Former STYX frontman Dennis DeYoung has revealed the track listing and artwork for the second volume of his final album, “26 East”. The first single from “26 East: Vol 2”, “Isle Of Misanthrope”, will be released on April 7, and it “closes the album in grand ’70s STYX tradition,” according to Dennis. He adds: “This tune hopefully will transport you back to a time and place of your choosing (hopefully in front of your computer ordering the album). Prog noggins this ones for you as I bid farewell.” He went on to say that song’s accompanying video will be “really something different and mystical.”
According to DeYoung, the album’s opening song, “Hello Goodbye”, is not a cover of THE BEATLES song, although it is a “tribute” of sorts.
“I read an article about PINK FLOYD recording at Abbey Road the same time as THE BEATLES. They met the lads and told them that there would be no FLOYD without them. Yet FLOYD‘s music is nothing like THE BEATLES and neither was STYX‘s,” DeYoung explained. “‘Hello Goodbye’ as I have previously mentioned is not a remake it’s all brand new…sorta. It’s a tribute to the lads who sent me down this long and winding road that led me to youse guys.”
“26 East: Vol 2” track listing:
01. Hello Goodbye
02. Land of the Living
03. The Last Guitar Hero
04. Your Saving Grace
05. Proof of Heaven
06. Made for Each Other
07. There’s No Turning Back Time
08. St. Quarantine
09. So Little Did We Know
10. Always Time
11. Isle of Misanthrope
12. GIF
“26 East: Vol 1” arrived in May 2020 and marked DeYoung‘s first studio effort since 2009’s “One Hundred Years From Now”.
“26 East” was the address where DeYoung grew up in Roseland, Illinois on the far south side of Chicago. This is where STYX was formed in his basement in 1962. Across the street lived the Panozzo twins, John and Chuck, who, along with DeYoung, would go on to form the nucleus of STYX. The cover artwork features three locomotives traveling through space, representing the original members leaving Chicago on their journey to the stars.
“26 East” features collaborations with Julian Lennon and SURVIVOR/IDES OF MARCH co-founder Jim Peterik, who plays multiple instruments and pushed DeYoung to work on the album when he wasn’t so sure about it.
DeYoung explained to Classic Rock why “26 East: Vol 2” will be his last album: “There’s no way for new music to sell decently. When [my label] Frontiers asked me to do an album, I did wonder why would I want to. But they persuaded me, and I ended up recording 18 tracks, and wrote about half of these with Jim Peterik. The label want to release all of them, so there will be a Volume Two, which will be my farewell.”
HEY KIDS (ooh caps, must be special)
This is the album artwork for 26 East VOLUME II.
Where it all began so shall it…Posted by Dennis DeYoung on Friday, March 19, 2021
