Review: Styx at the Ryman, Nashville, 11/11/10

[Rockwriter]

Here's the link to my review http://www.examiner.com/music-industry- ... -10-review

Hope all is well,

Sterling

[Babyblue]

Thanks! i enjoyed reading this.I know it was a great show.I got to talk to some that had seen it.

[masque]

all in all a great review...there were a few minor things I felt differently about than you....but more often than not we pretty much saw it the same way.

[Rockwriter]

all in all a great review...there were a few minor things I felt differently about than you....but more often than not we pretty much saw it the same way.

Just out of curiosity, what did you feel differently about?

Sterling

[masque]

just a few small things such as I think the mix was pretty good right of the gate and by the time they reached the guitar solo in grand illusion it was obvious the guitars were going to be represented well in the mix.....much better than in louisville 4 days earlier....so i didnt really thing the drums or bass were too heavy....in fact, todd's drums sounded as good as any live drums I have ever heard.

i do agree that tommy played vintage stuff all night....but most of the night with a the exception of a couple of songs JY played that same custom made strat he has played since the mid to late 90's with the sustainer.....not vintage at all and in fact, as much as I love JY the sustainer has sort of become a "crutch" for him in recent years.

vocally the overall band was great and I agree there some spots that JY struggled and most noticeably on great white hope but the first halves of each verse he sounds fine and in nashville he even sounded pretty good on the second half of he verses versus louisville....we agree 100% that he sounded terrible on the chorus though!!! LOL.

so you see just little minor stuff....we're basically on the same page about what we saw!!!

[Toph]

Fair review and consistent with what I've seen on YouTube.

No one doubts that these guys can't play their instruments well. They play the music very well.

Vocally, however, with the exception of Tommy (and kudos to him for keeping his voice in shape), they are just not very strong. And vocally, is what seperates the men from the boys in this business.

What I wouldn't give to see a concert of just Dennis and Tommy. Both seem to have kept their voices in tip top shape and they always created magical harmonies.

If JY wants to be like this, fine - Tommy and Dennis should go out and do a short tour calling themselves "The Music of Styx" - but I am betting they wounldn't be able to decide on whose name would go first on the billing.

[brywool]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

[yogi]

Good review Sterling.

In your opinion if Dennis came back on board would he do this show(Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight)?

[Rockwriter]

Good review Sterling.

In your opinion if Dennis came back on board would he do this show(Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight)?

Gosh, that's impossible to know. It's not that he wouldn't do the show - why wouldn't he? - it's whether he'd come back that's the real question.

Sterling

[Rockwriter]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

I don't even know if it's a matter of vocal coaching. I think he should simply drop the keys to the songs that are out of his current range. When he sang in range, he sang better than he did last time I saw the band in 2005. But he's what, 64 now? You just can't keep screaming like that. Hell, I couldn't sing those songs in those keys, and I'm only 40. You have to play to your strengths and away from your weaknesses.


Sterling

[froy]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

That's Gowan with vocal issues
JY with vocal issues
Todd with head banger issues,

Allot of issues with this group.

[Rockwriter]

just a few small things such as I think the mix was pretty good right of the gate and by the time they reached the guitar solo in grand illusion it was obvious the guitars were going to be represented well in the mix.....much better than in louisville 4 days earlier....so i didnt really thing the drums or bass were too heavy....in fact, todd's drums sounded as good as any live drums I have ever heard.

i do agree that tommy played vintage stuff all night....but most of the night with a the exception of a couple of songs JY played that same custom made strat he has played since the mid to late 90's with the sustainer.....not vintage at all and in fact, as much as I love JY the sustainer has sort of become a "crutch" for him in recent years.

vocally the overall band was great and I agree there some spots that JY struggled and most noticeably on great white hope but the first halves of each verse he sounds fine and in nashville he even sounded pretty good on the second half of he verses versus louisville....we agree 100% that he sounded terrible on the chorus though!!! LOL.

so you see just little minor stuff....we're basically on the same page about what we saw!!!

A ha! I thought that Strat was the one JY played all the way back to the Wooden Nickel era. But either way, I thought his tone sounded more "real" and less processed than in recent years, which I welcomed. In 2005 at the Ryman it didn't even sound like James Young playing guitar, he just sounded and played so differently than how he used to. I liked this much, much better. With his cleaner tone you could hear the note articulation much better, and JY's really clean note articulation has always been one of his strengths, in my opinion.


