Former Chicago Guitarist Talks Fondly of Tommy Shaw

[jimmy19029]

Over at www.dawaynebailey.com Dawayne talks about Tommy doing a Chicago medley with M.S. Funk back in the day:


Or sorta....it's actually a live recording I am going to send to Poem58 to put up on his smashalley site for the rest of you Styx/Tommy Shaw/Chicago fans to download.

I am a huge Tommy Shaw fan. His voice, his songwriting, his arranging, his tasty guitar playing....for some reason I've always related to this guy.

I've met him a few times backstage at Chicago concerts and have always wanted to harmonize with him because we have similar range, tone and feel.

Before Tommy joined Styx in 1975, he played in a killer horn band called MS Funk. Their bass player, Lindy, is a friend of mine from Manhattan, KS and a couple years ago I was invited to an MS Funk reunion.

I didn't go but recently another dear pal of mine sent me some live MS Funk and they were an amazing band. Tommy's vocals, songs and guitar playing were all intact back then as much as with Styx now.

In 1973, they played in Atlanta and one of the highlights of their show was playing a very long medley of Chicago songs.

This has to be some of the very best versions of Chicago songs I've ever heard in my life...and trust me, I've heard a few.

Tommy's vocals out-Cetera Cetera's highs....it's uncanny. Tommy also plays pedal steel on Flight 605. I haven't even counted how many Chicago songs are in their medley but it's massive. And tight.

If anyone of you would like to check out Tommy singing with MS Funk and see early photos of him with them, here's some links:

[www.msfunk.com] - (click on "Vynally Clips" to listen)

[www.msfunk.com]

Various mp3 samples:
[www.msfunk.com]
[www.msfunk.com]
[www.msfunk.com] - Tommy singing while playing pedal steel
[www.msfunk.com]

[shaka]

Bailey is an monster guitarist. A compliment from him is a big deal. I remember seeing Chicago and having being stunned when he absolutely ripped up 25 or 6 to 4.

[sweetjo]

It's cool to see a guitarist giving props to Tommy Shaw.

[jimmy19029]

dbartenstein on Dawayne's site says:



I had the pleasure of enjoying Tommy's talents even before the MS Funk days. Tommy was a native of Montgomery Alabama, where I was stationed at Gunter AFS in the early seventies and his parent's house was just over the fence from my barracks. We used to go see him in a band called "Harvest" that was the house band at a tiny bowling-alley bar called Kegler's Kove..... I have an old beat-up cassette somewhere that has a some of their tunes on it, but I haven't seen that tape in years.....


f you'd like to hear a pre-Styx version of Crystal Ball, click here: [www.eddiewohlford.com] and be amazed at how different the song was intended to be. Instead of the Dennis DeYoung bombast you have a very mellow Eagles-like 4-part harmony jaunt a-la Seven Bridges Road. Includes a version of Come Sail Away done acoustically with 4 part harmony....

[bugsymalone]

If you'd like to hear a pre-Styx version of Crystal Ball, click here: [www.eddiewohlford.com] and be amazed at how different the song was intended to be. Instead of the Dennis DeYoung bombast you have a very mellow Eagles-like 4-part harmony jaunt a-la Seven Bridges Road. Includes a version of Come Sail Away done acoustically with 4 part harmony....

Just a beautiful version of that song, Jimmy. What a great find! I found not so much The Eagles, but CSN and/or America in their sound. I love the harmonies.

The story was that Dennis wanted a powerful transition to the verses and the song became more Styxified that way. It would have been beautiful to have had them harmonize on the verses as in the original, though. Some of the other songs on this site have some gorgeous harmonies as well.

Cool!

Bugsy

[jimmy19029]

Wasn't sure....thought you and Suite and the others might have found these beauties before me. But...just in case....I figured I'd place them on here. COOL!!!! Glad to contribute to the FINDS!!

[SuiteMadameBlue]

Wasn't sure....thought you and Suite and the others might have found these beauties before me. But...just in case....I figured I'd place them on here. COOL!!!! Glad to contribute to the FINDS!!

Thanks Jimmy, I appreciate it!!

Suite here is way behind on finding anything these days! I'll be caught up within a few weeks - LOL Hopefully!!!

[jimmy19029]

Wow, I actually found something first that was Styx-related before you did Suite! Cool! I amazed myself! Hope you enjoy!

[sadie65]

Wow, I actually found something first that was Styx-related before you did Suite! Cool! I amazed myself! Hope you enjoy!

Ya done good Jimmy!