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| Styx - Brave New World |
 Released: 1999 Label: SPV Cat. No.: Total Time: 52:41 | |
Review courtesy John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg, February 2000 Like no other band, Styx has always understood how to mix progressive rock with a fair share of commercial elements, witnessed by worldwide hits such as "Sing For The Day," "Babe" and "Boat On The River." Suddenly it was all over, as each member of the band felt the urge to start a solo career. Apparently reason returns with age because after the successful reunion from '96 had been closed with the live album Return To Paradise, the triumvirate of Shaw, Young, DeYoung strikes back with the album Brave New World based on the book by Aldous Huxley. [Well, the title is at least -ed.] After a total of 25 million albums sold, the new album lets us witness a reborn Styx filled with diversity, rhythms and atmospheres. The high pitched vocals are back in action so we might even consider calling the band the "symphonic Bee Gees!" Also, during their Crystal Ball, The Grand Illusion and especially Pieces Of Eight, Cornerstone and Paradise Theatre periods, the band has always shown a huge interest in the latest studio techniques. Of course, the band has once again used the latest technologies, which results in a fantastic sounding album. Bombastic pomp-rock with one foot in AOR and the other in the glory days of symphonic rock, traced by agreeable harmonies, and a perfect balance between electric and acoustic guitars that are sort of the Styx trademark. When the guitar almost sounds like a mandolin and the voice is almost out of a musical then you know that "While There's Still Time" is entitled to its fair share of radio airplay. Certainly these guys haven't forgotten how to write "catchy" songs. Especially the "ballad" seems to have been invented by Styx. Just listen to the wonderful "Fallen Angel" for example, a song that suddenly changes from a rhythmic point of view and could easily have been written by Billy Joel. The swirling "Everything Is Cool' sounds, if you listen carefully to the chords, like a speeded version of Jethro's "Locomotive Breath." "Great Expectations" uses the kind of rhythms which are often associated with the likes of Toto and sometimes also Steely Dan (some 'hidden 'reggae, just as in "High Crimes & Misdemeanors" which has been subtitled "Hip Hop-Cracy" by one of the boys). The guitar pyrotechnics in "Heavy Water" are as if this were a band of 16-year-olds that have just received their very first Fender guitar! With the fifties rock'n roll of "Just Fell In' and the once again Billy Joel-like "Goodbye Roseland," we reach the end of the album with the reprise of "Brave New World." The name Styx remains synonymous with both variation and music that crosses both pop and Broadway musical forms, a wave that they, and they alone, surf. Give them enough leeway to continue for many years to come so in the end we might indeed have a Brave New World! More about Brave New World: Track Listing: I Will Be Your Witness (4:31) / Brave New World (5:14) / While There's Still Time (3:53) / Number One (4:33) / Best New Face (3:36) / What Have They Done To You (4:33) / Fallen Angel (4:49) / Everything Is Cool (5:19) / Great Expectations (4:44) / Heavy Water (4:29) / High Crimes and Misdemeanors (Hip Hop-Cracy) (3:26) / Just Fell In (3:25) / Goodbye Roseland (3:49) / Brave New World (Reprise) (3:31) Musicians: Contact: Website: www.styxworld.com Discography
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