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Styx!!!!!!!!
LIST OF STYX REVIEWS: Styx (1971)
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Styx (1971)Album Score: 7Oh man. I am never going to be able to shake it for the rest of my life. I might try to pretend it never happened, or I might try to laugh it off as simple period of childish stupidity. But the simple fact shall always remain: there were a few months in 2001 when I considered myself a Styx fan. I know, shocking as it might seem, but my copies of Equinox, The Grand Illusion, Paradise Theater, Pieces of Eight and *horror of horrors* Kilroy Was Here once had highly respectable positions in my CD collection. (I still have them of course, but they’re now buried in that huuuge CD case that I never touch.) I like to blame this one-time Styx flirtation on the fact that I was a teenager at the time. Nonetheless, this incredibly dark period of my past shall be lurking within me for all eternity... and it shall torment me, too!!!! OK, it doesn’t torment me. Much. Besides, Pieces of Eight and Paradise Theater aren’t terrible albums anyway. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about this rather amateurish debut album they came out with in 1972. I listened to it from beginning to end several times, and there isn’t an interesting melody or riff in the whole thing. All I ever seem to remember about it is there’s a 13-minute tribute to Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” called “Movement for the Common Man.” That’s ambitious, I suppose, but the only thing it has to do with Copeland’s piece is a small rock ‘n’ roll interpretation of it that’s really clunky and ugly. ...Oh god, is that really what they’re going to do to us? But to be honest, the rest of the song comes off OK. It’s supposed to be sort of prog-epic, but the sections they weld together were probably best left in their own separate tracks, because they have nothing to do with each other. It starts as a heavy rock song that has more to do with Aerosmith than Styx, but that’s not a mortal sin or anything. The spirit is there, and the guitar is played competently enough. But these guys are just second-tier instrumentalists with only second-rate groupies, so don’t come into it expecting much. The most interesting part, in a theoretical standpoint, is the final five minutes. I like the way it effortlessly shifts around tones ... It’s a shame the melody is so bland, but these developmental ideas suggest that there might be something to them ... We just can’t see what yet. “Right Away” could be the worst song on here... It was a mediocre-to-below average blues-rocker to begin with, but that incredibly bad vocal performance is what destroyed it without remorse. Who is this guy, and why doesn’t someone shoot him?? (OK, don’t kill the guy... just rough him up a bit.) “What Has Come Between Us” is a mediocre sort of folk-prog epic. I’ll tell you that one almost had something... I especially adore that harpsichord they bring in even though it’s mostly playing ridiculous cliches. But a few bad development decision in there sabotage it. Eh!! “Quick is the Beat of My Heart” isn’t that great, but at least the hard rock instrumentals come off adequately enough, and the singing isn’t offensive at all. So there you go... that’s the album’s best song! Obviously, I was coming into this review with very little expectations of it. (Of course, I reviewed it once before, but I think I was being way to dismissive.) These guys can’t find a good tune here to save their lives, and they often come off as complete amateurs. However, I appreciate the ambition of some of these tracks, and most of this is not nearly as vomit inducing as some of their later efforts. But, in the end, I think it’s safe to say that Styx positively stynx. Read the track reviews:
Styx II (1972)Album Score: 9Well, this is actually passable. It’s not particularly good, but it’s actually listenable this time. To my surprise, the instruments don’t sound nearly as amateurish. Sure, they’re still a far, far, far cry from the instrumental virtuosity of Yes, for example, but it’s only the occasional spot where they seem totally out-of-their element. Some of that clunky song development that plagued songs in their debut like “Movement for the Common Man” and “After You Leave Me” is ironed out ... but there are still a few kinks they could have still dealt with a bit. Probably the most important improvement of them all is their progressive rock attempts are better thought-out and a little more impressive. So, there you go. It’s Styx being fairly decent. Take me to the river and drop me in the water. This album even has a recognizable hit, “Lady,” although at the time of release, it was only a mild hit on local Chicago radio stations. Despite what some people might tell you about it, it’s really a nice song, and it marks the first time Dennis DeYoung composed something with a melody that’s even vaguely memorable. (Although I honestly can’t assess if it’s memorable on its own merits or just because I freaking hear it all over the place.) Anyway, that’s the prototypical Styx ballad; it’s a sort of blueprint of how they were going to compose all those classic ballads that I shouldn’t even have to name. It begins as a quiet, pleasant thing with just DeYoung singing with a twinkling piano. And, after that goes on for a minute or so, some heavy metal instrumentation comes almost out of nowhere. Unfortunately, this time, that flashy heavy metal stuff didn’t add anything to the experience