Influence

by

Shaw-Blades

Edit

I was talking to my younger brother recently who is a huge Styx fan like myself, and I mentioned that this cd was due to come out shortly, which excited him, but when I told him it was cover tunes, be became less excited. He asked what was it with everybody putting out cover albums lately, including Styx, Def Leppard etc., and now this release. Here is my theory for what it's worth. First-They have nothing left to prove, they KNOW the current state of the music business, which is you have to be pretty and wear skimpy clothing or use sequencers and drum machines and "talk" your way through a song or it will never get on the radio, and second, the only way to get on rock radio, which is primarily classic rock radio, is to record again a classic rock song e.g. Styx's cover of I am A Walrus, which actually charted, and was the first Styx song since the Kilroy album to get any commercial airplay. Having said all of that, this cd is excellent. It has a wide variety of covers, done in the very organic sounding Shaw/Blades fashion, covering everything from mainstream pop to nods of progressive rock. Very impressive. And the vocals are absolutely perfect. I would love to see these guys guest host on American Idol, or a least show some of those contestants how to really sing. If you enjoyed the Hallucination cd then you will love this one. It has all of the qualities of that work with timeless classic songs to boot. Highly recommended.

I heard Shaw/Blades plugging an appearance this morning on the Stern Show and they sounded amazing! They were so good, I got goose bumps listening to their harmonies! I definitely bought into what they're doing with this album. I'm a bit disappointed with the studio recordings but I still like the album very much. The live performance just came off so much better. To be honest, the album sounds like it came straight out of the 80's. It sounds just a bit bigger than it should ... know what I mean? I much prefer the stripped down version I heard on the radio.

I'm a child of the 80's and a veteran of more than a few Styx and Night Ranger concerts so I'm happy to support these guys and their album. The title boils it down for you. If you have to describe this album in one way ... IT'S FUN!