http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Thu, 31 Jul 2003 13:04:08 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/03/02/161948.php#comment-14131 Cyclorama is a must have for any Styx collection. It is a fantastic album, and the best Styx has put out in years. I actually think it's much better witout the bubblegum crap that DeYoung has been spitting out in the last couple of albums. Lawrence Gowan does a great DeYoung 'impersonation' and, although he is a talented singer and keyboardist, his stuff is really not necessary in order to validate this as a great Styx album. It could have easily stood on it's own without having to 'replace' DeYoung. Tommy Shaw's beautiful "Yes I Can" and JY's rocking "Captain America" are great tunes. The blatant jabs at DeYoung in "Bourgeois Pig", "Killing The Thing That You Love" and "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye" are fun to listen for, but they are all great tunes as well. But it is really JY's "These Are The Times" that makes the album, in my opinion. It is classic Styx and ranks right up there with the best stuff off of The Grand Illusion. I have been known to listen to it over and over it's so good. Great job JY. And Tommy and the rest of the band. Thanks for going out on a limb and putting this album out for us fans ... despite the lawsuits, etc. This is the Styx album that we've been waiting for for years. It's just too bad that it took DeYoung leaving the band to get an album like this again. I honestly can't wait for the next one now! 14131@blogcritics.org Thu, 31 Jul 2003 13:04:08 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/03/02/161948.php#comment-4116 I agree Marty - it's a pretty good disk overall, my favorite song is 'Yes I can' - But the others are growing on me! 4116@blogcritics.org Sun, 2 Mar 2003 19:04:20 EST