Styx reissues coming In May

Yes, sorry for the delay as this thread got buried. It sounds wonderful. Very quiet and the music is full. Is it remastered? I can't tell but I haven't compared it to my CD copy. Played flawless, once I cleaned it off it looked pristine. The debris seems to be from the paper sleeve it came in. The fingerprints washed right off with some distilled water. Will I go out and buy the rest? Probably not as I have good copies of the original pressings, other than a bad copy of Cornerstone. I may pick it up at some point but trying to find out a comparison in the UMe version and the Friday Music version. The new version is a gatefold just like Friday's, not a tri-fold cover. But the inner sleeve is the original inner sleeve that Friday did not include. There are no reviews of this anywhere, I have searched online and no one has reviewed the box set or the individual releases yet.

Would I recommend it? If you're a die hard fan and have to have them or you don't have them on vinyl then yes. But if you already have them keep what you have and maybe test the waters by picking up a single release. I think I got Equinox for $21.99 on sale. They (FYE) didn't have the box set but they had multiple copies of Equinox, Grand Illusion and PO8. I did talk to someone who bought the box set but he hasn't played them yet. He said GI comes with the poster and is not gatefold (like the Friday Music version -- I also have that one).

And there are no extra credits listed at all, no indication of who remastered it, etc. The dead wax only has numbers in it, which mean nothing to me as I am not good at reading dead wax unless it says BG, RL or Sterling, something to that effect.

Disappointed greatly that Edge Of The Century wasn't released. I love that album as well but I am keeping my fingers crossed for that and the Wooden Nickel releases.

 

Dennis DeYoung's comments on the vinyl:

Hey everybody,

I just received the new Styx Vinyl Collection in the mail and decided to pop it open to have a look. I called the local fire department to assist me seeing as how to open anything you buy these days takes considerable ingenuity and effort. After they had gotten it open I decided to buy my own set of "Jaws of Life" for the next time I have to open something, you know like a bottle of Listerine. The child proof cap on this thing should state that this product is safe for all children under the age of 114 cause ya ain't agittin it open. Squeeze the marked sides and twist, only to realize after 72 attempts that your gingivitis and plaque will be celebrating and your breath will have to remain questionable. Buy one bottle and it will be yours for life, What would you give to have 5 minutes alone with the murdering, tamperingTylenol guy who stared all this idiotic protective packaging crap. I believe, though I could be wrong that hospital emergency rooms have invested heavily in this protective packaging. Obamacare does not cover this. But I digress.

After seeing the collection I was impressed to find that all the albums appeared to be as I had remembered them, with the exception of the laser etching on Paradise Theater. Of the four million that sold only the first million were actually etched. It was the brainchild of Jeff Ayeroff at A and M. and was awfully cool.

They contain the same lyrics and photo's as the originals including the Grand Illusion poster. In this photo under my jacket I'm wearing an A and M tee shirt to match my Robins egg blue colored saddle shoes, oh and let's not forget my fashionable little scarf ya know in case I catch cold or decide to rob a 7/11. I heard that Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn saw my getup and Gunn broke out in hives. It's a wonderful poster and the photo shoot was memorable in that I never heard anyone yelling "Blairrrrhhh more smoke at crotch level". (For those of you who do not understand the reference check out an earlier post where I discuss our first album photo shoot).

As of yet I don't know if I will make the effort to listen to these records because it would entail some work on my part to fix my turntable and stylus, connect it to an amp and speakers and find my hookah and platform shoes. Besides I know what they sound like i was there when we did them. If any of you were bold enough to get these new things let me know what you think and please do not post your prom pictures...oh go ahead!

Cheers,
Dennis

Redbeard recently talked about them on In The Studio and he does mention they have been remastered but doesn't say much more about them

http://www.inthestudio.net/redbeard...75-1984-tommy-shaw-james-youngdennis-deyoung/

 

The CD version of Equinox sounds pretty bad. Took me many different pressings of the vinyl for Equinox to find one that both sides sounded awesome. Side 2 usually sounded not so great.

Pat

 

A few months ago, I came across several open copies of "Kilroy Was Here" that I presumed were promo samples or test copies from this upcoming boxed set. The cover was glossy and sharp with markings that indicated a 2015 Universal product. The vinyl was heavy and thick. The ones I saw had RM (Ron McMaster) in the deadwax and were pressed by United Record Pressing. I don't know if these were representative of what actually made it to the production box...

 

That is a very good possibility. I will check Equinox when I get home tonight and report back here as to what is in the dead wax. So how is Ron's reputation? I am not familiar with URP. I did see a copy of Kilroy on e-bay several weeks ago and it had the UMe 2015 stamp on it. Just curious, how did you happen to come across some copies of it?

