(Eagle Rock) Styx will have their entire career encapsulated within the 16 tracks of Regeneration, Volume I & II on a double-disc to be released on October 4.

With over 30 million records sold in North America alone, Styx is one of the most beloved rock bands on the planet. Tommy Shaw, James "JY" Young, Chuck Panozzo, Lawrence Gowan, Ricky Phillips and Todd Sucherman have been together longer than any other lineup in the band's 40-year existence.

In addition to thirteen Styx classics and a brand new song "Difference In The World," Regeneration, Volume I & II also includes interpretations of "High Enough," and "Coming Of Age," originally recorded by Damn Yankees, which featured Shaw, along with Night Ranger's Jack Blades, Ted Nugent and drummer Michael Cartellone." The band had originally re-recorded these acclaimed anthems to sell only at their live shows, as they continued to tour the globe and introduce a new generation of fans to their chart-topping hits. Now, for the first time, this music is being made commercially available.

Eagle Rock Entertainment has previously released Styx: One With Everything, a DVD and Blu-Ray filmed with The Contemporary Youth Orchestra Of Cleveland. Upcoming in December will be The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight – Live, on DVD/CD, DVD, and Blu-ray.

Track Listing:
DISC 1
1) The Grand Illusion
2) Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
3) Lorelei
4) Sing For The Day,
5) Crystal Ball
6) Come Sail Away
7) Difference In The World

DISC 2
1) Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)
2) Miss America
3) Renegade
4) Queen Of Spades
5) Boat on The River
6) Too Much Time On My Hands
7) Snowblind
8) Coming Of Age
9) High Enough

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005HWUD80/?tag=imwan-20

I usually dislike re-recordings, but Styx kick so much ass live on these songs, maybe it would be worthy of hearing. I'm not really eager to buy it though and I don't need 2 Damn Yankees re-workings either! Not exactly justifying 2 CDs either is it? (This is a combo of 2 previously released CDs).

Really? I was thinking that Styx versions of those two songs might be more interesting to hear than all the re-recordings of Styx's own material.

I'm with Linda on this one - I'm more interested in the DY tracks than the Styx ones, although in fairness, that's not saying much. And I doubt they'll improve on Nugent's solo on "High Enough".

But IP points to something interesting - I wonder if they approached these as "live in the studio" or as recreating the studio versions. I would be much more interested in the former, more of a studio representation of the live versions they do now.

Alan

My guess is that they'll try and recreate the originals, because I believe they're doing this for the same reason Journey and KISS did it -- to license them out for movies, commercials, etc.

Imitation is the sincerest form of unoriginality.

$$$$$$$$$$
Dennis owns all the rights to all the songs from the original albums.
If they use a rerecorded version, he gets nothing.

Are Steve Perry and Dennis DeYoung just that smart or the other band members just that dumb?

This is one catalog that can really use a good remastering job. What is the Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight live DVD/CD coming in December? Is that the current band doing these 2 albums in their entirety?

Yes.

I have never heard of this. Not saying you're wrong, but where did you see/hear this? How does he own the rights to songs he didn't even write?
Dennis himself was part of a re-recording of "Lady '95" which was so they didn't have to pay Wooden Nickel a wooden nickel (get it?) as that was the only song from those years (1972-74) that they wanted on there and the label was asking for a ridiculous amount of money and ended up with nothing. That song appeared on Greatest Hits in 1995 and led to the massively successful reunion tour of 1996.
The original version did appear on the 2CD Come Sail Away: The Anthology comp (now known as Gold) in 2004.

I absolutely worship those albums, but I won't be going anywhere near this.

The Return To Paradise live dvd/cd was great, but everything after that, absolutely everything and I won't be told otherwise, has completely sucked.

You won't be told otherwise, but of course everything after Paradise Theater absolutely sucked as well.
I did like some of Cyclorama, and the reunion live effort you mentioned was good (the new songs blew however) but fact is, they haven't put out a good album since 1981. They do however, really kill live as many on here have attested to.

I might be in the minorty here but I liked Kilroy Was Here and the tour that followed. I felt bad when John Ponazzo died, but without Dennis, it's not Styx to me.

From this book.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1419653539/?tag=imwan-20

They originally all received 20% of the licensing and radio money from the record company, but Dennis somehow con/convinced them to sign over the rights to him in the late 90's. He said he would only go on the Grand Illusion anniversary tour if they did this. So anytime an original recording is licensed or gets played on the radio, only he gets paid.
I hope I explained it better.

That was a great book to read. Dennis comes off as an asshole.

That makes it clear. I do remember that now because of his demands/Prima Donna-isms that there was a lot to make the reunion happen. Unbelievable he got them to cave like that. No wonder JY and Tommy hate him so much.
Also makes you understand just how difficult it is to pull these things together for any band and why so many acts just simply move on from a singer who hogs the limelight and has crazy financial demands.
I'm glad he's gone as they've never sounded better live, but his creativity is what is missing and they'll never be able to pull off another studio album like the old days (they couldn't even do that when he was back-Brave New World is one of the worst albums I've ever heard by anybody).

That is explained in the book as well.
Dennis was in his OCD mode, and ill, and didn't want to leave his house.
He recorded his parts in his studio, while the rest of the band recorded in LA, since Tommy and JY were starting there FU Dennis phase.
Dennis begged the band, and the record company, not to release it until they could all be in the same studio and fix it.
Turns out he was right.

Yeah, that one's definitely on my (s)hit list. I remember being quite excited that they were back together and releasing new material, but I'm not sure I ever managed to play the damn thing all the way through.

But I'm loving the idea that the guy responsible for Babe, The First Time, Don't Let It End etc is the evil schemer in all of this. Go Dennis!

Then how did he tour behind it? I met him backstage at one of the shows and he seemed just fine.

That's not even the half of it. Each party kept removing parts laid down by the other guys without telling anyone, and it became a mess. Thing is-the songs sucked so bad nothing would've saved it. It is DREADFUL.

DDY did not tour for that album. He did one final show for TV that was a benefit concert, but had already been replaced by Gowan before that show in 1999.
I don't know that DDY was right about anything because he wrote a good chunk of Brave New World and it was garbage. Blaming it on not be able to fix things with everyone was a convenient way of hiding the fact that he wrote crap. As did the others.