Styx Album: “Rockers”

Ok, I've never been a big fan of "greatest hits" albums. They're usually little more than record labels cashing in on fans by reselling them music that they already have . . plus one, perhaps two new tracks. They also usually sell to the one or two casual fans that are just waiting for that one disc to get all their favourite tracks in one place.

This disc does neither. It has to be the most useless, irrelevant, and pointless compilation ever released. More irrelevant even than those wretched "20th Century Masters" discs. This isn't even a "hits" album. Midnight Ride, Shooz, and Little Suzie are hardly the sort of tracks that landed Styx in the rock history books. Why does this compilation exist?!?

This is just another attempt by the Shaw-Young Band to erase a part of their history that can NOT be denied. While I like the music of the current band, I think it's criminal to credit this music to the current lineup. Completly and intentionally omitting a founding member his due credit by plastering a photo and credits of the new band only shows the level of immaturity that still remains here. My suggestion is that you stop making your bitterness so obvious and take the high road like the abandoned member. If you can't count him as part of your history then stop trying to push the altered version on us. Hopefully most of the fans are to smart to buy into it.

The reasons for this CD to exist aren't good enough.

First- Dennis doesn't have any lead vocals. Tommy does a really good job on his songs, but Dennis was the showman.

Second- I don't notice an improvement in sound quality. Remastering a twenty five year old recording doesn't help my car stereo.

Third- The song selection is uneven at best. 'Blue Collar Man' is a radio staple available on several compilations. 'Man in the Wilderness' is an underappreciated gem. 'Shooz' was forgettable and 'Heavy Metal Poisoning' falls flat.

If you have the money buy the albums. If you just want what you hear on the radio buy 'Greatest Hits'. If you never want to hear 'Come Sail Away' again but want a Styx CD to play in your home system maybe this is your cup of tea.

Give me a break, neo-Styx. Where did all the music go? This compilation has to be the Worst Of Styx and should have been so-entitled. Where are all the good rockin' songs we had been led to expect from the title. What happened to Rockin' the Paradise, Mr. Roboto, The Grand Illusion, Lorelei,and yes, The Best of Times. Classic Styx was never heavy metal and never tried to be under the guidance of Dennis DeYoung who wrote and sang ever last one of the songs mentioned above. And there were many more that he co-wrote which are conspicuous by their absence. This collection is a distinct slap in the face of the man who organized Styx and put them on the map. It appears that Non-Styx is trying their level best to eradicate the accomplishments of their former band leader and hitmaker, Dennis DeYoung. You only have to look at the Greatest Hits CD to see who actually wrote and sang the "greatest hits" since 9 of 16 "hits" were both penned and vocalized by him. So where are the great rocker songs? Dennis has 'em. And if Crystal Ball is considered a "rocker" by anyone, then "Babe" should also be given this distinctions and it does have the redeeming feature of being the only Styx song to ever reach # 1.So pardon me, Non-Styx, your slip is showing.

These are the reasons this compilation exists (in my opinion):

1. To have a Styx album (of old songs) that does not contain anything written by Dennis Deyoung, so to imply that he was not a vital member of the band, is not needed, and is not missed.

2. To stress that Styx is a ROCK band, since JY & Tommy Shaw incorrectly think: a. people believe otherwise b. Dennis was somehow not and c. That is important

3. To rehash existing songs for the umpteenth time, because the band without Dennis is incapable of releasing anything decent.

This CD might as well be called "Songs Dennis didn't write", so here is my counter part "Dennis Rockers":

1. Light up

2. Lorelei

3. Born for Adventure

4. Grand Illusion

5. Come Sail away

6. Queen of Spades

7. Borrowed time

8. Rockin the Paradise

9. Music Time

10. Not Dead yet

Recognize any?

Then maybe we can have a Styx Ballads album, followed by another live CD, then maybe another covers album. Then, of course we'll need another greatest hits (I've lost count how many there are now).

If JY and TS want to carry on without Dennis that's their unfortunate choice. But there's no reason to disrespect the man, their fans, and their music, with things like this.