DENNIS DEYOUNG
26 East, Vol 2 FRONTIERS
Former Styx keyboardist/vocalist ends his musical half-century.
Save for the announcement that it was bringing down the curtain on his career, the first volume of 26 East – the street in Chicago on which DeYoung and fellow Styx co-founders John and Chuck Panozzo grew up – ranked among 2020’s most pleasing surprises. Understandably, given they were conceived as a pair,
Vol 2 is a comfy, entertaining companion to its predecessor.
DeYoung had been cajoled into a formal sign-off by ex-Survivor man Jim Peterik, whose thumbprint decorates four of these dozen tunes. Progressive music played a healthy role in the development of Styx, but DeYoung is no fool and for the most part he chooses to stick with what his audience expects – the theatrically despatched pomp-meets-AOR that once sold by the million (even if Last Guitar Hero includes a solo from Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello).
However, it’s the penultimate moment, Isle Of Misanthrope, that turns back the clock to the days of Come Sail Away and 1978’s immortal Pieces Of Eight album. This six-minute piece is the type of spine-tingling valedictory statement that most fans would want from an artist taking his final bow.