Lawrence Gowan

[Stever]

My wife and I were both big time Styx fans in the hey day from the late 70's through early 80's, and loved DDY just as much as anyone. When Damn Yankees happened, and Dennis went on his own etc., and they did the nearly elevator music Edge of the Century and what not, we went off with Damn Yankees, and didn't even think of Styx really for years. Love Shaw and Blades Hallucination album, and when we heard that Styx was making music with Tommy Shaw again we were pumped. Brave new World came out, and though a little rocky there was some great stuff on there. Oddly, the least interesting music on the album to our taste was the stuff from the classic line-up that featured DDY. A little sad really. When Cyclorama came out, we approached with a little caution, but hadn't needed to. In my humble opinion, it was the best album since Cornerstone. This was Styx reborn, and a few of my favorite songs on the album "Fields of the Brave", "More Love for the Money", and "Killing the The Thing That You Love" were by the new guys!! So fast forward....Styx is coming in conert and we can't wait. It's the Cyclorama tour. We get to hear all of Tommy's classics from the good ol' days, and get to hear our new hero LG, (and Glenn B) sing their incredible new songs from Cyclorama right? Wrong. The album was hardly touched at all, and nary a song of LG's. While we had a blast, and loved the nostalgia, and enjoyed LG's great keyborads, where were his songs??? And why such a small set? I guess I can understand only doing a couple of DDY songs, (I don't think there are ANY on the new Orchestral DVD), because they're probably barred due to litigation, why can't they do at least all three of of these incredibly awesome songs by their new guy?? It would add, what 10 - 15 minutes to their show? It would get people involved in a re-invented Styx. It would help get people out of the bad feelings over the sue me sue you blues, and these songs would be AWESOME live. They could space them out. One towards the beginning, after a classic, then one in the middle, then on towards the end. That way attention span challenged juke box fans would never have to wait more than 4 minutes till another retelling of Renegade.

I just don't get it. He's WITH the band. He's a contributing songwriter, and a very good one. He doesn't HAVE to be compared with DDY to the less or better at all! This is the new Styx. They should BE them.

I hear they're doing a new album. I'm sure it will also have a few LG gems. Then I guess they'll be two great albums worth of material to ignore for their 50 live set featuring TS and JY.

Just some, friendly criticism. Please don't take this wrong. When they come again, I'll be right there as usual, and I'll enjoy it. It could just be so much more is all I'm saying. They have a drop dead solid band. Todd Sucherman, are you kidding me? In the new DVD I focused very strongly on his drumming. He could pound the skins with any band anywhere. This guy is the goods. I'm not kidding. If you're a drum fan, you've GOT to enjoy this guy. But Larry's just kept off to the side. They let him out of the box to play and sing a cover of I am the Walrus that absolutely killed. So why can't he do the stuff HE wrote to play with STYX??? Does anybody really know? I'm really most interested to fellow LG fans who might have some inside info. Is it part of the law suit? Is Larry only allowed to do so much while he's on that section of the stage, or some darn thing? Are they looking for someone else? Is he a studio musician for them? Then why does he contibute songs?

Confused.

[ManOfMiracles]

Actually, "Killing the Thing That You Love" was Glen Burtnik, not Gowen... but that still doesn't explain why they couldn't play it...

[Stever]

Actually, "Killing the Thing That You Love" was Glen Burtnik, not Gowen... but that still doesn't explain why they couldn't play it...

Yep. Just looked it up. Sorry about that. Couldn't tell really. It sure sounds like him. Does't matter. I LOVE these 3 songs. I wish they'd play them, (and more new stuff for that matter...Yes I Can/Do Things My Way etc.), Show off their new Key man, and do longer sets. Just kind of disappointing. I remember seeing them on the Brave New World tour, and they did 3 or 4 songs from that album.

Thank you for the correction.

[Bearded Clam]

That is Glen singing, great song isn't it?

And I agree with you, LG's songs were among the best on that album IMO, but I can understand the reasoning behind not playing those songs at the concerts. You only have so much time and fortunately, Syx has quite a few hits that the casual fan expects to hear. Unfortunately, and I'm sure I speak for many here, we get essentially the same set year after year.

