MStyx - TS's INFLUENCE

[yogi]

Last Friday my M.S. Funk Platform Shoes CD arrived. I have given this CD a whole bunch of spins since. The first thing I have to say is, if you are a Styx fan this is a MUST purchase. Forget the recent past and buy this CD.

MSFunk is the closest thing to Styx I have ever heard. This CD is all over the map but it still all comes back to the Styx sound.

Let me start out with some quotes from the liner notes. The notes were written by a guy named Paul Love

'I still recall the evening in 1972 when I first saw this band perform. I was convinced in a short time, and I remain so to this day that I was watching and listening to the greatest band of all my experiences'.

Paul made an offer to the group to record them. The deal was that he could record them but all recordings were to remain private, and would never be distributed or copied without permission of all the band members. These recordings lay dormat for over 30 years until now.

There is enough to produce 3 CD's Paul writes. This CD has over 70 minutes of material. Will there be 2 more CD's in the future? I dont know. He does not say.

The CD starts off with a song called Musical Charades. The start of this song and Put Me On are exact. The fourth Song MS Funk Medley has the start of Put Me On in it again plus what sounds like the drift away part DDY and JY use later in Put Me On. Its incredible.

The last song on the CD is the 9:50 song titled Bitter Suite. This is where the song Mademoiselle comes form. 'The where do you go at the end of the day, where do you go when you spend time away' plus more is exact. It almost sounds fresher than the Styx version. It never says Sweet Mademoiselle the song just moves on into a different direction. The part in DDY's Ballerina right before Dennis sings 'dance for me, I beg of you' is also in this song almost exactly how it appears on Crystal Ball, Ballerina version, right down to the Wo OOHH part.

This CD just blows me away.

There are 13 songs 3 of these songs are right at or over 10 minutes long. Only three of these songs are covers. One of the covers is Tommy singing BBKing's The Thrill Is Gone.

The CD has everything from a Crosby Stills feel to a George Benson feel, but it all comes back to Styx. It makes me wish that Dennis or JY would break out some TW4 recordings that you know are out there.

I never knew how much Tommy influenced their(Styx) sound until now. Years later Styx even went back to the MS Funk sound so to speak. There is a part in one of the songs where the guitar riff from Rockin The Paradise comes from. It sounds exact to me.

It blows me away that Dennis would give so much control to Tommy right after Styx had done Equinox. Which was Dennis's album in my opinion. That entire Crystal Ball album was pretty much Tommys. Dennis has got to be one hell of a guy to allow this.

M.S. Funk has 8 or 9 players and almost all of them sing. They sound GREAT. The vocals are tremendous. While some of the music sounds dated the songs are so complex and layered its like, 'is this the same song that started 8 minutes ago?'. The vocalists take turns in the same song. Its awesome.

Finally, the only reason I could see this band not making it BIG was their geography. ALABAMA was not the right place for this band. I honestly wonder at the time if Tommy thought he was making a mistake switching bands. After hearing M.S. Funk you are left to wonder why they didnt make it HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

[gr8dane]

Sounds great.Was Tommy the only songwriter in MSF.?

[yogi]

It does not show any song writing credits. But I would guess no.

When Tommy plays The Thrill Is Gone he is introduced by another band member by him saying ' I would like to now introduce another member of the band Mr. Tommy Shaw'

It lists the players in MS Funk on the CD. Tommy is shown as guitars-vocals. Everyone but the drummers has vocals by their names. One guy it states - Lead Vocals.

Tommy was really young back then. My wife saw one of the pictures and she commented 'wow look how young he is, he looks like a high school girl'.

[froy]

Last Friday my M.S. Funk Platform Shoes CD arrived. I have given this CD a whole bunch of spins since. The first thing I have to say is, if you are a Styx fan this is a MUST purchase. Forget the recent past and buy this CD.

MSFunk is the closest thing to Styx I have ever heard. This CD is all over the map but it still all comes back to the Styx sound.

Let me start out with some quotes from the liner notes. The notes were written by a guy named Paul Love

'I still recall the evening in 1972 when I first saw this band perform. I was convinced in a short time, and I remain so to this day that I was watching and listening to the greatest band of all my experiences'.

