Category: JAMES ‘JY’ YOUNG

As requested, here’s Styx guitarist JAMES YOUNG third solo album “Raised By Wolves“, a quite hard to find CD released amid the grunge in 1995, hence a quite obscure pressing now out of print. JY of course here musically remains faithful to his roots, and the album style is a classic rock crossing with melodic hard rock of all times.
In the first half of the ’90s Styx wasn’t much active, so JY founded his JAMES YOUNG GROUP, and following his two ’80s solo albums recorded this third opus titled ”Raised By Wolves”.
The record featured songs penned from the ENUFF Z’NUFF writing team of Chip Enuff & Donnie Vie, admirers of JY since their teens. Young returned the favour by gracing a number of tracks on ENUFF Z’NUFF’s ‘Paraphernalia’ album. Talented Styx band mate Glen Burtnik contributed with a couple of songs and aided in the studio as well.
”Raised By Wolves” is a melodic hard rock album classic in songwriting & playing, but it’s pretty unique for the genre regarding its production: I never heard the drums / bass mix like here into any other recording. And we like it!

As requested, let’s hear now ”City Slicker”, the collaborative effort from Styx lead guitarist JAMES YOUNG and composer Jan Hammer (Miami Vice, Neal Schon). This is ‘JY’ debut solo album, however marketed as a Young/Hammer effort, released in 1984, 1985 or 1986 depending the country, and reissued on this not so easy to find CD in 1993.
There is a confident swagger to this album that many other ‘big band member going solo’ albums, with a rocking approach thanks to JY guitar work but not being the main focus only, with Hammer providing an arsenal of keys / synths for a wonderfully textured LP.
We find commercial, mid-80s slick sounding catchy tracks mixed with more elaborated compositions. For Styx, Young only provided one song per record, and in most cases that cut was a keeper (“Miss America,” “Snowblind”), and here he finds room for his pen, and proves he can sing very well too…

As requested, here’s Styx guitarist / founder JAMES ‘JY’ YOUNG second solo album “Out On A Day Pass“, from 1988. After collaborating with brilliant instrumentalist & producer Jan Hammer (Neal Schon, Miami Vice), JY felt he finally was ready for the total responsibility of not only arranging & performing his music, but producing it as well.
According to JY, the title “Out On A Day Pass” symbolizes the creative vacation he was having apart from Styx. It’s a quite different album, in sound & style. Young plays all guitars and most of the keyboards on the LP, and is credited with virtually all of the vocals as well.
Musically “Out On A Day Pass” mix late Seventies US arena rock with ’80s melodic hard rock, driven by catchy riffs and melodies.
The LP was recorded during breaks in the Styx schedule in a number of different studios (including J.Y.’s home studio), featuring performances by Utopia drummer Willie Wilcox, and former Whitesnake, Jan Hammer and Mick Jagger bassist Colin Hodgkinson. Styx drummer John Panozzo plays on two tracks, and original Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry Goodman lends his virtuosity to the remake of “Young Man”, a Styx song from an early, lesser-known album.
This CD version is not easy to find, out of print since many years…