[DerriD]

In addition to 2 very strong tracks on Cyclorama, Larry had probably the best performance on Big Bang Theory. When that album was released, it was widely held by the posters here that Larry stole the show on that album. The only explanation I can come up with for his lack of songs in concert is that the majority of fans want to hear 'the hits' and that means Tommy primarily and JY. It's by no means a slam on Larry, just the way it is with Styx and any other band carrying on with a partial 'classic' lineup carrying the torch.

[DarrenUK]

My wife and I were both big time Styx fans in the hey day from the late 70's through early 80's, and loved DDY just as much as anyone. When Damn Yankees happened, and Dennis went on his own etc., and they did the nearly elevator music Edge of the Century and what not, we went off with Damn Yankees, and didn't even think of Styx really for years. Love Shaw and Blades Hallucination album, and when we heard that Styx was making music with Tommy Shaw again we were pumped. Brave new World came out, and though a little rocky there was some great stuff on there. Oddly, the least interesting music on the album to our taste was the stuff from the classic line-up that featured DDY. A little sad really. When Cyclorama came out, we approached with a little caution, but hadn't needed to. In my humble opinion, it was the best album since Cornerstone. This was Styx reborn, and a few of my favorite songs on the album "Fields of the Brave", "More Love for the Money", and "Killing the The Thing That You Love" were by the new guys!! So fast forward....Styx is coming in conert and we can't wait. It's the Cyclorama tour. We get to hear all of Tommy's classics from the good ol' days, and get to hear our new hero LG, (and Glenn B) sing their incredible new songs from Cyclorama right? Wrong. The album was hardly touched at all, and nary a song of LG's. While we had a blast, and loved the nostalgia, and enjoyed LG's great keyborads, where were his songs??? And why such a small set? I guess I can understand only doing a couple of DDY songs, (I don't think there are ANY on the new Orchestral DVD), because they're probably barred due to litigation, why can't they do at least all three of of these incredibly awesome songs by their new guy?? It would add, what 10 - 15 minutes to their show? It would get people involved in a re-invented Styx. It would help get people out of the bad feelings over the sue me sue you blues, and these songs would be AWESOME live. They could space them out. One towards the beginning, after a classic, then one in the middle, then on towards the end. That way attention span challenged juke box fans would never have to wait more than 4 minutes till another retelling of Renegade.

I just don't get it. He's WITH the band. He's a contributing songwriter, and a very good one. He doesn't HAVE to be compared with DDY to the less or better at all! This is the new Styx. They should BE them.

I hear they're doing a new album. I'm sure it will also have a few LG gems. Then I guess they'll be two great albums worth of material to ignore for their 50 live set featuring TS and JY.

Just some, friendly criticism. Please don't take this wrong. When they come again, I'll be right there as usual, and I'll enjoy it. It could just be so much more is all I'm saying. They have a drop dead solid band. Todd Sucherman, are you kidding me? In the new DVD I focused very strongly on his drumming. He could pound the skins with any band anywhere. This guy is the goods. I'm not kidding. If you're a drum fan, you've GOT to enjoy this guy. But Larry's just kept off to the side. They let him out of the box to play and sing a cover of I am the Walrus that absolutely killed. So why can't he do the stuff HE wrote to play with STYX??? Does anybody really know? I'm really most interested to fellow LG fans who might have some inside info. Is it part of the law suit? Is Larry only allowed to do so much while he's on that section of the stage, or some darn thing? Are they looking for someone else? Is he a studio musician for them? Then why does he contibute songs?

Confused.

ARE YOU FROY IN DISGUISE ?

[StyxCollector]

In addition to 2 very strong tracks on Cyclorama, Larry had probably the best performance on Big Bang Theory. When that album was released, it was widely held by the posters here that Larry stole the show on that album. The only explanation I can come up with for his lack of songs in concert is that the majority of fans want to hear 'the hits' and that means Tommy primarily and JY. It's by no means a slam on Larry, just the way it is with Styx and any other band carrying on with a partial 'classic' lineup carrying the torch.

Look, I like Lawrence's contributions to Styx on Cyclorama and BBT. You are correct in one aspect that the fans only want to generally hear "the classics", but part of the reason you don't hear more Gowan is that he can't do the DDY tracks that well. If you've heard him doing some of them early on, you know what I am talking about. So until they add more of the originals in, you get "Grand Illusion", "Lady", and "Come Sail Away" for the most part.