Paul made an offer to the group to record them. The deal was that he could record them but all recordings were to remain private, and would never be distributed or copied without permission of all the band members. These recordings lay dormat for over 30 years until now.

There is enough to produce 3 CD's Paul writes. This CD has over 70 minutes of material. Will there be 2 more CD's in the future? I dont know. He does not say.

The CD starts off with a song called Musical Charades. The start of this song and Put Me On are exact. The fourth Song MS Funk Medley has the start of Put Me On in it again plus what sounds like the drift away part DDY and JY use later in Put Me On. Its incredible.

The last song on the CD is the 9:50 song titled Bitter Suite. This is where the song Mademoiselle comes form. 'The where do you go at the end of the day, where do you go when you spend time away' plus more is exact. It almost sounds fresher than the Styx version. It never says Sweet Mademoiselle the song just moves on into a different direction. The part in DDY's Ballerina right before Dennis sings 'dance for me, I beg of you' is also in this song almost exactly how it appears on Crystal Ball, Ballerina version, right down to the Wo OOHH part.

This CD just blows me away.

There are 13 songs 3 of these songs are right at or over 10 minutes long. Only three of these songs are covers. One of the covers is Tommy singing BBKing's The Thrill Is Gone.

The CD has everything from a Crosby Stills feel to a George Benson feel, but it all comes back to Styx. It makes me wish that Dennis or JY would break out some TW4 recordings that you know are out there.

I never knew how much Tommy influenced their(Styx) sound until now. Years later Styx even went back to the MS Funk sound so to speak. There is a part in one of the songs where the guitar riff from Rockin The Paradise comes from. It sounds exact to me.

It blows me away that Dennis would give so much control to Tommy right after Styx had done Equinox. Which was Dennis's album in my opinion. That entire Crystal Ball album was pretty much Tommys. Dennis has got to be one hell of a guy to allow this.

M.S. Funk has 8 or 9 players and almost all of them sing. They sound GREAT. The vocals are tremendous. While some of the music sounds dated the songs are so complex and layered its like, 'is this the same song that started 8 minutes ago?'. The vocalists take turns in the same song. Its awesome.

Finally, the only reason I could see this band not making it BIG was their geography. ALABAMA was not the right place for this band. I honestly wonder at the time if Tommy thought he was making a mistake switching bands. After hearing M.S. Funk you are left to wonder why they didnt make it HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow I am so happy to see this cd has seen the lite of day
3 songs 10 min each thats Pink Floyd quality
I know the buzz in Bloomingdale is for MS Funk to reform

I am hoping they do a world tour
Rumor has it that MS Funk had the tune Lady before Dennis did.
I heard Shaw 16 at the time was dating his bass players grandmother and he was inspired to right a song about her
He called it My Old Lady.
Dennis was rumored to be bowling in Alabama at the time on his boy scout retreat and he over heard MS funk doing this song in the lounge.
He knew he had to steal this one it was just to good to pass up
I think the part about the false teeth had to be cut out and he just said when your with me Im Smiling not your smiling.

Anyway I dug up a video of Shaw when he was in MS funk along time ago
Here is a rare clip of them

enjoy .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdjC2vL-574

[yogi]

Froy,

If you are for real I wish the hell I could get You Tube at my work.

You can rip it to shreads( MS Funk CD), but I am telling you this is a MUST purchase for Styx fans.

I hope Sterling includes something about MS Funk in his book. They truly influenced the Styx sound.

They are like bizzareo Styx.

Tommy was more of a factor than I ever gave him credit for.

[Jodes]

Yogi, Froy isn't real. He just can't bare the fact that Tommy actually may have contributed more to the Crystal Ball album then he thought.

Because according to Froy, even before he was in Styx Tommy was a threat.

He's really grasping at straws now.

[SuiteMadameBlue]

I just ordered my copy! I'm listening to the songs on their My Space page again, thanks to Colin for all the information in the other thread.

I'm looking forward to this cd!

