Listening Party - Styx II

[Toph]

Congratulations, you survived Styx I. Things get much better now. Here's Styx II:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8wMn2G0iEA

[brywool]

Best of the Wooden Nickel albums for me. This album is listenable all the way through and the songs are SO much better than what we got on STYX 1. Pretty cool album actually. I mean, it's no Grand Illusion, but man, (as Toph said) had THIS been the debut album from these guys with a 'real' label behind it... man!

YOU NEED LOVE-
This is one of the best, pre-Midnight Ride tunes that JY sang. Great hook. This should've charted as a single.
I actually have the sheet music for this with a really old photo of the band on it. Not sure where I got it. Great tune and I always liked it.

LADY-
Duh. Great tune. Flawless.

A DAY-
Kind of the "prog centerpiece" of the album. Curelewski did a great job with this track. The vocal is perfect for it and upstages any and all of JYs vocals from Styx 1. While this song is less 'accessible' it's still plenty listenable and goes someplace. Nice bass line from Chuck too.

YOU BETTER ASK-
Good song here. Speaking of "southern rock" this is very Skynrd and "What's your Name". Very cool organ in here by DeYoung and the guitar lines are great too. JC's voice works great here. Great chorus hook too.

LITTLE FUGUE IN G/FATHER OSA-
This was classic DeYoung. Not sure why LFIG was added, but it's a cool piece that sets up Father O.S.A. Great chorus. This is kind of "This Old Man" part 1 and while I like T.O.M., Father is the better track to me. Dennis's voice here is the Dennis voice we all know. Even on "Lady" it's not this "Dennis". It'd be great to hear Dennis do this one today. Great drums in here by John as well. One thing to mention too- Chuck's bass playing on this album is really good. He seems to have toned down once the band got to A&M and his bass parts became much simpler than on these earlier albums.

EARL OF ROSELAND-
Very cool and well played tune. Great groove on this track from John and Chuck. The ONLY gripe I have about this song is the super high harmony at the beginning and in the choruses. I woulda mixed that down just a bit because it's a bit too far out front-small gripe. JY's guitar solos on these early albums were great. Great guitar tone too.

I'M GONNA MAKE YOU FEEL IT-
This is my least favorite track on the album. The lyrics come off as much more dated and, again, JYs voice just doesn't work for me- but it's better than anything from the first album. This isn't a bad song, just out of the rest of the album, it comes off as the worst track. I sure like Dennis's Hammond organ on these early albums. He kind of quite doing that with the later A&M stuff and he's a great organ player.

[gr8dane]

This got one one of my top 5 Styx songs.No,not Lady,
but A Day.Brilliant.

[yogi]

[quote="gr8dane"]This got one one of my top 5 Styx songs.No,not Lady,
but A Day.Brilliant.[/quote]


Also LOVE 'A Day'. Side 1 of Styx ll is GREAT but I do not care for side 2 at all.

[gr8dane]

This got one one of my top 5 Styx songs.No,not Lady,
but A Day.Brilliant.

Also LOVE 'A Day'. Side 1 of Styx ll is GREAT but I do not care for side 2 at all.

Agree.

[masque]

ah good ole styx II........this is a coin flip for me in being my favorite WN release.....I will wait to disclose what my other fave is at the appropriate time.....lol

there is alot here that shows what this band is capable of doing and will become with a few more years of songwriting.

Yes, lady is a classic and just a flat out great song.

but to me this album really showcases a few other songs that are some of the best that JY and DDY had to offer during the WN days........tunes like;

you need love
I'm gonna make you feel it

are great JY songs

and then

father o.s.a
earl of roseland

are just killer DDY tracks.

I know that "a day" has been getting lots of love in this thread and I do like the song but it is the second weakest song on the album and "you better ask" is my least favorite......they are not clunkers (especially "a day") but i just prefer the other tracks more......and I have always felt "you better ask" just always sounded like it belonged somewhere else...it just never really fit the flow of the album to my ears.

the production is better than Styx 1.

overall I give this album a 7 out of 10 in comparison to their entire catalog.

[Toph]

Listened to this twice now just to recall everything.

Overall a huge upgrade over Styx I with some serious potential on a number of tracks. Best for me are You Need Love, Lady, and Earl.

You Need Love - Would have loved to have heard this with a DDY lead vocal (he did write it). Very upbeat song, great way to kick off an album. Is it just me or is the guitar lick the exact same notes as the start of Heavy Metal Poisoning? Styx like harmonies and echo harmonies. With DDY on lead vocals, totally could have found a home on Equinox. Very - Light Up-like. Happy, get you in a good mood type of song.

Lady - Started this whole train a rollin'. Actually like the high harmonies on Lady 95 during the last verse. But this is a true Styx sounding song. The clangy guitar makes you realize you are in the early 70s but doesn't date it unnecessarily (like the keyboard in Babe). Some might call this the first true power rock ballad. Probably too uptempo to be considered a straight ballad, but will be the model for many a Styx hit.

A Day - Have tried to get into this song and its okay for me, not great. Similar to the other JC epic, Mother Dear. Have to say, not a huge fan of JC's voice. This is his first lead vocal on any Styx album and I think his voice just isn't very powerful. They definitely upgraded vocally with replacement of Shaw 3 years later. This song is just a bit too laid back and boring. Not a lot of emotion here - just being weird for weirdness sake.