Sterling

[yogi]

Sterling,

I say that Dennis would never do the show because within the context of that show he only gets to play 1 top 40 hit. Tommy gets to play 3 and Sing For The Day stalled at #41.

Yes Dennis could sing some of 'his' hits as encores but unless they played for 3+ hours he would not be playing many of the DDY/Styx signature pop(rock) hit songs. A bunch would get left off.

Dennis also stated publically that he was not proud of what he brought to the table for Pieces Of Eight. He stated that his efforts on that album were disappointing.

I can not seeing Dennis doing this show because of that. This show puts Tommy more in 'the spotlight' then Dennis. It also pushes JY out front more.

I am proDDY but I honestly do not think he would have ever done this show.

I sure wish that I could see it!!

[Rockwriter]

Sterling,

I say that Dennis would never do the show because within the context of that show he only gets to play 1 top 40 hit. Tommy gets to play 3 and Sing For The Day stalled at #41.

Yes Dennis could sing some of 'his' hits as encores but unless they played for 3+ hours he would not be playing many of the DDY/Styx signature pop(rock) hit songs. A bunch would get left off.

Dennis also stated publically that he was not proud of what he brought to the table for Pieces Of Eight. He stated that his efforts on that album were disappointing.

I can not seeing Dennis doing this show because of that. This show puts Tommy more in 'the spotlight' then Dennis. It also pushes JY out front more.

I am proDDY but I honestly do not think he would have ever done this show.

I sure wish that I could see it!!

Ah, I see what you're getting at. Dennis would still be singing more songs than any other member, wouldn't he? And in recent years he has kinda recanted his position on Po8 and has performed songs from it live in his own shows. Last time I saw him here in Nashville he played the title song, and in his intro he said, "Sometimes you go back and listen to a song you didn't like, and you realize it doesn't suck as much as you thought it did." LOL.

I don't know, it's an interesting question. But one I don't think will be answered.


Sterling

[Babyblue]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

That's Gowan with vocal issues
JY with vocal issues
Todd with head banger issues,

Allot of issues with this group.

Everyone is just fine in the band.

[kellyhansenfan]

Very fair review, Sterling. When I read it the first time, I did not realize it was written by you. I was super pleased to see Ricky given some props:) he is so often overlooked! I saw numerous shows on this tour and I do believe Nashville was one of the better ones particularly for the mix and acoustics.

[froy]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

That's Gowan with vocal issues
JY with vocal issues
Todd with head banger issues,

Allot of issues with this group.

Everyone is just fine in the band.

Of course you would know this after seeing them 1 time in your entire life.

[brywool]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

I don't even know if it's a matter of vocal coaching. I think he should simply drop the keys to the songs that are out of his current range. When he sang in range, he sang better than he did last time I saw the band in 2005. But he's what, 64 now? You just can't keep screaming like that. Hell, I couldn't sing those songs in those keys, and I'm only 40. You have to play to your strengths and away from your weaknesses.


Sterling

Well, JY has a high voice anyway. If he got with a decent coach, he could keep and expand his range. Even at that age. He WILL damage his chords if he keeps screaming like that night after night.

[brywool]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

That's Gowan with vocal issues
JY with vocal issues
Todd with head banger issues,

Allot of issues with this group.

I have yet to hear Gowan be flat. I've heard his tone be thin, but not flat. A lot of singers have thin tone. Not DeYoung, but a lot.
I've also never heard him scream a song to get it out ala JY and GWH.
Todd's a great drummer. John Panozzo was an adequate drummer. Good, but nowhere near as good as Todd. Not sure how you
can look at Sucherman and say he's a bad drummer. That just makes your opinion less valid to me.

[masque]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

That's Gowan with vocal issues
JY with vocal issues
Todd with head banger issues,

Allot of issues with this group.

I have yet to hear Gowan be flat. I've heard his tone be thin, but not flat. A lot of singers have thin tone. Not DeYoung, but a lot.
I've also never heard him scream a song to get it out ala JY and GWH.
Todd's a great drummer. John Panozzo was an adequate drummer. Good, but nowhere near as good as Todd. Not sure how you
can look at Sucherman and say he's a bad drummer. That just makes your opinion less valid to me.

john panozzo was a hell of a lot better than "adequate".....he was one of the best and his drumming is VASTLY underrated!!! todd is incredible and I freaking love him. if i started a band tomorrow and could pick anyone I would have a hard time not picking todd.....BUT......John could hang with anyone....anytime.