[froy]

Yogi, Froy isn't real. He just can't bare the fact that Tommy actually may have contributed more to the Crystal Ball album then he thought.

Because according to Froy, even before he was in Styx Tommy was a threat.

He's really grasping at straws now.

Oh blow it out your @$%^&*

[froy]

I'm looking forward to this cd![/b][/color]

We should start a Im Looking Forward to this thread
How many times has Suite used these words
I say more times than current STYX cds sold.

[Jodes]

Oooooh.. I touched a nerve..

[froy]

Oooooh.. I touched a nerve..

Don't ever touch me ther again Jodes

Of course its a joke
Im giving Yogi back a taste of his own strange medicine
That video is freaking hilarious,

[Jodes]

awww... but Froy that's not what you said last night!

[SuiteMadameBlue]

I'm looking forward to this cd![/b][/color]

We should start a Im Looking Forward to this thread
How many times has Suite used these words
I say more times than current STYX cds sold.

Sorry, it's not "Pick on Suite Day"today - LOL

I'm always looking forward to "new" music!! I just bought a ton of "new" cd's from used cd stores!! I love it!!

I love looking forward to "things", in fact I'm looking forward to 12:30pm today !!!

[froy]

I love looking forward to "things", in fact I'm looking forward to 12:30pm today !!! [/b] [/color]

[/quote]

UPS MAN?

[Rockwriter]

Last Friday my M.S. Funk Platform Shoes CD arrived. I have given this CD a whole bunch of spins since. The first thing I have to say is, if you are a Styx fan this is a MUST purchase. Forget the recent past and buy this CD.

MSFunk is the closest thing to Styx I have ever heard. This CD is all over the map but it still all comes back to the Styx sound.

Let me start out with some quotes from the liner notes. The notes were written by a guy named Paul Love

'I still recall the evening in 1972 when I first saw this band perform. I was convinced in a short time, and I remain so to this day that I was watching and listening to the greatest band of all my experiences'.

Paul made an offer to the group to record them. The deal was that he could record them but all recordings were to remain private, and would never be distributed or copied without permission of all the band members. These recordings lay dormat for over 30 years until now.

There is enough to produce 3 CD's Paul writes. This CD has over 70 minutes of material. Will there be 2 more CD's in the future? I dont know. He does not say.

The CD starts off with a song called Musical Charades. The start of this song and Put Me On are exact. The fourth Song MS Funk Medley has the start of Put Me On in it again plus what sounds like the drift away part DDY and JY use later in Put Me On. Its incredible.

The last song on the CD is the 9:50 song titled Bitter Suite. This is where the song Mademoiselle comes form. 'The where do you go at the end of the day, where do you go when you spend time away' plus more is exact. It almost sounds fresher than the Styx version. It never says Sweet Mademoiselle the song just moves on into a different direction. The part in DDY's Ballerina right before Dennis sings 'dance for me, I beg of you' is also in this song almost exactly how it appears on Crystal Ball, Ballerina version, right down to the Wo OOHH part.

This CD just blows me away.

There are 13 songs 3 of these songs are right at or over 10 minutes long. Only three of these songs are covers. One of the covers is Tommy singing BBKing's The Thrill Is Gone.

The CD has everything from a Crosby Stills feel to a George Benson feel, but it all comes back to Styx. It makes me wish that Dennis or JY would break out some TW4 recordings that you know are out there.

I never knew how much Tommy influenced their(Styx) sound until now. Years later Styx even went back to the MS Funk sound so to speak. There is a part in one of the songs where the guitar riff from Rockin The Paradise comes from. It sounds exact to me.

It blows me away that Dennis would give so much control to Tommy right after Styx had done Equinox. Which was Dennis's album in my opinion. That entire Crystal Ball album was pretty much Tommys. Dennis has got to be one hell of a guy to allow this.

M.S. Funk has 8 or 9 players and almost all of them sing. They sound GREAT. The vocals are tremendous. While some of the music sounds dated the songs are so complex and layered its like, 'is this the same song that started 8 minutes ago?'. The vocalists take turns in the same song. Its awesome.