[brywool]

Great Debut post. A few errors, but totally on the money.
Gowan does the Dennis tracks fine. However, I'd much rather hear him sing HIS stuff plus the covers.
Salty Dog is an AMAZING song. Sounds like something DeYoung might've written before he jumped
on the Babe bandwagon, in other words, when he was good. Not that Gowan wrote it, but he does it
well. He also kicks the shit out of I Don't Need No Doctor. Awesome.

As for his orginal stuff, his were the best tracks on Cyclorama and the MOST Styxish to me. They
reminded me of Dennis on the pre-Babe albums. Political lyrics with great piano (not funky Rhoades
electric piano).

If Dennis came back and was the Dennis of those bygone days of yor, I'd welcome him. However, I
prefer a more rocking Styx AND ALWAYS HAVE.
Long Live Larry Gowan.

[GrandIllusionist725]

Lawrence is amazing, what can I say. Cyclorama was one of my all-time favorites. His songs were wonderful and i just wanna hear more. If you have ever checked out his solo stuff, you would still be amazed. Moonlight Desires, All the Lovers in the World, Good Catches Up, they are all amazing!!

Don't know who i would choose sometimes, Larry or Dennis. Larry adds the attitude to Styx.

GOWAN = GOD.

[ManOfMiracles]

That is Glen singing, great song isn't it?

And I agree with you, LG's songs were among the best on that album IMO, but I can understand the reasoning behind not playing those songs at the concerts. You only have so much time and fortunately, Syx has quite a few hits that the casual fan expects to hear. Unfortunately, and I'm sure I speak for many here, we get essentially the same set year after year.

I remember about 4 tunes from BNW, myself, when I saw them. Going back, however, for the Edge of the Century tour... they managed to satisfy the crowd with plenty of hits, AND no less than 7 or the 10 new songs off of the EotC CD. You CAN squeeze in something other than just hits and have the audience get into it. Seen it happen... it was cool!

[FormerDJMike]

The thing that turned me off is when they played DDY's songs it was as if they added artificial "vibrato" to Gowan's voice, or tweaked it a pitch higher. This can be done with modern equipment. It did not sound that way on any other song that he sang. This was in May of 06. (And I am not saying they did this but I am very suspicous!)

Don't get me wrong here but I was very disappointed in Cyclorama and Big Bang (and CYO). They do have some stand out cuts but to me are just not that good.

So I have moved on to other types of music and other bands. Does this mean I trash the current line-up? Of course not. If you love them, go see them. When they release another CD I will give it a listen on-line. If I like it, I will buy it. If not, I won't. Simple as that. I guess my musical tastes have finally changed a bit.

Out of all the stuff released in the last 15 years or so, the best (IMO) has been "Raised By Wolves". That is the best effort Styx related in my book. I wouldn't mind another JYG album someday.

Take care friends,

Mike

[froy]

[quote="GrandIllusionist725"

GOWAN = GOD.

[/quote]

If this is what you think then you need some counciling.
Gowan is a wanna be.

[froy]

Great Debut post. A few errors, but totally on the money.
Gowan does the Dennis tracks fine.

If your hearing impaired he does,

However, I'd much rather hear him sing HIS stuff plus the covers.

Holy Hell I agree
Go back to his wonderful solo career and do just that.

Salty Dog is an AMAZING song.

That he had absolutly nothing to do with

Not that Gowan wrote it, but he does it
well.

He also stands on his head well so give hom credit for that also.

He also kicks the shit out of I Don't Need No Doctor. Awesome.

Yea he sure does we have seen a clip of that showing his nail on the chalk board vocals.
Yea man awesome

As for his orginal stuff, his were the best tracks on Cyclorama

Which shows its was not a STYX cd

They
reminded me of Dennis on the pre-Babe albums. Political lyrics with great piano (not funky Rhoades
electric piano).

Really which monster hot did Gowan do that reminded you of that?
Fields of the Brave which is a direct copy of Show Me The way?

If Dennis came back and was the Dennis of those bygone days of yor, I'd welcome him.

We dont need you to welcome anyone.
Dennis has never left the building
His new cd will blow youa way so shut up and get ready

Long Live Larry Gowan.

