Known for playing guitar in Styx for over forty years, James ‘JY’ Young decided to form a group in the mid-ninety’s during Styx’s Mark III disbandment (lineup with Glen Burtnik instead of Tommy Shaw).  JY typically had one or two songs on each Styx album, and those were usually the heaviest of each record. This is a entire album of JY-type songs and more is not necessarily better.

The first thing that hits you when you start playing this album was that JY recruited a few other singers and writers to try and create a real band feel to the album.  The problem is that the songs are just not very good and the other singer has a generic 80s Hair Band sound to him. The album kicks off with ‘Faith, Love, and Hope’ and just plods along with both singers shouting the chorus.  Most of the songs pretty much follow this recipe. Former band mate Glen Burtnik contributes two songs,’Love (and Love Alone)’ the version here is almost a note-for-note copy of the version that appeared on Burtnik’s ‘Retrospectacle’ album, which itself was recorded as a sort of tribute to the 80s musical sound, and ‘Heaven In Your Heart’.   Several other songs were written by Donnie Vie and Chip Z’Nuff both of Enuff Z’Nuff fame.

Each song on this album skirts the fine line between Rock and Heavy Metal but none really stand out as memorable. To sum up, I guess there was a reason that JY had one or two songs on each of the Styx albums.