LABEL: FRONTIERS
REVIEW BY: ALAN HOLLOWAY
It's interesting that I'm covering this, as I'm not exatly a Styx fan of old. Sure, I'm partial to a bit of "Paradise Theatre" and can almost hit the notes to "Babe"on karaoke, but I've never followed them, only getting interested when Larry Gowan joined, something that resulted in 2017s superb "The Mission". DeYoung himself hasn't released a solo album for over a dcade, and I was apprehensive, more worried about being bored than entertained.
As you can tell by the plethora of Rs above, boredom was not a thing with "26 East Volume 1". Straight away DeYoung goes for the throat with "East Of Midnight" and "With All Due Respect", both of which are bouncy tracks with crunching riffs. "A Kingdom Ablaze" tones things down a little but still shoves in an aggressive refrain, with "You My Love" going into full on ballad territory and doing it just right, as it's a beautiful song that still has enough bite to grab listeners. "Run For The Roses" really sounds like something from a stage musical, and is a good, catchy track, with "Damn that Dream" having more of a pompy bounce that will delight Styx fans. Elsewhere there's a piano led duet with Julian Lennon, "To The Good Old Days" that could be the closing song of a musical and will certainly be the set closer if he ever tours. It's nice enough with emotional lyrics, a bit wet for my tastes but even so I don't skip it. The emotion stays in "The Promise Of This Land", which is a love letter to 'Murca, and how AWESOME it used to be (Wooooo!). It's a full on Styx type track and once it gets going it rattles along brilliantly, full of pomp and energy. Woo indeed.
Although only nine full tracks long (plus a one minute closer), "26 East Volume 1" still provides over 40 minutes of music, with every track hovering between four and six minutes and none outstaying their welcome. Very well crafted ballads, catchy balls out rockers and a healthy amount of pomp for the fans, it's wormed it's way into my brain over the last month and it's an album I keep coming back to for the sheer enjoyment of listening to it. So for me, as a casual Styx fan at best, it's a greart album, because I was never going to be disappointed that it's not "Paradise Theatre" part two. Personally, I'm looking forward to Volume 2, hopefully with a cover that doesn't look like it was made with 1972 TV technology...
