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Video Premiere: Dennis DeYoung's 'Lorelei'

Brian Mansfield  |  Special for Paste BN

Dennis DeYoung pulls an early hit from the Styx catalog with a live version of Lorelei, premiering at Paste BN

The performance comes from Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx: Live in Los Angeles, due Oct. 21 from Frontiers Music Srl. The concert will premiere on AXS-TV the same day.

Recorded at Los Angeles' El Rey Theater March 18, DeYoung's show features not only the songs he sang with the group during the '70s and '80s — Lady, Come Sail Away and Babe, among them — but also the ones guitarist Tommy Shaw sang, like Fooling Yourself, Renegade and Blue Collar Man. Guitarist/vocalist August Zadra, whom DeYoung hired after hearing him sing in a Styx cover band, handles Shaw's songs.

"This is the most comprehensive chronicling of the hits," DeYoung, 67, says. "It really covers every single hit. None of our prior videos really had that. If you liked the Styx Greatest Hits record, this is, essentially, that record. With, obviously, a few more thrown in. It covers the gamut of all the songs people expect to hear from us."

DeYoung has not performed with Styx since the group recorded the Brave New World, released in 1999.

Lorelei, which originally appeared on Styx's 1975 Equinox album, reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. It was the group's second top-40 hit following Lady.

"Equinox was our first album for A&M Records," DeYoung says. "It was a doggone good one. But one month later, A&M released Frampton Comes Alive. That album sold 6 million copies, and no one in the music business saw it coming.

"Not being the biggest record company in the world, A&M did what businesses always do: They chased Peter Frampton's record, and to good avail. Equinox got shuffled to the background.

"It had two really great songs on it: Suite Madame Blue and Lorelei. Lorelei was released as a single, but it was regionally played. There are parts of the country where it was a top-10 record, but not across the board.

Once 1977's The Grand Illusion elevated Styx to multi-platinum status, Equinox eventually went gold. "You have to have the synchronicity between the music and the business at the same time," DeYoung says. "Equinox and Lorelei didn't have that happen for them in the moment, but, over time, they caught up. Lorelei is one of those songs that people really like, but it didn't get the airplay maybe it could have."

DeYoung is currently on tour, playing the Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Greeneville, Tenn., Sept. 27.

The track listing for Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx: Live in Los Angeles:

CD version:

  1. The Message
  2. Grand Illusion
  3. Lady
  4. Lorelei
  5. Blue Collar Man
  6. Show Me the Way
  7. Mr. Roboto
  8. Desert Moon
  9. Don't Let It End
  10. Too Much Time on My Hands
  11. Rockin' the Paradise
  12. Crystal Ball
  13. Babe
  14. Fooling Yourself
  15. Suite Madame Blue
  16. Best Of Times
  17. Renegade
  18. Come Sail Away

DVD version:

  1. Grand Illusion
  2. Lady
  3. Lorelei
  4. Blue Collar Man
  5. Show Me The Way
  6. Mr. Roboto
  7. Desert Moon
  8. Don't Let It End
  9. Too Much Time On My Hands
  10. Crystal Ball
  11. Babe
  12. Fooling Yourself
  13. Suite Madame Blue
  14. Best Of Times
  15. Renegade
  16. Come Sail Away

Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx: Live in Los Angeles is available for pre-order as a 2CD/DVD and Blu-Ray through Amazon. The audio portion is available for pre-order on iTunes, with customers to order the album receiving an instant download of Lorelei.

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