As for side 2 of Equinox, rest assured Midnight Ride simply COOKS! Didn't sound bad to me at all. And that is played with a new AT95E cartridge I just replaced with less than an hour playing time on that needle.

Here is my personal copy of GI from Friday (given to me by a childhood friend who passed away in 2013 so it is treasured). I just do a 2 min quick look of the jacket because I had some friends that were asking what the gatefold looked like. I had heard some people complain the cover art did not look good. To me it looks good and has richer color than from what I remember and compared to my CD copy. The mastering on it sounds good to me and I know some people are highly critical of Friday releases but this is the only Friday record I own so I don't have any others to compare it to.

 

Regarding Ron McMaster's work, I have not always been a big fan. However, he cut many of the KISS reissues last year that were mastered by Kevin Reeves, and I thought the ones that bore his initials were stellar for the most part. After that series, I decided that he probably does great work if he is given good source material. I've definitely had my share of reissue turkeys with the initials RM inscribed in the deadwax, though. The ones that come immediately to mind are the Roxy Music reissue LPs from maybe 2009 and the Beach Boys "Endless Summer." They weren't horrible, but they just were not "involving" the way I had hoped. I bought the Roxy Music reissue box that came out this year (?) and it was MUCH better -- but he was not involved. Again, maybe it was just down to source material...

I live in Nashville so (since United Record Pressing is located here along with many other music industry companies) it is not terribly uncommon to run across promos, product samples, test pressings, etc. out in the wild. For instance, I saw some for the Capitol Beach Boys reissues before they were released, too. Those were in plain white covers, though.

 

Thanks, and after looking at Equinox last night it does have an RM very small in the dead wax a slight distance from the numbers (which still mean nothing to me, I assume this is the item number). Thanks for sharing, very interesting. I had no idea there was a plant in Nashville I know there are not many left and all of them use vintage equipment.

As for Equinox, it sounds good to my ears and I will give it another listen this weekend. I believe in one of my earlier posts I stated that I noticed a "speck" on Mother Dear. I am not sure really what it is but it is a very small raised area on the vinyl. It was a concern for me at first but it played flawlessly so I am no longer concerned about it.

I used to be in the radio industry (over 10 years ago) and had a ton of contacts. However, 10 years is a long time and many of my contacts have either moved on or changed e-mail addresses so I really have no way to ask anyone about them. I did try to contact Dennis and ask him about it but I haven't heard back yet as I am not sure of the correct e-mail these days. It is possible that I can contact Tommy Shaw (and I will try later) and see if he has any info on them he has been kind enough to respond to me in the past via e-mail. JY seems to be totally offline so there is no way of getting in touch with him. My last conversation was around 2006 and I asked him about CITA on DVD. I knew there was more footage because some songs that are on the album are not on the DVD and vice versa. We discussed the possibility of it being released in complete form containing all of the footage from the original show. He seemed interested but when it was eventually released it was the same as the VHS. I assume the record company did it without any input from the band and transferred the video to DVD and added some bonus videos on the end.

 

Originals sound fantastic as they were on A&M, who were a music first label all the way. This box seems unnecessary.

 

I'll echo what others have said. I picked up Equinox today for under $18 and while it is good, I already had a nice original so getting this was probably unnecessary.

On a positive note, I traded in a Time-life box set of "Mellow 70s" or something like that hoping to get around $5 in trade. They gave me $35 in trade! I bought the thing at a garage sale for around $5.

 

Agreed it does sound good but not good enough to go buy the rest. The only A&M record I am missing is Cornerstone and I'd like to know what this one sounds like compared to the Friday Music release.

 

Finally got a message back from Tommy, was very short but I know they are busy. Yes, they have been remastered. He did not know the source material as the band wasn't too involved. He doesn't know if there are plans to reissue the Wooden Nickel albums on vinyl but we can hope.

 

Music Direct still has the box on sale for $149.99, plus they have a new 10% off coupon, SUMMER10, that brought the price down to $134.99. At that price, and with free shipping, I decided to go ahead and order. Won't be able to comment on the quality for a while, though, since they show a shipping availability of 1-2 weeks.

 

Cool, would like to hear about it when it comes in.

 

Remastered by Ron McMaster at United Pressing. RM in the deadwax of my Equinox. Also, I just ordered the Friday Music version of Cornerstone. Found a sealed/new copy on ebay for $8.91 and thought it was too good of a deal to pass up.

