JY's Newsletter - Apr '88

Springtime at last! I have just survived my first winter in more than 7 years spent in the midwest. Strangely, I actually enjoyed this one for the most part. Of course the Bears did not get past the Redskins for the 2nd year in a row, but at least the Redskins went on to win the Super Bowl. On to 1988!

FINALLY, "OUT ON A DAY PASS"

The second JY solo LP is finally completed. There's nothing really wrong with a little light-hearted insanity, is there? The associated characters are pretty much the same as I have mentioned over the last year. This one will be the first one totally produced by yours truly.

Song titles are "Top of the World", "Maggie", "Toys for American Boys", "Dark Side: The Contrary Nature of Man", "Out on a Day Pass", "Love Me Tonight", "Doctor on Call", The Bigger They Are, The Harder They Fall", and a remake of the Styx song from 1973, "Young Man".

"Day Pass" will be released by Line/Full Blast in Germany:Austria:Switzerland, Alfa Records in Japan & Hong Kong, Planet Records in Scandinavia, and High Dragon Records in France and other parts of Europe.

"DAY PASS" by mail order in the U.S.

Since timing is everything in both comedy and the music business, I have decided to not sign with a U.S. company just yet until I am very sure that everything is right. But U.S. JY fans can still buy the new record (LP or CD, no cassettes as of yet) by mail from Absolute Records. I have taken the liberty of enclosing an order form.

This gives my loyal fans a chance to hear it first, and of course I will very much welcome all your comments. It is my intention sometime in the next 9 months to sign with a U.S. distributor, but for now, if you live in America, it will have to be by mail order.

We can accept advance orders, although we do not expect to have albums to ship out until mid May.

STYX UPDATE

Prospects continue to brighten, although as always in this world, there are no guarantees. Now that I have finally finished "Day Pass", in between overseas promotional tours I will be writing and recording more music.

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J.Y. TALKS ABOUT THE SONGS ON HIS SECOND SOLO LP: "OUT ON A DAY PASS"

"TOP OF THE WORLD" J.Y./Steven A. Jones

"Confidence is everything. If you have the confidence to do something and believe you can do it, you most likely will. But you can't sit around and wait for it to happen, you've got to be persistent. This being my first totally self produced LP, I listen to this song to get myself psyched up."

"MAGGIE" J.Y./Mic Fabus

"Maggie is a girl I think we've all known at one time or another. The world holds many surprises for us all, and if you want to play the game, most times you do have to pay the man. This tune is based on a guitar riff I came up with back in the Styx days, and I credit Mic Fabus with hearing a vocal to go with it.

"TOYS FOR AMERICAN BOYS" J.Y./Steven A. Jones

"It was really great to have the only guy I know with a radio controlled model blimp (Styx drummer John Panozzo) play on this one. No, this is not the marching song of the American Nazi Party. This song is intended to be taken in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, as you can tell from the second verse. Why Reagan bombed Libya while he was trading arms for hostages with Iran is beyond me."

"DARK SIDE: THE CONTRARY NATURE OF MAN" J.Y.

"What the devil's goin' on? In many ways, this song is my life story. I have long struggled with the conflicts that any one who considers themself a responsible person in modern days has in dealing with their more primal subconscious. The plight of the idealist in an unethical yet temptation filled world. And who does really want to do what they're told, anyway?" (MORE)

JY TALKS (cont'd)

"OUT ON A DAY PASS" J.Y./Steven A.Jones

"Steve Jones came up with this title, and I instantly knew this had be a fun song, as well as the title of my new LP. The joy of doing my own solo albums is that I can do whatever I damn well please. I'm creatively out on a day pass. Is there anything really wrong with a little light-hearted insanity?

SIDE B:

"LOVE ME TONIGHT" J.Y.

"This one was actually written at the end of the 'City Slicker' sessions, and was definitely inspired by my love of Pink Floyd and my collaboration with Jan Hammer. I certainly learned a lot from Jan. I really like music with a lot of dynamics, and this one is probably my best to date in that vein -- and Willie Wilcox and Colin Hodgkinson really kicked butt on this one.

"DOCTOR ON CALL" J.Y./Jason McCloskey

"A lot of people still wished they had a country doctor who made house calls. If I am elected president, I will make sure that this practice is reinstated, at least in regard to certain types of disorders that can be cured with a simple treatment of rock and roll."

"YOUNG MAN" J.Y./Rick Young

"I guess there needs to be at least one serious song on every album. A lot of people had recently commented to me about this song which was originally recorded in 1973 on the Styx 'Serpent is Rising' album. This was an overlooked song on an overlooked album (which is now out of print), and I felt I could do it a little better 14 years later."

"It also gives me a chance to rework the lyrics reflecting my not quite as young man perspective. And Jerry ("blazing solos") Goodman shows us all here why he is still the premier rock violinist in the world.

"THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THEY FALL" J.Y./Steven A. Jones

"We have all seen people come and go in the entertainment business, in the world of politics, and in sports. There's a lesson here for all of us, myself included. It's not good to take yourself too seriously."

Copyright 1988, James Young.

JY's Newsletter - April 1988

James "JY" Young

Originally cataloged on jamesyoung.ws