On one hand, Yesssssss, finally some Styx! (Not that I’m a huge Styx fan; I just think they’re a perfect arena rock band for Rock Band)
On the other, it ain’t Styx without Tommy Shaw and Dennis DeYoung.
Not sure what the versions will be.
Ok, the REO/Styx pack is awesome! The Styx re-records sound excellent and play even better. If you like melodic classic rock with good solos, get this!
No thanks. Although that does remind me that I’d been meaning to look into a few of those Chinese Democracy tracks.
Now you’re just being a weenie.
walTer
3347
DANG, I am out of town for a week but I just logged on to live so it would DL when my wife and kid turn on the box tonite. So THEY get to play them.
One thing that I have learned from Rock Band…my 11 year old daughter can sing like nobody’s business. She can belt out Offspring and Pat Benatar like a pro!
/very impressed :)
I downloaded Better, Chineese Dem, IRS, Catcher In the Rye, and Riad and the Bedowins. All are fun to play and guitar and drums. The only one that is really challenging is Riad. But all have good variety on drums and fun but not crazy solos on guitar.
It’s nice for once that the songs I like to listen to correlate well with the ones that are good to play in the game. As I expected, Better, There Was A Time, and IRS are all excellent, with the last one being the standout for me. I pity the vocalist, though.
Chinese Democracy (the song) failed the “minute+ of silence/noises at the beginning of the song” test*, although it seems to be solid otherwise, and Riad is catching some good reviews from that subset of people who really like Buckethead effects and are really good at fake guitar. Or maybe just drummers and the like, I can’t tell sometimes.
*Pulling a Baba, so to speak.
I wish. There are two kinds of terrible Rock Band singer performances, one exemplified by that guy and the other being the person who is serious about it far beyond the scope of their actual talent. Unfortunately for RB parties across the world, most people seem to fall into the mediocre middle of performance absurdity.
I got the three Styx song. I knew Renegade, and recognized the other two from the radio but probably wouldn’t have immediately been able to identify them as Styx or given their titles.
Too Much Time on My Hands and Blue Collar Man are a lot of fun and don’t disappoint (from the perspective of an ok drummer). Renegade feels hard for a four star drum track though. I failed my first time through; I really can’t sight read when there are a bunch of little off-beat double hits, especially when they start jumping around between red and blue or something. Also–and this may be because Renegade is the only one of these three I really knew before hand–I feel like it’s a pretty terrible version. Maybe it gets awesome past 56%.
I could go for some Mr. Roboto action myself. Though on second thought, I guess there isn’t much (any?) guitar in that song.
“Come Sail Away” would be fine by me. Granted, the vocalist would dominate the first couple of minutes, but once it kicks into gear, everyone else can rock out.
wumpus
3353
Digging the REO/Styx tracks!
Good stuff – but the Styx tracks are re-records by the original band, yes? The vocals seem… a tiny bit off. But I loves me some Styx, so maybe I’m just hypersensitive.
Pandora gives me a (recent) live version of Mr Roboto where the singer can’t hit the high note and he just sort of hacks and crumbles.
Maybe he was just having a bad day, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people could tell the difference between the recent re-records and the classic versions.
Of course people will be able to tell the difference! Tommy’s 55 now! Jeez. Anyway, unless you insist on a totally exact sonic recreation of the original tracks (impossible) you’ll like these.
/KONY rant.
Holy (unexpected) bass pedal on Riding the Storm Out. Also Renegade has a little bit of the Love Spreads vibe to it in the second half of the song on drums.
All of the REO/Styx songs were more fun than I expected on all instruments.
Okay, I’m going to have to re-learn Renegade… There seem to be enough differences that I can’t rely on my classic rock radio-honed memory to guide me through it. On vocals, anyway. I’m alternating between Awesome and Weak.
At least the bass line is still as dull and unremarkable as the original.
Otherwise, it rocks.
Cyrano
3358
Fun, fun, fun. Some fantastic guitar solos in the Styx/REO tracks.
Juste
3359
Hmm looks like I have to get these. I’m quite the fan of the 70’s big rock songs already in the game.
On an unrelated note, my iPod tells me that we really need some Kings of Leon in this game.
Classic rock tracks have a good record for charting, IMO. It’s almost always worth DLing them just for that. Now, I happen to like the Styx and REO songs, too, so that’s a bonus.
Next, they need another anthem. How about Fight the Good Fight by Triumph?