[StyxCollector]

john panozzo was a hell of a lot better than "adequate".....he was one of the best and his drumming is VASTLY underrated!!! todd is incredible and I freaking love him. if i started a band tomorrow and could pick anyone I would have a hard time not picking todd.....BUT......John could hang with anyone....anytime.

While I agree John was definitely better than average in his prime, putting him in the ranks of the Neil Pearts of the world is a stretch. He was perfect for Styx and was very tasteful. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. I wouldn't have wanted him to be like Neil. John never overplayed (I don't think I've heard him do so even on bootlegs) and his timing was pretty solid.

Todd is a monster and there's no disputing that. He deserves the accolades he's received. He's arguably a better technical drummer and could play circles around John at this point. However, I do sometimes miss the simplicity and subtlety of what John brought to the table. In that way, Dennis' drummer (Tom Sharpe) plays truer to John than Todd does overall.

[froy]

"brywool"


Not sure how you can look at Sucherman and say he's a bad drummer. That just makes your opinion less valid to me.

It sure would make my O less valid if I said it, Next time let me say it first,
Being a head banger just means he's way to hard for STYX. They need finesse not power banging,

[froy]

"StyxCollector"


However, I do sometimes miss the simplicity and subtlety of what John brought to the table. In that way, Dennis' drummer (Tom Sharpe) plays truer to John than Todd does overall.

BING freakin go

[Boomchild]

"brywool"


Not sure how you can look at Sucherman and say he's a bad drummer. That just makes your opinion less valid to me.

It sure would make my O less valid if I said it, Next time let me say it first,
Being a head banger just means he's way to hard for STYX. They need finesse not power banging,

Exactly. John's style was different but I don't think that puts him in a sub class to Todd. Todd wants to be more of a showman then keeping things within the original structure of the song.

[Babyblue]

Jy needs to get himself to a vocal coach. He's having definite issues on this tour.
Cool review Sterling.

That's Gowan with vocal issues
JY with vocal issues
Todd with head banger issues,

Allot of issues with this group.

Everyone is just fine in the band.

Of course you would know this after seeing them 1 time in your entire life.

This is not my last show Fred.And if i could i would have gone to Alanta,Ga for the last show.But no more funds.lolol But i will see them again.

[froy]

"Babyblue"

Everyone is just fine in the band.

Of course you would know this after seeing them 1 time in your entire life

This is not my last show Fred.And if i could i would have gone to Atlanta,Ga for the last show.But no more funds. But i will see them again.

Not from what Im hearing..

[kansas666]

Good review Sterling. It's nice to read a review of STYX where the author gets the facts straight.

[masque]

john panozzo was a hell of a lot better than "adequate".....he was one of the best and his drumming is VASTLY underrated!!! todd is incredible and I freaking love him. if i started a band tomorrow and could pick anyone I would have a hard time not picking todd.....BUT......John could hang with anyone....anytime.

While I agree John was definitely better than average in his prime, putting him in the ranks of the Neil Pearts of the world is a stretch. He was perfect for Styx and was very tasteful. At the end of the day, that's all that matters. I wouldn't have wanted him to be like Neil. John never overplayed (I don't think I've heard him do so even on bootlegs) and his timing was pretty solid.

Todd is a monster and there's no disputing that. He deserves the accolades he's received. He's arguably a better technical drummer and could play circles around John at this point. However, I do sometimes miss the simplicity and subtlety of what John brought to the table. In that way, Dennis' drummer (Tom Sharpe) plays truer to John than Todd does overall.

i also think Todd is more technically gifted based on what I have heard both of them do live and on tape. the point I am making is that John was far beyond adequate. I have played in bands over the years and have tried to do styx songs and many times the drummer comes back in and says "man, I never really payed attention before until I tried to learn it but I cant play that"....or you hear "man that drum part was super hard to learn"....the magic in john's playing to my ears was his ability to play what fit the song perfectly while supplying a KILLER drum part that totally stood on it's own....listen to BCM and CSA....those drums are incredible.

todd is a beast and I love him....but John was simply incredible.

[masque]

and I say all of that while admitting that I actually prefer Todd as a drummer....he is more "prog" to me and I love prog music so it fits what I want to hear better and I like what he has done to the styx songs over the years.

[bugsymalone]

Enjoyable review, Sterling. Agreeing with Kansas above, that it is indeed nice to read a review from someone who actually knows something about this band and its history.

That said ... forever imprinted on my mind, re Gowan, (to add to an earlier, apt description of "Munchkin Voice") is that image of his "Riverdance" across the stage. Still chuckling over that one.

Bugsy