 

Anyone has this set and if so whats the over all grade. Good, sucks, OK anything would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

I almost bought Equinox tonight but figured I'd check with you fine gentlemen first to see how it sounds. Based on the above comments I'd like to hear it. I wonder how other titles from the box set sound?

 

Of the new albums I only bought Equinox. I had decent copies of the others so I felt there was no need to buy the others. I probably would have picked up Paradise Theatre if it had the laser etched side 2. Would have been cool to have it on 180 gram with the laser etching. My copy of Grand Illusion (mentioned in this thread above) is the Friday Music version. I see no need to buy another copy. While the FM version did not come with a poster, I was given one with my album (a friend bought it for me and had an extra poster). The new reissue has the poster.

I eventually bought Cornerstone but it wasn't the UMe or the Friday Music version. I saw it on e-bay sealed for $8.99. I assumed it was the Friday Music version but when it came I discovered it was Music On Vinyl. Very poorly done artwork, no trifold, no gatefold, just a single sleeve with the lyrics on high gloss paper that was pixilated. The cover art was a dark scan, so dark some of the writing couldn't be read. However, the vinyl was pretty nice and played fine and was worth the 9 bucks I paid for it. Also I found it interesting that the label on the record wasn't the A&M label and it had the Wooden Nickel style Styx logo:



So back to your question, if you have a good copy of Equinox, then NO don't get this one. However if you don't have it buy this one and chances are you won't be disappointed in it.

 

I found this on a Styx forum, maybe this will help:

Go the box set today. Here are some of my initial thoughts and observations. It comes as pictured. All nine albums in silver\gray box with the Styx logo. So far I have looked over Paradise Theater and Cornerstone. PT is exactly like the original sans the laser etching on side 2. I didn't think UNI was going to go to the expense of doing that. On CS, the jacket is just a standard gate fold and not the three flap design of the original. The record sleeve is like the original. Silver with graphics. The only difference is this sleeve is a shiny silver instead of a more flat silver\gray on the original. From what I can tell the albums are identical to the originals for the most part. Except for what I have mentioned above. Right down to the liner notes. No information listed on them being a reissue, 180grm or remastered. Just the UME logo and copyright of 2015 printed on each album jacket. The outer box has no additional information about them being a reissue etc.. The back just has a picture of each album and the track listings. As far as remastering, I believe Redbeard mentioned they were on his show discussing this release. I would assume he would have gotten such information directly from UNI. Overall, it's very nice packaging but I think they should have gone the extra mile to make them more collectable. I am glad they did do this reissue though. I really never thought UNI was even going to do this in the first place. This is based on how they have ignored Styx' catalog over the years. Once I get a chance to listen to these I will share my thoughts on that aspect as well.

And another post:

I went to my local Hastings and picked up Equinox, Crystal Ball, Paradise Theater, Kilroy, and Caught in the Act. They were 17.99 a piece and CITA was 34, so that was an excellent deal. I didn't pick up GI, PoE, or Cornerstone because I have the Friday Music releases.

I'll have to say, after listening to Equinox and Crystal Ball, I am blown away. Honestly, they sound crisper and cleaner than the Friday Music releases. Equinox had no crackles or pops in it, very clean! And to add to it, finally got my copy of Reppoo in too. Glad to add to an already massive Styx vinyl collection!

 

I'd like to know how the UNI Grand Illusion compares to an A&M WLP.

 

This is now half price on great offers in the Uk and only 67 dollars in US seems a bargain. I have bought through this outlet before without any issues.

 

Just found them cheap on ebay . I had no intention of getting them. Search for the seller get_importcds on eBay. They have them for $14.12 each plus free shipping. And if you but 3 the price drops to $9.82 each! And still free shipping so I bought 3 of them sealed and new for less than $30. If you search for Styx 180 you may not find them so search for that seller then search his stuff for Styx and they will pop up.

 

Bought this set s few months ago for less than $70 shipped, or something like that. I have not listened to it yet though.

Pat

 

I only ordered 3 of them, the others I have are pretty decent copies. Kilroy, Paradise and PO8 all had skips so I ordered those. Equinox is the 2015 version. For $29 bucks it wasn't bad.

 

get_importcds has unopened A&M Crystal Ball for $11.66 now on ebay.

 

Yep, that's who I ordered all of mine from. Crystal Ball is an original pressing but the ones I am missing I ordered from them. I even got Caught In The Act for 9.99. Sometimes they have deals going on in addition to the cheap prices. Sometimes order 3 and get another 25% off. I order Zeppelin and 2 Queen albums, ended up a little over 20 bucks for all three!