Finally, the only reason I could see this band not making it BIG was their geography. ALABAMA was not the right place for this band. I honestly wonder at the time if Tommy thought he was making a mistake switching bands. After hearing M.S. Funk you are left to wonder why they didnt make it HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!

The difference between them and Styx in terms of success can be summed up in one word: management. Styx had strong management, at least after Derek came in. MS Funk did not. The guys in Styx had business sense and perhaps the guys in MS Funk did not, who knows?Tommy certainly didn't, and doesn't.
As far as why so much of this stuff became CRYSTAL BALL, it's not so much to do with Dennis allowing it or not. That was Dennis' least contribution to any of the A&M albums because that was when he had a nervous breakdown. Dennis voluntarily committed himself for a short period for observation, and then he was gone for a number of weeks, and when he came back he was passive, withdrawn, and not capable of working for long periods like he usually did. It took him a while to come back up to speed. They had a deadline to meet with the album, and in that time of need they had no choice but to turn to the next strongest writing presence among them, Tommy Shaw. That's why so much of his stuff is on that record. Of course Dennis helped him re-slant some of those ideas into new versions, ala "Mademoiselle" and so on, as well as helped him re-slant "Crystal Ball" from Harvest into a Styxified version. But Dennis was nowehere near as strong a presence on that record, no doubt.
I hope all is well.


Sterling

[SuiteMadameBlue]

I love looking forward to "things", in fact I'm looking forward to 12:30pm today !!! [/b] [/color]

UPS MAN?

LOL!!! OMG Too funny!!! Better than that!

[froy]

I love looking forward to "things", in fact I'm looking forward to 12:30pm today !!! [/b] [/color]

UPS MAN?

LOL!!! OMG Too funny!!! Better than that!

Bob Comming over to talk dirty ?

[SuiteMadameBlue]

Bob Comming over to talk dirty ?

LOL!!! No, in fact I haven't talked to him in while, have you?

Did you see that new Roger dvd yet? I have it. The Rama is much better!

[froy]

Bob Comming over to talk dirty ?

LOL!!! No, in fact I haven't talked to him in while, have you?

No have not talked to him
I will probably see him at Bob Seger

Did you see that new Roger dvd yet? I have it. The Rama is much better!

Rama is unbeliveble
One of the best experiences of my life'
I still remember Roger walking up the stairs towards us that freaked me out.
And of course Jerry Lewis and the kiss or was it the feel?

[SuiteMadameBlue]

Rama is unbeliveble
One of the best experiences of my life'
I still remember Roger walking up the stairs towards us that freaked me out.
And of course Jerry Lewis and the kiss or was it the feel?

I'm hoping to go back next year, I love Rama and YES it was one of the BEST experiences of my life too I'm going to Montreal for a Dennis show, for sure!!!

I love Jerry Lewis, I hope to meet up with him again!!

The kiss was nice and soft, same with the feel

[froy]

The kiss was nice and soft, same with the feel [/b][/color]

[/quote]


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfN7fUoyS4Y

[yogi]

You two have hijacked my for once serious Assembly Line.

Get a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suite you can pretend its Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Froy you can pretend its Dennis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[froy]

You two have hijacked my for once serious Assembly Line.

Get a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suite you can pretend its Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Froy you can pretend its Dennis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to pretend Im a lesbian'

[SuiteMadameBlue]

You two have hijacked my for once serious Assembly Line.

Get a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suite you can pretend its Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Froy you can pretend its Dennis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG, like no one ever hijacks my threads, or should I say Assembly Line - LOL Tommy's okay, but I think I have someone else in mind -

Okay Yogi, I'm sorry! Back to the MS Funk cd! I'll give you my feedback when I receive it

[ChicagoSTYX]

You two have hijacked my for once serious Assembly Line.

Get a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suite you can pretend its Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Froy you can pretend its Dennis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tommy's okay, but I think I have someone else in mind -

Thanks Suite!

[froy]

You two have hijacked my for once serious Assembly Line.

Get a room!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suite you can pretend its Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Froy you can pretend its Dennis!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tommy's okay, but I think I have someone else in mind -

Thanks Suite!

Na its a women