MR

Does anyone know why Little Suzie was left off the CD and DVD? I always wanted to hear/see this live, outside of a bootleg.

Grotelul wrote:Does anyone know why Little Suzie was left off the CD and DVD? I always wanted to hear/see this live, outside of a bootleg.

Very bad move
That song kicked ass
I heard it live many times
Loved it,

It was a bad move. GREAT song.

My guess is that why it was left off was because it was a Glen Burtnik penned song. At the time Glen Burtnik was no longer a part of Styx. Dennis, Tommy & the rest probably thought that he was done with Styx forever.

Glen would only amount to a very tough Styx trivia question that only diehard fans would know the answer to.

I saw video of Dennis singing "Paradise" live and i believe it was a video of Froy's at one time. I think it would've been awesome to hear something like that live.

I thought at the time the CD came out it might have been a royalty issue, what with the outside writers on the tune, since they didn't include the acoustic covers either, and edited out the Bob Marley moment on "Renegade" -- but then the latter was back in for the video, so...who knows? Maybe there was a glitch in the recording.

No I think they could perform the Eric Clapton Bit on Video without having to fork over royalties, but on CD they would have. I think Allan would probably know, since I do recall some time ago this discussion came up..

Maybe is was omitted because RTP was essentially a live "hits" package, even though it wasn't billed as such, and Suzie wasn't a hit? It would have come off like a "bonus" new song, and that's exactly what is was on the previous CD that was released. That was always my guess...

ManOfMiracles wrote:Maybe is was omitted because RTP was essentially a live "hits" package, even though it wasn't billed as such, and Suzie wasn't a hit? It would have come off like a "bonus" new song, and that's exactly what is was on the previous CD that was released. That was always my guess...

Bingo. Give that man a prize. Also remember that RTP on album had 3 new tracks ("On My Way", "Paradise", "Dear John"). Since they were no longer on A&M, CMC wanted to capitalize on the reunion hype, get some product out there. So the easiest/quickest thing is a live album, and maybe get some new material - the first new stuff written by Styx since EOTC, and if you're counting, since 1983 with Tommy Shaw. "It Takes Love" was a Son of Edge leftover, and "Little Suzie" really was a Glen song they adapted. Putting songs like "Little Suzie" on there wouldn't further the cause here. RTP is what it is: capturing lightning in a bottle.

Also, keep in mind the rare 1st pressing of the video is on Paradise Pals - they made and sold it themselves on the 97 tour. It's only later BMG picked up the video. Just sayin' ...

Now, there is precedent out there that some bands even if the CD is edited will release the full show, but that isn't the case here.

StyxCollector wrote:

ManOfMiracles wrote:Maybe is was omitted because RTP was essentially a live "hits" package, even though it wasn't billed as such, and Suzie wasn't a hit? It would have come off like a "bonus" new song, and that's exactly what is was on the previous CD that was released. That was always my guess...

Bingo. Give that man a prize. Also remember that RTP on album had 3 new tracks ("On My Way", "Paradise", "Dear John"). Since they were no longer on A&M, CMC wanted to capitalize on the reunion hype, get some product out there. So the easiest/quickest thing is a live album, and maybe get some new material - the first new stuff written by Styx since EOTC, and if you're counting, since 1983 with Tommy Shaw. "It Takes Love" was a Son of Edge leftover, and "Little Suzie" really was a Glen song they adapted. Putting songs like "Little Suzie" on there wouldn't further the cause here. RTP is what it is: capturing lightning in a bottle.

But...that makes no sense. I mean, I can see why CMC would want to focus on the hits, but while keeping LS wouldn't "further the cause" necessarily, I don't see how including it would have hurt anything -- and really, editing and mastering an extra 5 minutes of footage couldn't have made all that much difference in terms of time & money. I'm not disputing that marketing was the reason ...I just think that if so, it's a deeply weird one.

Standard industry stuff. Songs like "Little Suzie" are quickly forgotten and meant to get the die hards - who are essentially buying a hits compilation - to get the release.

If "Little Suzie" was the only song they left off, OK, people would have an argument. But it wasn't. And even what was there was edited (i.e. the "I Shot The Sheriff" part of "Renegade" which is on the promo single).

Why did they edit out the dialogue during the acoustic part of the show on the DVD?? It was hysterical.
Dennis talking about his "shrinking organ!" That was my favorite part of the show. And they did it at every concert I went too, and I saw RTP all over the West Coast. They should have left that part in there. It didn't take up too much time.

I would have liked Little Suzie left in too, but that diaglogue part was Very entertaining and they should have kept in there.
I would love to get a copy of the show In it's ENTIRETY with nothing cut out.

cittadeeno23 wrote:Why did they edit out the dialogue during the acoustic part of the show on the DVD?? It was hysterical.
Dennis talking about his "shrinking organ!" That was my favorite part of the show. And they did it at every concert I went too, and I saw RTP all over the West Coast. They should have left that part in there. It didn't take up too much time.

I would have liked Little Suzie left in too, but that diaglogue part was Very entertaining and they should have kept in there.
I would love to get a copy of the show In it's ENTIRETY with nothing cut out.

I'm a big fan of live CDs and I have come to the conclusion that most "on stage chatter" is eliminated from Live CDs / DVDs. Listening to a CD isn't quite the same as being there, and in my mind, it's usually a smart move. I have a Billy Joel live CD from New Years Eve 2000 - he includes a lot of the chatter and it does break up the flow too much.

Cinj

Cinj, I agree with you to leave it off of the CD, but I think they should have kept it on the DVD.
I love when bands talk to the audience at a concert.

GrandIllusionist725 wrote:I saw video of Dennis singing "Paradise" live and i believe it was a video of Froy's at one time. I think it would've been awesome to hear something like that live.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68MG0akEWfU

I also have a video of him doing in in Quebec City in 1997..

I know giving bootlegs to the artists is bad, but I gave a copy of the Quebec 97 Show to Dennis..

I can still remember his smile when I told him my first Styx concert was at the Gorge in 96!

I will never doubt someone again who says that a brief meeting doesn't change someone's life for the better.

Again thanks Dennis!

froy wrote:

Grotelul wrote:Does anyone know why Little Suzie was left off the CD and DVD? I always wanted to hear/see this live, outside of a bootleg.

Very bad move
That song kicked ass
I heard it live many times
Loved it,

YUP. It was lame that it was left off.

cittadeeno23 wrote:Why did they edit out the dialogue during the acoustic part of the show on the DVD?? It was hysterical.
Dennis talking about his "shrinking organ!" That was my favorite part of the show. And they did it at every concert I went too, and I saw RTP all over the West Coast. They should have left that part in there. It didn't take up too much time.

I would have liked Little Suzie left in too, but that diaglogue part was Very entertaining and they should have kept in there.
I would love to get a copy of the show In it's ENTIRETY with nothing cut out.

Probably edited out because they said the same thing everywhere they went and that's not a great thing to promote.
Sounds too canned.