As long as its in Canada

[kansas666]

Acutally both of Gowan's songs got played in concert.

They played Fields of the Brave for most of 2003. It was replaced by More Love for the Money about the time that Ricky joined the band.

I have live recordings of both songs.

[brywool]

[quote="GrandIllusionist725"

GOWAN = GOD.

If this is what you think then you need some counciling.
Gowan is a wanna be.[/quote]

Gowan a "wannabe"?

Froy, Gowan's playing is leaps and bounds above anything DeYoung could ever do. Seriously, he's way better technical player than Dennis. As for vocals, he's a decent vocalist too. So he doesn't sing DeYoung's songs perfect. He shouldn't be expected to, they aren't his songs.
Also, Larry's showman ship is leaps and bound- WAY FUCKING BETTER than Dennis' ever was. Larry's got energy, and Dennis just looked like a corny old man on the reunion tours.

Again, I'd rather have Larry in the band than present Dennis, and I LIKE Dennis, I really do, but he's stuck in a rut both in writing and in his stage presence. "We had dreams!"- Yeah, I don't miss that every friggin' time hearing the song live.

[brywool]

I have live recordings of both songs.

It's nice to share!!!

[brywool]

Responding to Froy's ramblings...

God, these people whining about "Hits". Styx at it's best was NEVER a hit band. By your logic "Oh Mickey You're so Fine..." probably has more merit than Come Sail Away. It WAS the bigger hit after all...

Hits don't mean shit and the fact that Dennis chased friggin' "hit" records instead of staying true to the artistry of Styx is what killed the friggin' band in 79. That's why 4 out of 5 members booted him in 79 because he wanted to be Englebert Humperdink. Just because they had a hit with "Babe didn't mean that they should just do 'Babe' for the next albums as Dennis tried to do. It might have been a big hit, it might've won the People's choice award, but you know, Kristy Mcnichol won an award from them too. Doesn't mean shit if it turns off a majority of your actual fanbase. I'm sure fat housewives loved Babe, but the rock audience (Styx's fans at the time) didn't dig it and from that moment on, Styx started to decline in popularity and the brotherhood of the band (such as it was) also suffered because Dennis had to do Barry Manilow. Dennis even thought he'd get hit with tomatoes when he played it in concert. Even he was worried about it. If they had done "Babe" once and it was a big hit, that would've been cool. But then he just did it over and over again.

If he hadn't done that and hadn't tried to turn Styx into a Broadway act, there'd BE no Larry Gowan in his place today. But he wanted to pussify the band so the other members kicked him out. It needed to be done.

Look at "More than Words" by Extreme. Beautiful song but NOT representative of the band. Huge hit for them but that's what people (mostly women) wanted to hear from them from then on. It killed the band because people thought they were a soft rock band when they weren't.

There you go again "his new CD will blow you away" - If the SHIT that he's put out (A love foretold, Paradise, The Entire Hunchback CD, Kilroy, Hip Hop Hipocracy) since 83 sucked (S U C K E D ! ! ) , why should we expect this to be any better?? Because YOU say so? You're insane dude.

"Fields of the Brave" had nothing to do with "Show me the Way". Regarding Gowan's solo career, I'll concede that. The solo stuff I've heard didn't impress me. However Dennis' solo stuff was laughably bad. His version of Hendrix' "Fire" was SO bad. Embarrassing. Even "Desert Moon" was a rip off of "Babe" just as "First Tim"e was, Just as "Don't Let it End" was. Jesus Dennis, EVOLVE in your songwriting. Dennis pouting throughout the Desert Moon video was just SOOOO friggin' cheesy. Ughgh! Yeah, big rock God there Froy... I mean Mrs. DeYoung.

[DarrenUK]

Gotta say Show Me The Way was the best thing DDY had wrote in years until Goodbye Roseland came along ....... love both songs, have to agree on the hiphop garbage tho....

[cinj]

There you go again "his new CD will blow you away" - If the SHIT that he's put out (A love foretold, Paradise, The Entire Hunchback CD, Kilroy, Hip Hop Hipocracy) since 83 sucked (S U C K E D ! ! ) , why should we expect this to be any better?? Because YOU say so? You're insane dude.

