keyboards and bring in a DDY clone to sing the songs as they should be sung, if DDY himself can't do it for medical reasons (or won't because of the presence of JY).

More Love For The Money is a much better song than many that DDY has written with Styx. Better than First Time, Back To Chicago, Carrie Ann, everything off of BNW except Goodbye Roseland, High Time...shall I go on?

But probably not as cool as She Cares, Lonely School, or Superstars right? Its real cool to compare to DDY's dorkiest songs.

I don't recall seeing anything in this sentence about Tommy Shaw.....

"Name one song that Gowan has written that compares favorably to all the material that DDY wrote while in Styx, that adds luster to the Styx catalog instead of detracting from it."

[Zan]

I don't recall seeing anything in this sentence about Tommy Shaw.....

Yeah, but it's a well-known fact that Dennis coined the phrase "Tommy Shaw," so it's an association thing.

Dennis had dorky songs?

[rajah2165]

Maybe my previous post was not as clear as I wanted it to be. Its not whether Gowan can sing these two songs better or worse than DDY, its that people who prefer Styx with Gowan don't care to hear these songs at all (and would rather hear Gowan's own songs or more Tommy songs). I am just wondering if anyone prefers Gowan's renditions of the few DDY songs that he still sings to DDY renditions of those same songs.

IYes, I prefer Gowan singing "Lady," even tho it's a cardinal sin and all.

Ahh, so you enjoy things being sung off pitch?

[Zan]

Ahh, so you enjoy things being sung off pitch?

Oh, my sides...you are so hysterical. Do you write your own material?

[rajah2165]

Ahh, so you enjoy things being sung off pitch?

Oh, my sides...you are so hysterical. Do you write your own material?

Well I jsut figured that in reference to the fact that you like Gowan singing Lady combined with your performance with Glen that you have an affinity for pitchy-ness.

[kansas666]

"Name one song that Gowan has written that compares favorably to all the material that DDY wrote while in Styx, that adds luster to the Styx catalog instead of detracting from it."

Well, I think More Love For The Money is a pretty good song.

I first saw Gowan in 1999 on about their 3rd or 4th show with the new lineup. I was very curious to see how he would do. I left with the feeling that he is a rock and roll version of Denny.

Denny had some great songs. But I never liked his stage presence.

[kipthekid]

...but, for my $$, Larry's rendition is piss-poor kareoke. Great keyboardist, mediocre singer.

Say what one will about Dennis' penchant for self-indulgent corniness and sap over the years, but, apart from Zan, LG's parents, and a few other kool-aide drinkers for NewStyx, I doubt ANYONE would honestly prefer LG's voice on any tune over Dennis'. It's akin to preferring Muhammed Ali's stirring rendition of "Stand by Me" or Leif Garret's rendition of, well, anything.

[kipthekid]

1. Great piano player. As good as any playing "rock" music that I've ever heard.

2. Wild on stage - fun and at times distracting. The spinning keyboard schtick was "off" IMHO.

3. Very likeable - like you'd want him as a friend

4. Surprisingly weak on keyboards when Styx did "Fooling Yourself." He's clearly a far more accomplished musician than Dennis, but he butchered this when I heard them at Summerfest in Milwaukee.

5. WEAK vocalist. Did no justice to any of DDY's tunes - particularly Lady and The Grand Illusion. Thin voice reminds me of Paul Anka or Greg Rollie live. His recorded voice sounds a little bit like George Harrison.

6. On Cyclorama, "Fields of the Brave" ranks with the worst songs ever produced with the name "Styx" on it. It sounded like a high school kid trying to sound like Styx. The lyrics were amateurish and borderline offensive. "More Love For the Money" was a nice little tune. Is it comparable to Dennis' best? No - not even close. But it's a nice little song.

[elmotano]

Yogi has a point. Are they Styx? In a word? NO.

Are they fun to watch? Sure. Are they Styx? No. Sorry, but 2/5 of Styx = less than half of Styx! What if Tommy leaves and they replace him with someone else? IS it still Styx even though JY has the right to the name??? At what point does it not become Styx??

If Dennis, Tommy and JY got back together, regardless of who played drums and bass, I think it would be fair to call themselves Styx. They wrote and sang all the songs together.
But until then, I prefer to call the 2 bands "the Dennis Deyoung band" and "the Tommy/JY project".

Now back to your regularly scheduled Dennis/Larry debate.

Having been a Styx fan for over 30 years, I have seen many shows with Dennis and with out. I always find it really funny that the casual fan, still thinks it's Dennis playing. I still hear wow all these years and Dennis still sounds great. Sometimes I let them know it's not Dennis, sometimes I just let them wait for the band to be introduced to see what happens......so far once or twice I have heard "Oh man! that's not Dennis DeYoung? This guy sounds just like him." Do I agree with this comment, no not at all. Larry is Larry. To me he is a brilliant Keyboardist with a decent voice. Most importantly, he allows for Styx to play over 100 shows a year. Now, I love DDY's music and his time in Styx, but , you can't argue with the fact that he hates touring, so we would never see this many Styx shows.
Also, I found it very interesting, sitting at BB Kings in NYC at a DDY show, at my table were people related to people in the band ( no, none had relation to Glen). They were all talking about how much Glen brings to a DDY show. Then they mentioned DDY is not usually happy about that.
I do love the fact that I get double dose of Styx Music from both bands.