Interview with Lawrence Gowan of Styx from 2012

This is the quintessential coffee table book. That’s particularly true for those who love guitars.

Tommy Shaw (along with featured guitarist and sometime vocalist Will Evankovich) is joined by a full orchestra. They make their way through a killer set of songs in this configuration, lending a new and quite proggy flavor.

The video is shot very well. It is obvious that the crew and director were well-versed in the new arrangements as they know just when to cut to which instrument. The sound is also impeccable.

While the bulk of the set is made up of Styx music, there are also songs from other parts of Shaw’s career. For a lot of the set Shaw plays acoustic guitar (and even mandolin), but there are electric moments, too. The guitar solo on “Crystal Ball” shines tall as one of those. One of the highlights of the show for me is “Man in the Wilderness” because I really love that song and this version is such a cool variant on it. It is another that features electric guitar, Shaw going from acoustic to electric mid-track.

The only bonus material here is some audio-only songs. My one complaint about this is that there are bits of interview interspersed amongst the music. I wish there was a way to play just the concert and skip those, but I don't see an option for doing that. Still, this is a great experience either way.

This is a reissue of an older Kiss tribute album. It was originally called "Spin the Bottle," and I remember seeing it around that first time out.

The premise is simple: list 200 albums that are under-appreciated. When Jim Santora started the project he set some ground rules. 

So many times discs like this are really uneven. Well, that’s not the case here.


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