I would be careful here. You sound just like Froy only from the opposite end. It is possible to like Aerosmith and Barry Manilow, to like Rush and Michael Jackson. The thing that made Styx so successful since Cornerstone WAS their diversity. I'm sorry you don't like the softer / show stuff. Many of us do.

I'm sure Beavis and Butthead would hate Cornerstone as well. Get the point?


Cinj

[froy]

Gowan a "wannabe"?

Froy, Gowan's playing is leaps and bounds above anything DeYoung could ever do.

really is his singing also?
How about his song writing ?
how about his originality
Is he a better producer?
Did he ever have a number 1 hit in the US?
Could he sell out 5000 seater by himself with a 50 piece orch?
All answers here lead to NO.

Seriously, he's way better technical player than Dennis.

Which mean nothing

As for vocals, he's a decent vocalist too.

If decent means aweful than you are right.,

So he doesn't sing DeYoung's songs perfect.

He doesn;t sing anything perfect.

He shouldn't be expected to, they aren't his songs.

He shouldn't even open his mouth,

Also, Larry's showman ship is leaps and bound- WAY FUCKING BETTER than Dennis' ever was.

The more you stick up for Gowan the more foolish you look,

Larry's got energy, and Dennis just looked like a corny old man on the reunion tours.

Larry drinks a sixer of red bull before the show
Dennis is not that stupid.

Again, I'd rather have Larry in the band than present Dennis, and I LIKE Dennis,

And you would rather have Shaw over Jon Anderson
Man you are wacked.

I really do, but he's stuck in a rut both in writing and in his stage presence. "We had dreams!"- Yeah, I don't miss that every friggin' time hearing the song live.

[/quote]

I see and backward satanic messages and Jy Is buyin is ok
I got it now,

[RumTumJM]

I agree that Larry is great with Styx. Now, of course, Dennis will forever be the best person to sing songs like Come Sail Away, Grand Illusion & Lady. I, myself, like everyone else, would jump in line (or online) to grab tickets to see him with the rest of the Styx guys again. But with that said, that doesn't seem possible, and I think Larry does a great job taking Dennis's place. Is it different? Hell, Yes. Does Larry sound totally like Dennis? Hell No. He makes the songs his own. I have grown to like Larry's renditions of the classic Styx songs, and while I still hear people say to me "Is that Styx playin Come Sail Away?", I think he does a an admirable job. Dennis was a true balladeer. Larry is a true showman, and it shows in the way he performs, and sings. Considering these qualities of Larry, I wish they would throw songs like Rockin' The Paradise or Borrowed Time into the sets. That would be a breath of fresh air, set list wise, and I bet Larry could tear up those more rockin' Dennis songs.

But that is just my $.02

[Grotelul]

Larry is a very good songwriter. He does not have the voice for the songs Dennis wrote but that is okay, I can live with that because if Dennis would have been in the band these past 8 years, there would have been maybe 1 or 2 tours and Tommy would have went on and did something else. It's a fact of life when these guys (Dennis, Tommy, JY) get together, it does not last. Am I totally happy with how things are now? No. I too am tired of live CD's and cover songs. I want to hear new stuff and want someone to re-master the old CD's and add some goodies. I really like Fields of the Brave and More Love For The Money. I wish they would have included another Larry song that could have replaced Captain America. JY is only capable of one good song per album and sometimes that is a stretch but his contributions to all the others are very important.

As Glen predicts in the book, Dennis and Tommy will get back together in some form at some point in the future. Will it last? No. History does not lie. Will we get some really good music? Nothing has shown me a current meeting of these guys could produce anything I would call great Styx music. On My Way, Paradise, anything off of BNW. Nothing close to that classic Styx sound that I really like. I predict at least one more get together of the main 3 before all is said and done but it will not be anytime soon as far as I can tell. 4-8 years maybe.

[StyxCollector]

I wish they would throw songs like Rockin' The Paradise or Borrowed Time into the sets. That would be a breath of fresh air, set list wise, and I bet Larry could tear up those more rockin' Dennis songs.

If you've heard the boots of when they did attempt stuff like "Rockin' the Paradise", you'll know why they haven't played them in 3 or 4 years. Horrible stuff. I like Larry and what he's brought to Styx - just not when he's singing a DDY song. Some he does are better than others - hence the 3 in the set.