You Better Ask - Sorry, but this just doesn't fit the rest of the album. The rest of the album is at least somewhat serious - this feels like the Plexiglass Toliet of Styx II. JC growly voice sounds a bit like JY here. Not sure we need two of those in Styx. Wait, I'm definitely sure we don't.

Little Fugue/Father OSA - Ah the first of the DDY Epic songs. You can see both Madame Blue and Ballerina easily being follow ups to this one. Also the first of a few jabs at the Catholic Church by staunch Catholic DDY. Enlightening given all that we know today about the Catholic church and the behavior of some priests. I think you could replace priests with academics and the song would ring just as true. Academics have never lived a real life, had a real job, just stay in the comfort of their ivy halls, far from the world's realities.Not sure this song has enough oomph to clock in at 7 minutes - feels 2 minutes too long (I'll say the same thing about Ballerina), but some interesting musicianship here.

Earl of Roseland - I actually like this song. Who knew that before Michael Stipe used the Megaphone on early REM songs, that DDY would be using it on an early Styx record? Am I detecting a fake British accent by DDY here? Some of the lyrics here are a bit stupid "penny pitching" really? But I do like the mentions of all the members of Styx - that is kind of cool. Musically, the verses in this song are better than the chorus. Verses have good energy and melody. Chorus lacks energy and isn't really all that catching.

I'm Gonna Make You Feel It - Just way too boogy woogie for my tastes. Leave it.

P.S. Look at the back of the album cover on this one. At least on this YouTube clip. Really Wooden Nickel? Dennis with one "N"? Like Penis with a "D". Proceed with the jokes....

[FormerDJMike]

Listened to this twice now just to recall everything.

Overall a huge upgrade over Styx I with some serious potential on a number of tracks. Best for me are You Need Love, Lady, and Earl.

You Need Love - Would have loved to have heard this with a DDY lead vocal (he did write it). Very upbeat song, great way to kick off an album. Is it just me or is the guitar lick the exact same notes as the start of Heavy Metal Poisoning? Styx like harmonies and echo harmonies. With DDY on lead vocals, totally could have found a home on Equinox. Very - Light Up-like. Happy, get you in a good mood type of song.

Lady - Started this whole train a rollin'. Actually like the high harmonies on Lady 95 during the last verse. But this is a true Styx sounding song. The clangy guitar makes you realize you are in the early 70s but doesn't date it unnecessarily (like the keyboard in Babe). Some might call this the first true power rock ballad. Probably too uptempo to be considered a straight ballad, but will be the model for many a Styx hit.

A Day - Have tried to get into this song and its okay for me, not great. Similar to the other JC epic, Mother Dear. Have to say, not a huge fan of JC's voice. This is his first lead vocal on any Styx album and I think his voice just isn't very powerful. They definitely upgraded vocally with replacement of Shaw 3 years later. This song is just a bit too laid back and boring. Not a lot of emotion here - just being weird for weirdness sake.

You Better Ask - Sorry, but this just doesn't fit the rest of the album. The rest of the album is at least somewhat serious - this feels like the Plexiglass Toliet of Styx II. JC growly voice sounds a bit like JY here. Not sure we need two of those in Styx. Wait, I'm definitely sure we don't.

Little Fugue/Father OSA - Ah the first of the DDY Epic songs. You can see both Madame Blue and Ballerina easily being follow ups to this one. Also the first of a few jabs at the Catholic Church by staunch Catholic DDY. Enlightening given all that we know today about the Catholic church and the behavior of some priests. I think you could replace priests with academics and the song would ring just as true. Academics have never lived a real life, had a real job, just stay in the comfort of their ivy halls, far from the world's realities.Not sure this song has enough oomph to clock in at 7 minutes - feels 2 minutes too long (I'll say the same thing about Ballerina), but some interesting musicianship here.

Earl of Roseland - I actually like this song. Who knew that before Michael Stipe used the Megaphone on early REM songs, that DDY would be using it on an early Styx record? Am I detecting a fake British accent by DDY here? Some of the lyrics here are a bit stupid "penny pitching" really? But I do like the mentions of all the members of Styx - that is kind of cool. Musically, the verses in this song are better than the chorus. Verses have good energy and melody. Chorus lacks energy and isn't really all that catching.

I'm Gonna Make You Feel It - Just way too boogy woogie for my tastes. Leave it.

P.S. Look at the back of the album cover on this one. At least on this YouTube clip. Really Wooden Nickel? Dennis with one "N"? Like Penis with a "D". Proceed with the jokes....

Well the original CD of this album has Chuck listed as playing the "ass" instead of "bass".

[Baron Von Bielski]

Great album overall. Best of the Wooden Nickel era. Perfect balance with JY songs to DDY ones and JC sung tunes. Good opening song and believe it or not I really like the ending track... fits perfect. Father O.S.A. being my favorite on the album and of course there's Lady. JC's best Styx song in the epic A Day... love it, and The Earl of Roseland being another great tune. Right up there with my favorite Styx albums. Probably third on my list.

[masque]

thanks for doing this toph! it's a great idea and has been really fun revisiting these albums with a critical listen again.....i'm looking forward to the rest of em.