Dennis De Young - One Hundred Years From Now (Dig)
|
List Price: Our Price: $11.95 You Save: $6.03 (34%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $8.47 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for One Hundred Years From Now (Dig)
Free Music Review: 'Dennis DeYoung'-The real voice & sound of 'STYX'!
Hit: 5 Stars
This cd release just goes to show who was who in the super group 'STYX'! Hands down this is by far 'Dennis DeYoungs' best work as of yet! 5 Stars!Free Music Review: Excellent
Hit: 5 Stars
Excellent album. Very well done. Dennis DeYoung was truly the heart, and voice of Styx. Now, he's is his own voice.
Free Music Review: Best work since......
Hit: 5 Stars
IMO - This is his best work since Equinox!
STYX sure could use an album like this one.
Free Music Review: Who's the bourgeois pig now?
Hit: 4 Stars
On "One Hundred Years From Now", Dennis DeYoung manages to do something his former bandmates can't do -- make a great Styx album. Not that they haven't tried. Despite the fact that he sang on all but one of their top ten hits, the two remaining members of the classic Styx line-up ousted the frontman after 1999's "Brave New World". Since that parting-of-the-ways, the band that still records under that name have given us "Cyclorama" and "Big Bang Theory", the former a collection of songs that bear little or no resemblence to any previous incarnation of the band and the latter an inexplicable covers album. Much of the writing on "Cyclorama" seemed to be about the breakup with DeYoung (Bourgeois Pig, Kiss Your Ass Goodbye, Kill The Thing That You Love, Do Things My Way) and the ugly taste the working relationship, apparently, left in Mr. Shaw's and Mr. Young's respective mouths. Meanwhile, Dennis has spent recent years indulging himself in his Broadway roots, seemingly unfazed by the musical cheap shots from the band he fronted for a few decades. Until now, anyway.
"One Hundred Years From Now" is poetic justice for fans of the DeYoung-led version of the band and vindication for Dennis himself. While ballads like "Babe", "Come Sail Away" and "The Best of Times" are most representative of his work in Styx, it's hard to deny the stamp of the keyboardist/vocalist on rockers such as "Renegade" and "Too Much Time On My Hands". Just listen to the "guitar songs" on "Brave New World" for further evidence. Rumor has it that Shaw and Young removed Dennis' vocals and keyboards from many of the songs, leaving the disc sounding more like a collection of solo tunes than a true Styx album.
Unlike his former co-horts, though, DeYoung knew that it was the combined efforts of the individuals in the band that created that magical sound that made them worldwide stars. That fact is more than evident when you listen to the Styx soundalike band he has assembled for OHYFN. From the classic rock crunch of "Rain" and "Crossing The Rubicon" to the layered vocals in "This Time Next Year" and "I Don't Believe In Anything", it's not hard to imagine Tommy and James standing alongside Dennis. Meanwhile, Shaw and Young hired Canadian singer/keyboardist Larry Gowan to fill DeYoung's vacant seat. No disrespect to Gowan, whose "Great Dirty World" was a late-'80's classic, but he's out of his league here. One listen to Cyclorama's "Fields Of The Brave" proves that all singing keyboardists are not created equal.
OHYFN is chock-full of the pre-"Kilroy Was Here" Styx sound. Songs like the title cut, the aforementioned "This Time Next Year" and "Crossing The Rubicon" would sound right at home next to most of the tunes on "Cornerstone", "The Grand Illusion" or "Paradise Theater". Yet, somehow, they don't sound dated. The other thing that is striking about OHYFN is that, unlike most of DeYoung's solo efforts, there is an even balance of ballads and rockers. For every "I Believe In You", there's a "Private Jones". It's an amazing feat for the 60-something Dennis that must have his former bandmates eating their hearts out. They shouldn't fret, though. On "There Was A Time" and "Forgiveness", DeYoung seems to drop a hint or two that he might be able to let bygones be bygones. We might still get another proper Styx album yet. If not, "One Hundred Years From Now" is close enough for me.
Free Music Review: Right Now at the Rubicon
Hit: 4 Stars
It's difficult not to draw some comparison here to Styx since Dennis was a driving force over the years, from the founding of the band to his departure after Brave New World. Set that aside and grade this album on its own merit and it's a killer. It really does have all the elements of classic Styx as well as DeYoung's solo career. At times I can almost here Shaw and Young singing harmonies with Dennis. This album starts off with the title track which gets you going and wanting to hear more. Every song is excellent although, for me, his more pop inspired tunes, namely 'I Believe in You' and 'There was a Time' are just a little bit too pop-oriented for me. I always loved Dennis when he would rock out and he does do that plenty hear. To be fair, it wouldn't be DeYoung if he didn't have the ballads so pick and choose, I guess. Overall, a great album with another song dedicated to his wife Suzanne. Maybe part II of Song for Suzanne from way, way , way back when. Whatever happened between Styx and DeYoung, who knows, but don't penalize him for it. Rate the album on the quality of the music and that's all.