[ManOfMiracles]

Styx DID have both "Rocking the Paradise" and "Borrowed Time" in their set on different occasions. RtP appears on the Styxworld live CD, I believe. Um, yeahhhhhh. Larry really slaughtered it, I'm sorry to say. (Ohhh boy, I'm sure someone is putting on their boxing gloves already for that one) But it's true. He screams and barks his way through it.

I don't know of any CDs, but I did witness a live show a few years back where they opened up with "Borrowed Time." It WAS a good rendition... however, 3 things made it really interesting. One was, Tommy did the lead vocals on it. Different, but not bad... reminded me of JY picking up vox on Lorelei. Second, the opening keys were pre-programmed, because Gowan was playing guitar. The show opened with the four of them (JY, Tommy, Glen, and Gowan) in line along an elevated riser, all on guitars. And the third odd thing... and I swear I'm not making this up, so if anyone else saw this, back me up... in the solo in the middle of the song? They broke out into Mr. Roboto. I'm not kidding. It was instrumental, and maybe 30 - 45 seconds... but they did it. 20 years of Roboto-bashing and they put it in there. But if was a pretty good version- always liked that song.

[ek88]

I saw them open up with Borrowed Time a few years back. Tommy and JY split the lead vocals, and in lieu of the guitar solo, they had a mini-medley which consisted of instrumental portions of Rockin' The Paradise, Pieces Of Eight, and yes, Mr. Roboto. You're not making it up!!!!!

[stmonkeys]

I saw them open up with Borrowed Time a few years back. Tommy and JY split the lead vocals, and in lieu of the guitar solo, they had a mini-medley which consisted of instrumental portions of Rockin' The Paradise, Pieces Of Eight, and yes, Mr. Roboto. You're not making it up!!!!!

that's basically what gave todd the idea to do the cyclo-medley. i think the borrowed time medly was during the bad co tour.

[7 Wishes]

Froy, Gowan's playing is leaps and bounds above anything DeYoung could ever do. Seriously, he's way better technical player than Dennis. As for vocals, he's a decent vocalist too. So he doesn't sing DeYoung's songs perfect. He shouldn't be expected to, they aren't his songs.
Also, Larry's showman ship is leaps and bound- WAY FUCKING BETTER than Dennis' ever was. Larry's got energy, and Dennis just looked like a corny old man on the reunion tours.

Again, I'd rather have Larry in the band than present Dennis, and I LIKE Dennis, I really do, but he's stuck in a rut both in writing and in his stage presence. "We had dreams!"- Yeah, I don't miss that every friggin' time hearing the song live.

I couldn't agree more. Froy has put Dennis in hero/exalted status because of what he did from '76 through '79. FOUR FUCKIN' YEARS, Froy. His music lacks credibility before or after those years...and it really has sucked ass. I had to give away his first solo record to an EBayer because NO ONE would buy the damn thing after four attempts. He looks like Don Sutton on acid, he's a belligerent dickhead who pissed away Styx' legacy, and I, for one, am also glad he's been out of the band...Cyclorama was great, but there would be no Styx today if DDY had remained in the band...if he had, they'd have become a joke, like Air Supply. Let Dennis keep yapping out his wuss ballads for the bluehairs. Lawrence and Tommy et all - rock on, you motherfuckers!

[GrandIllusionist725]

Froy, Gowan's playing is leaps and bounds above anything DeYoung could ever do. Seriously, he's way better technical player than Dennis. As for vocals, he's a decent vocalist too. So he doesn't sing DeYoung's songs perfect. He shouldn't be expected to, they aren't his songs.
Also, Larry's showman ship is leaps and bound- WAY FUCKING BETTER than Dennis' ever was. Larry's got energy, and Dennis just looked like a corny old man on the reunion tours.

Again, I'd rather have Larry in the band than present Dennis, and I LIKE Dennis, I really do, but he's stuck in a rut both in writing and in his stage presence. "We had dreams!"- Yeah, I don't miss that every friggin' time hearing the song live.

