Styx & Night Ranger members to release covers album in February

Styx singer-guitarist Tommy Shaw and Night Ranger singer-bassist Jack Blades will release an album of cover songs on February 20th. The title is Influence, and it features 11 songs that had an impact on them, including music by the Zombies, Steely Dan, and Orleans. The first single is the Yes classic "Your Move," and it should be out come January. Blades gave us a peek at some of the other songs: "'Summer Breeze' by Seals & Crofts. We do a version of 'I Am A Rock' by Simon & Garfunkel that sounds more like the Foo Fighters. It's really cool. 'California Dreamin'.' 'For What It's Worth' -- great version of that. 'Lucky Man' -- ELP. Killer, man. 'Carousel' by the Hollies, you know? I mean, it's really, really fun."

You can hear snippets from "Your Move" and "California Dreamin'" on their Myspace page, which is myspace.com/shawbladesinfluence.

Influence has been on their plates for a long time. Shaw said, "This album has been years in the making. The recording process didn't take years, but the concept had been looming in our conversations for a long time. We'd always sit around with a couple of guitars and play songs we both knew from or younger days, spontaneous harmonizing and all that, and we slowly eased into the idea of making this record."

Blades said, "You can always tell a brilliant song, whether it was written 30 years ago or yesterday. Every song we picked is identifiable in its own right, and they're all immediately recognizable. What does that tell you? That the songs are the stars. That's what we wanted to do on this record, we wanted the songs to be the stars. I think that's what we accomplished."

Blades jokingly added, "I cringe at the thought of Paul Simon hearing our stuff. I honor his spirit so much, and I'm such a huge fan. As far as I'm concerned, they invented the word genius to go along with him, and we just wanted to make sure that we did their songs justice. Tommy and I have that special symbiotic relationship that doesn't come along a lot. Simon & Garfunkel also had it, we have a reverence to it, and it was something that we just wanted to dig into."

Shaw Blades will tour behind the album, with dates being lined up from mid-February through March. On their Myspace site, Blades wrote, "We are setting up the stage like it is our living room, and in fact, we will have winners sit in couches on stage with us." There's no word yet on when the dates will be announced, or how the on-stage seating contest will be held.

Influence is the second Shaw Blades album, following their 1995 debut Hallucination.

The tracklisting for Influence includes:
"Summer Breeze" -- Seals & Crofts
"Time Of The Season" -- The Zombies
"Your Move" -- Yes
"I Am A Rock" -- Simon & Garfunkel
"Lucky Man" -- Emerson, Lake & Palmer
"Sounds Of Silence" -- Simon & Garfunkel
"California Dreamin'" -- The Mamas & The Papas
"On A Carousel" -- The Hollies
"Dirty Work" -- Steely Dan
"For What It's Worth" -- Buffalo Springfield
"Dance With Me" -- Orleans
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