New Jersey Stage 2017: Issue 6 | Page 35

force behind this project and he takes over to captain “Hun- dred Million Miles from Home” with his familiar and confident vocals pushing the effort in the right direction. But there are more hands on deck and James “JY” Young introduces us to the “Trouble at the Big Show” that is powered by the famous Styx backing vocals that elevate a good song even higher at warp speed. Lawrence Gowan takes a lead role here, too, even if many fans object to his having been beamed onboard to replace Dennis DeYoung nearly two de- cades ago. Early press says that the album is a deep, conceptual, and cinematic epic that offers listeners a thrilling emotional journey facilitated by a suite of songs and some thematic con- nectors. If Styx set out to reclaim their glory years complete with radio-friendly singles and multi- platinum albums they may have NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 6 missed the mark with this one. If their goal was to re-establish themselves as recording artists after a long self-imposed hiatus then we can safely say - mission complete. What’s of more inter- est to us now is after conquering the Red Planet where do they go from here? We’re a little late to the party but we are now big fans of the talented Maggie Rose. We first saw her live act when she held a CD release event for her latest EP Dreams > Dollars and then again at the recently concluded CMA Fest. They say good things come in small packages and this diminutive singer is a power- house talent with great promise. She’s been honing her song- writing craft in Nashville for the past decade and now she’s be- ing hailed as the next big thing and that sounds about right. The songs on her new one are a deft mix of country, pop and rock INDEX NEXT ARTICLE 35