I couldn't agree more. Froy has put Dennis in hero/exalted status because of what he did from '76 through '79. FOUR FUCKIN' YEARS, Froy. His music lacks credibility before or after those years...and it really has sucked ass. I had to give away his first solo record to an EBayer because NO ONE would buy the damn thing after four attempts. He looks like Don Sutton on acid, he's a belligerent dickhead who pissed away Styx' legacy, and I, for one, am also glad he's been out of the band...Cyclorama was great, but there would be no Styx today if DDY had remained in the band...if he had, they'd have become a joke, like Air Supply. Let Dennis keep yapping out his wuss ballads for the bluehairs. Lawrence and Tommy et all - rock on, you motherfuckers!

AGREED.

[styxfanNH]

Froy, Gowan's playing is leaps and bounds above anything DeYoung could ever do. Seriously, he's way better technical player than Dennis. As for vocals, he's a decent vocalist too. So he doesn't sing DeYoung's songs perfect. He shouldn't be expected to, they aren't his songs.
Also, Larry's showman ship is leaps and bound- WAY FUCKING BETTER than Dennis' ever was. Larry's got energy, and Dennis just looked like a corny old man on the reunion tours.

Again, I'd rather have Larry in the band than present Dennis, and I LIKE Dennis, I really do, but he's stuck in a rut both in writing and in his stage presence. "We had dreams!"- Yeah, I don't miss that every friggin' time hearing the song live.

I couldn't agree more. Froy has put Dennis in hero/exalted status because of what he did from '76 through '79. FOUR FUCKIN' YEARS, Froy. His music lacks credibility before or after those years...and it really has sucked ass. I had to give away his first solo record to an EBayer because NO ONE would buy the damn thing after four attempts. He looks like Don Sutton on acid, he's a belligerent dickhead who pissed away Styx' legacy, and I, for one, am also glad he's been out of the band...Cyclorama was great, but there would be no Styx today if DDY had remained in the band...if he had, they'd have become a joke, like Air Supply. Let Dennis keep yapping out his wuss ballads for the bluehairs. Lawrence and Tommy et all - rock on, you motherfuckers!

AGREED.

I usually try to stay in the middle of the polarized groups and see the contributions of all the members. Dennis did the groups ballads, JY did the rockers and Tommy has been the bridge in between. IF you think that Dennis only wrote ballads, then you must have selective memory. It just happens that the ballads is what he became known for. As Dennis said in CMN and in subsequent interviews, when that group of guys got together, they were able to create magic. And that is a fact!!!

Does Dennis' show miss that type of interaction of the classic lineup? absolutely. Does the current Styx show miss the balance and diversity of songs when they pretend that Dennis never existed? absolutely? Does the current Styx show have a different energy than when Dennis was there? absolutely. Both shows are just different than the old days.

I learned a long time ago that you don't win an arguement if you only cut the other side down. Dennis knows this. Tommy and JY haven't figured it out yet. Neither have some of the fans on both sides. The only ones ruining the Styx name these days are the fans that can't accept that all parties had a role in the music we loved as kids.

[ManOfMiracles]

Froy, Gowan's playing is leaps and bounds above anything DeYoung could ever do. Seriously, he's way better technical player than Dennis. As for vocals, he's a decent vocalist too. So he doesn't sing DeYoung's songs perfect. He shouldn't be expected to, they aren't his songs.
Also, Larry's showman ship is leaps and bound- WAY FUCKING BETTER than Dennis' ever was. Larry's got energy, and Dennis just looked like a corny old man on the reunion tours.

Again, I'd rather have Larry in the band than present Dennis, and I LIKE Dennis, I really do, but he's stuck in a rut both in writing and in his stage presence. "We had dreams!"- Yeah, I don't miss that every friggin' time hearing the song live.

I couldn't agree more. Froy has put Dennis in hero/exalted status because of what he did from '76 through '79. FOUR FUCKIN' YEARS, Froy. His music lacks credibility before or after those years...and it really has sucked ass. I had to give away his first solo record to an EBayer because NO ONE would buy the damn thing after four attempts. He looks like Don Sutton on acid, he's a belligerent dickhead who pissed away Styx' legacy, and I, for one, am also glad he's been out of the band...Cyclorama was great, but there would be no Styx today if DDY had remained in the band...if he had, they'd have become a joke, like Air Supply. Let Dennis keep yapping out his wuss ballads for the bluehairs. Lawrence and Tommy et all - rock on, you motherfuckers!

Um.... you sound like a raving lunatic, dude.