Dennis DeYoung - 26 East, Vol. 1

My rankings:

5/5

1. Pieces Of Eight
2. The Grand Illusion
3. Crystal Ball
4. Cyclorama
5. Kilroy Was Here

4/5

6. Edge Of The Century
7. Brave New World
8. Equinox
9. Cornerstone
10. Paradise Theatre

3/5

11. Man Of Miracles
12. The Serpent Is Rising
13. The Big Bang Theory
14. The Mission
15. II
16. Debut

That's a strong canon. All worth owning!

 

Love the video.

 

I noticed the Panozzos and Curulewski - were there any early photos featuring JY???

 

Nice video, and beautiful song Dennis.

Great job Julian too!

 

None. I believe that the old photos also featured Ton Nardin who was the guitarist before JY. I know Dennis said he recently spoke to Chuck about using images of him and John. he did say Chuck was very gracious as was Dennis.

 

Today is the day! I ordered it on vinyl from Amazon and it does not deliver until next Tuesday. But I also grabbed the songs from iTunes. Unfortunately no album liner notes or pictures with iTunes.

First let me say Dennis was always my favorite member although I continue to enjoy Styx.

I have played the first 4 songs so far. Track 1 most of us have heard, East Of Midnight. I find it to be an OK song. Track 2 is "All Due Respect" and is a rockin' tune but also just OK. Track 3 "Kingdom Ablaze" is a haunting track and reminds me of elements from Pieces Of Eight, vocally, like "Lords Of The Ring" or "Love In The Midnight" from Cornerstone. So far the best one. Track 4 is playing now, "You My Love" which is a piano ballad. I am not a big fan of ballads.

He and his band are in fine form and he sounds fine vocally but I do detect a bit of a change from his earlier work and that is to be expected at 73 years old. He can still hit the high notes but as stated sounds just a bit different.

Really wish "Proof Of Heaven" was here but I assume he is saving that for Vol 2 and so far no songs are as good as that one.

You can't compare this to The Mission as they are entirely different but I do like The Mission much better. Will take several listens to fully digest this release. It's pretty good but not great -- but it IS what I expected from Dennis. And at this point nothing sounds like a showtune (which is a good thing).

 

Be interesting to see if it grows 0n you with repeated listening.

 

Yeah, track 3 was the one that appealed most to me on the 60 second samples...

I ordered via Newbury Comics to get the signed postcard (or whatever it is). Sadly, I've not had any updates that it's even shipped, so I'll be waiting a bit...

 

I watched a recent interview with Dennis and 'Proof of Heaven' was mentioned and I think Dennis said he's not crazy about that song. So I don't know if it will be on Vol2.

I don't know if you saw this but one of the music websites had a post from Todd Sucherman that said in big bold letters that Styx is working on what will be the best Styx album ever. I really don't like how the guys in Styx continue to say so much negative things about Dennis. However the drummer to post that the next new Styx album will be the best Styx album ever is really pushing it. There was no need for that post but the guys in Styx are really trying to keep tearing up Dennis. On the interview I saw with Dennis the interviewer really wanted to see Dennis' Gold album awards as he has a wall of them. However he is not allowed to use the Styx name and couldn't even show his gold records because it says Styx. All this from the guy who started the band. Funny how JY and Tommy knocked Mr. Roboto for so many years and now they are playing it as their encore. Just not right. Dennis hasn't spoken to Tommy or JY in 20 years.

 

Full album up on YouTube! I ordered it, but I think I may cancel order?

 

I bought it from Qobuz for 8.99. I am a big DDY fan so I will get the LP also.
The mastering is not terrible but dynamics are a bit squished. One song looks hard limited.
Overall I like the album. Some very good songs and it flows great from one song to another. Looking forward to vol 2 if it ever gets released. I say that because I don’t know why A.D. 2020 is on vol 1. if vol 2 is really coming out.

 

I was very puzzled by AD 2020 being on this disc, too. It should be the FINAL song on the FINAL album, IMO.

 

That'll be AD 2021

 

I also bought the download from Qobuz. Does anyone know what type of packaging the CD comes in?

 

Any guesses on first week sales? He’ll likely need 12000-13000 to crack the top 50... I think that might be difficult.

 

Do any of the albums on that frontiers label ever chart ? I think only the Jeff Lynne release from a few years back had a good debut.

 

Not surprised that DDY would put Cornerstone, Kilroy and Paradise Theater all ahead of Crystal Ball, but I will just say he is incorrect.

It's hard for me to rank the first four albums, Kilroy and Edge of the Century since it has been forever since I've listened to any of them in full, but I would rank the other 9 as follows:

1. The Grand Illusion
2. Pieces of Eight
3. Equinox
4. Crystal Ball
5. The Mission
6. Paradise Theater
7. Cornerstone
8. Cyclorama
9. Brave New World

 

I agree with some of your selections. Equinox and Crystal Ball are both great albums so it's really a tough call. I probably would put Crystal Ball ahead because my favorite 2 Styx songs are 'Come Sail Away' and 'Crystal Ball'. While I do like The Mission I would put Paradise Theater ahead of it.

 

Another new interview with one piece that caught my eye:

So that’s why theoretically, this is Volume One and we’ve got a Volume Two coming, some of which is already recorded.​

I was certainly under the impression he’d recorded all the songs already (?).
https://americansongwriter.com/dennis-deyoung-26-east-volume-1-styx/

 

Have played several times now and I stand by that this is a good album (but not great). Damn That Dream is a good song. Reminds me of "Please" from Desert Moon for some reason. I am wondering if that song is about Styx? The song "Unbroken" also reminds me of an 80's track, perhaps something from Boomchild? I honestly have to say this album sounds very little like Styx and very much like his other solo releases. "The Promise Of This Land" starts off pretty mellow but has some nice keyboard work. I wonder if it is Dennis or his keyboard player? There are more slow songs on this than I want, I am not a big ballad fan. I still like Desert Moon better but I've had 35 years to listen to that one.

I thought it was complete as well. Haven't read the article yet but maybe he is fine tuning Vol 2?

I imagine it is a jewel case as all of Frontiers releases come in a jewel case. That's good, no digipacks (at least I hope but I have never seen a Frontiers release come in anything but a jewel case).

This one is a head scratcher too. You would assume it would be on the last album.

 

He's currently #14 on Amazon Best Sellers: Best Sellers in Rock. Which is pretty good, in my opinion.

Amazon Best Sellers: Best Rock

He was also "trending" on iTunes over the weekend too

 

Did you receive your order yet? What did you want signed? An album or cd?

 

I would’ve been happy with either cd/lp signed! But the closest option was a signed “postcard”, iirc, from Newbury Comics, which hasn’t even shipped as far as I know.

As to being #14 on amazon’s best selling list, that likely doesn’t mean much. A month ago “Joe Exotic” (from Tiger King) was #2 on their list (really!) but he never cracked the top 200...