Hot Blooded

Now that I am on holiday, it is time to write more than usual (which isn't much..). I have practically dozens of topics I would like to blab about, so let's see how many I end up writing about during this week...

Styx was the band that introduced me to magnificent, theatrical 70s rock music. Following the recommendations of Last.fm I soon discovered Foreigner and picked up the debut album from 1977. Musically speaking this band appeared to me as a sort of less grandiose but just as catchy little brother of Styx. In the summer of 2009 I spent many nice moments listening to Foreigner's self-titled debut album. No wonder I was drawn by such songs as Feels Like the First Time and Cold As Ice – they are great, melodic, rocking songs and contain really good vocal harmonies.

Given that one of Foreigner's founding members was the ex-King Crimson Ian McDonald, it might make you wonder why Foreigner's music is not all that progressive. Instead, any song by Foreigner I have heard so far sounds quite straightforward – there are no ultra-fast, complicated solos and the songs tend to be shorter than five minutes. On the other hand, it is quite understandable that by the end of the 70s bands started rather downplaying the progressive elements than still keeping them in their music. Maybe the progressive was slowly going out of style?

The other two founding members of Foreigner were Mick Jones, another British musician who had formerly served in Spooky Tooth, among others, and American singer Lou Gramm, who would soon charm the masses with both his excellent voice and songwriting talent. Together with drummer Dennis Elliot, bass player Ed Gagliardi, and keyboardist Al Greenwood, this British-American combo was ready to conquer the world. Unlike Styx, Foreigner managed to sell multi-platinum already with its debut album. Several more multi-platinum-sellers followed in the footsteps of the self-titled album.

I have taken it slow with Foreigner. So far I have only listened to the first two albums (the debut and Double Vision, 1978). Both albums are definitely good. The overall feel of Foreigner's music is very much like Styx: magnificent melodies, superb vocal harmonies, good energy, catchy hard rock riffs, added with a melancholic edge. Listen to a song like Blue Morning, Blue Day and you will immediately think about both Queen and Styx. A certain bittersweetness also gives Foreigner a lot of soul. Well, I guess I just described the ultimate pop song pattern, once again... Nowadays I call anything melody-oriented music “pop”. Foreigner is, in fact, pop in two different meanings.

Foreigner at MySpace

Official website

Another Hard Rock Favorite?

Now that I seem to have learned the basics of late 70s hard rock, I think it is time to move on to other bands of the same era and style. Therefore I have been wondering which band I am going to fall in love next. It is going to be a real challenge to impress me after Styx – I highly doubt any band is going to have nearly as wonderful vocalists as Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw... I test-listened to several bands already last summer and soon discovered Foreigner and the band's self-titled debut album. Lou Gramm's vocals, cool harmonies and melodies caught my attention pretty easily. I think I will discuss that in detail later...

So, what is going to be my next favourite 70s(/80s) rock/hard rock(/progressive rock) band? There surely are many to choose from. It may be Foreigner, Kansas, Asia, Boston or even REO Speedwagon. I have also given some thought to bands like Black Sabbath, Kiss, and Blue Öyster Cult. We'll see what happens... Also feel free to give me a hint! I tend to give a chance to almost any band that people recommend to me.

Sailing Away

My devotion towards the rock/hard rock band Styx started thanks to The Sun Sawed in 1/2, Messrs Rose and Bobenhouse, and a very, very nice song called Come Sail Away. I find it quite weird that I didn’t hear a word about this band until my favourite singer sang the song on YouTube. On the other hand, I had never heard of bands like Kansas or Foreigner either.. Except for that I most certainly was familiar with them as place names/words.

Styx ended up becoming a quite big thing for me. Their wonderful harmonies, great melodies and very grandiose style that reminds of The Who and Queen were sure to impress me big time. The band has several excellent singers – Mr. DeYoung not being my least favourite.. The guy sounds like Freddie Mercury who’s swallowed a chunk of bubblegum – and occasionally that seems to be roughly the definition of “How to become Melody Freak’s #1 favourite singing voice”.

And the songs! The harmonic and melodic quality of Lorelei and Light Up will surely brighten up any pop fan’s day – let alone the romantic ballad Babe, it’s gorgeous! Once again, we get to hear those Allman Brothers guitar sounds that we love – check out Mademoiselle (not unlike Queen!). For a rock’n roll girl like me Rock & Roll Feeling is a new theme song. Another cool song is Renegade – also provably partially performed by The Sun Sawed in 1/2 on a TV show in the early 90s.. The Grand Illusion and Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) give you all the things a pop music fan searches for in a song – plus more. The most wonderful song, in my opinion, is The Best of Times. The title basically says it all.. Those harmonies, those melodies! On more than one occasion six minutes is not enough for a Styx song. I suppose there is a reason why this band is also considered progressive. However, when done properly, a two-minute intro won’t bother at all, and as a reward you’ll get some excellent melodies that you will never forget - definitely not a bad deal.

I was surprised that I didn’t seem to find a single familiar-sounding song in the band’s catalog. I tend to find at least one familiar song whenever I check out new (famous!) artists from the past. For a band this big it should be quite logical that there would be some familiar songs. For goodness’s sake, they have sold platinum with eight albums – and no one ever told me this band existed?

It took really long but eventually I found a Styx song I’d heard before. This is so silly.. The song is Boat on the River, and it has been performed in Finnish by schlager artist Riki Sorsa as Joki ('The River'). According to Wikipedia, it was actually performed already in the 80s by Taiska with different lyrics and name (Aamulla yksin). Can you believe that? To be honest, it’s not that strange.. Translated schlager has been a really popular concept in Finland in the past (and it still might be), although I don’t think there is a reason to translate music into Finnish. The original performance is the original, one and only. However, there is a possibility that someone might make a really good cover... Besides, almost everyone knows English these days – at least the young people.

Styx is still touring and even releasing new albums (the latest being from 2005). However, people seem to think it’s not the real Styx anymore. Original band members Dennis DeYoung and Chuck Panozzo, for instance, left the group in 1999. YouTube has many songs from the band’s 1996 Return to Paradise tour, a gig in hometown Chicago, with all living original members on stage. These are incredibly good-sounding live performances. Don’t hesitate to watch – it sounds perfect.

Lorelei
Come Sail Away
The Grand Illusion
The Best of Times
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
Renegade
Boat on the River
Show Me the Way

Official Styx website