The 1986 Listening Post - Dennis DeYoung - Back to the World

Dennis DeYoung - Back to the World

#57/1224

February 24 1986

Dennis DeYoung

Back to the World

Genre: Schmaltz Rock

2 out of 5

 I thought I recognized “This is the Time” and then I looked it up and, sho nuff, crap rock from crap movie Karate Kid 2. Ugh, the 80s. 

This kind of stuff reinforces the theory that it was Shaw and Young, et al, who tempered DeYoung’s Vegas inclinations. Much like Brian and Roger provided the rock to Freddie’s Chanteuse. Except that in the case of the latter, Freddie understood theater and the glory of spectacle. Dennis seems to have grown up with a different theater. Freddie was about “theatrics”. Dennis wants to be on Broadway. 

And Broadway has no edges. It softens all of those and dulls them to the point of being absolutely inoffensive. 

The stuff that made Styx a top 40 band was a hybrid of the edge and Broadway. DeYoung runs screaming from the edge and this is the pap we get. 

I listened to this whole thing. So, now you are obligated to listen to the SIX MINUTE AND THIRTY TWO SECOND “Unanswered Prayers” as penance.

6

minutes

and

32

seconds.

And then…we get…anti war…anti-Vietnam song? (“Black Wall”) He gets close to listenable right near the end with “I’m So Lucky” but, it’s unmemorable. And right at the end he harkens back to his Styx days with “Person to Person” which should have been up top and then he should go back to Styx. 

How many words have I spent on this terrible record? I need a shower. 

Crazy that this album is no longer available for purchase anywhere. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfpjYAILZf4&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVCxL_rmMB0e-ugA7fr7FrCu

The 1984 Listening Post - Dennis DeYoung - Desert Moon

Dennis DeYoung - Desert Moon

#330
1984 Housekeeping
Dennis DeYoung
Desert Moon
3.75 out of 5

Highlights:
Don't Wait for Heroes
Desert Moon

A few years ago the band, fun., didn't exactly "break up" but just took an indefinite hiatus. One member disappeared. Another, Jack Antonoff, created a band, Bleachers, wrote a bunch of hits for Taylor Swift and Lorde, made a chunk of change, got engaged to Lena Dunham, broke up with Lena Dunham...
The lead singer, Nate Reuss, put out an album of his own, Grand Romantic. It felt like a bit like a hollow interpretation of fun. and his previous band, The Format.
Like he was either in a fun. cover band or he was singing to pre-programmed fun. music.
It was fine. Actually, a bit more than fine because he was the primary melody/lyric writer for the band. So, his essence was all over it. It just wasn't great, you know?

That's how I feel about this record. Like it *sounds* like DeYoung and a bit like Styx, if Styx was doing what he wanted them to do, but it was sans the other members who made Styx Styx.
It's weirdly listenable but he's no troubadour or sex symbol or really that great of a vocalist. Or even a songwriter. When he gets it right, it's not half bad. He hits more often than he misses. And "Gravity" reminds me a LOT of Nate Reuss, who, I guess, is the spiritual heir to Dennis, in a way.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/desert-moon-remastered/1609385