Rock and Roll

one of the greatest achievements in music is the evolution and development of the rock and roll tenor. and to me the best of them all is Dennis DeYoung of Styxx

even now as I listen to DeYoung I get thrills and chills. the man used to stop me in my tracks...dead stop.

ketchim I have to make a confession here;

you see this song used to stop me dead, change my course for a day, take me places far, far away. you see even then I knew the world was one, where the human species came from, that I was the base of it all and that all was mine.

I was free to get in and dig all, to participate in all. the barriers I knew were nonsense, that I was connected -up. that is why Styxx could do for me what Marvin Gaye could.

Styxx would lead me out of ridiculous capitalist life, the sick routine, the fear and insecurity, the tremendous distorting emotion pressure that I for one only became aware of one day, a Friday, evening, when I could not stand it anymore I went to sleep

I smoked a joint and went to sleep. and for 3 days whenever I got up I smoked myself back to sleep...never even ate or drank..just slept for about 80 straight hours. when I finally got up I was a new man, fresh and free.

that is when I realized how this life makes us, turns us inside out, screws our personality. the pressure is simply too great..one day and likely soon we are all going to pop in one gigantic human explosion that is going to change the world or blow it up.

I went to sleep that Friday afternoon never to wake again. I had given it all up, tossed it all, did not care. my mind was clear and I just lay down and forgot about it, smoked a joint..part of one anyway and that was that!

but I got up and it was a new day. I had been free for minute and it was real sweet. I had been far far away and that was better. come sail away, come sail away....I was there. I hope to go again..I know I will get there again

intimations of forever in DeYoung's voice and work. I wasn't too happy when he crossed over and began to fuse Riddim and Blues into his Rock voice. that was sweet too but Come Sail away is him.. and Rock to its core. that is where the spirit from the white side resides. DeYoung went there, partook of the spirit, made it legible, accessible by sound, available to us all if we could hear

I don't know.. but even Stairway takes a place behind Styxx for me..and their flagship is 'Come Sail Away'

the speakers are crucial.....
as the mo' gathers and the jamm begins you want to have the base power full and deep, to dig down deep and connect to your soul

" A gathering of Angels...."

come sail away, come sail away, come sail away.... jammin!! Jammin hard.
a Jam that DeYoung then pierces with his searing tenor..

heaven in a song..a search for heaven, away from humanity and our collective limitations that creates all the emotional pressure that makes of life a pigs breakfast

I will get there, or start my own search. in fact I have been searching all along...I will be gone soon enough....looking. oh lawd..it must be amazing there!

hahahaha

BOSTON: another band I was bonkers over..by quality. listen to the tenor again.. and this band always was alive, the beat...always came up with great beats

again: the voice...of Steve Perry

OH Boy! Stve Perry..Dennis DeYoung?
You know what! I refuse to chose...or I chose both