except a lot of undue noise and clutter. They still had some kinks to work out, obviously. But anyway, there’s “Lady,” take it or leave it. Um, what else should I talk about? Oh Yes! We need to get stoned and spend the night together! ....... er, that didn’t come out right. I mean, we need to talk about the opening track, “You Need Love” that sounds a lot like Yes with an opening sequence that was lifted directly from The Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” But let us not blame them too much for this musical thievery. They might be borrowing another band’s distinctive style, but at least they sound like a real professional *band* now and not the amateurs that they frequently came off in Styx. All things considered, “You Need Love” is a rather exciting song to sit through, but the melody is blaaaaaaand. In fact, all these songs are bland. Boo! “You Better Ask” is another rock song that I’m sure was a bit hit with the drunks in the Chicago bars. The mid-tempo song shows the band in a well-oiled state, and John Curulewski’s lead vocals are a little weak but they’re not bad. (He is a much less annoying singer than DeYoung, anyway.) But it does have an awful time getting off the ground, and the melody is nothing to speak of. Curulewski also took lead vocals on a surprisingly reserved, jazzy tune “You Better Ask.” Yeah, if you ever wanted to listen to Styx sounding reserved, then here you go! It’s even rather contemplative ... given proper instrumentation, that might have been something, but that atmosphere is pretty boring. Making it worse is that it’s eight minutes long, and they extend it by bringing in this pretty lame jazz-fusion section. They were capable players, but listening to Styx perform isn’t any different than listening to any other professional band performing. Oh, and what would a Styx album be without a completely overblown prog epic Dennis-DeYoung-style? Lucky us, they had that covered. He uses a one-minute-long organ piece composed by some forgotten German composer named “batch,” to introduce his huuuuuge epic called “Father O.S.A.,” which is a symphony of towering organs, power guitars, chiming dulcimers and DeYoung singing as though he were a godsend!!!! Um. That’s not such a terrible song, actually. At least they had a pretty good idea how to mix such a song to make it very easy on the ears. But you do start to wish that he had come out with a melody that was even vaguely memorable. Or compelling chord progressions. Something!! The album ends with two similarly forgettable heavy-metal numbers. “Earl of Roseland” isn’t actually terrible, but it’s even blander than usual. “I’m Gonna Make You Feel It” is much more passable, but it has a terribly ill advised drum track that clutters everything. It was an unspectacular ending to an unspectacular album, it seems! But then again, that shouldn’t come to a surprise. The one thing that a lot of Styx detractors like about Styx II is that it’s much less pretentious than their classic releases. This is true. But I still think some of their later albums have this beat by a long shot. Read the track reviews:
The Serpent is Rising (1973)Album Score: 8Dennis DeYoung was quoted as saying that The Serpent is Rising is not only the worst ever Styx album, but the worst album ever recorded in the history of mankind. But don’t let this humility confuse you; that guy has such an ego that I wouldn’t be surprised if he only said that because he composed only a limited amount of material for it. (He only wrote three of these 10 tracks, which is unprecedented.) Alright, I’m just picking on him! I only do that ‘cos I have a fondness for him. And I don’t agree with him, either. Their debut album Styx was a lot more clunky and amateurish than this. But I will concede wholeheartedly that this is a marked step down from the adequate Styx II. Whereas Styx II contained a fine array of smoothly presented progressive rock and hard rock numbers, The Serpent is Rising is much more messy and misguided. Bluh!! Let’s talk about “Winner Takes All,” which is the album’s best example of Dennis DeYoung’s songwriting. It isn’t his typical sort of thing... or at least it isn’t a “Lady” clone. It’s a very straightforward sort of ballad. It’s forgettable, of course, considering the melody is terribly bland, but it’s perfectly nice listening as it’s playing. It’s not great, but we have to take what we can get, because that’s just about the best this album has to offer. .......Except for maybe “22 Years,” which is a generic boogie-rocker that was penned by John Curulewski. Once again, that’s hardly an inspired song... but it does rock out, and it shows nothing of Styx’s trademark style. For all we really know, ZZ Top could have recorded that, except we’d recognize those nasally voices too well. It must be said this Curulewski guy is an interesting fellow. Most Styx fans know him as the guy who Tommy Shaw replaced, but I know him as the weird guy. Or maybe he’s just weird because he has a tolerable voice. He’s the guy who provided that earnest, very low-key ballad “A Day” in the previous album, and he wrote another song like that called “As Bad as This.” Well, this song is much more boring, but it’s still novel to hear something low-key in a Styx album. But the most curious thing comes at the end of the track where a tiny segment “Plexiglas Toilet” comes up. That is nothing less than a mock-calypso tune with silly lyrics about a little boy who uses a regular toilet for the first time. Geez, it’s not only weird hearing a calypso in a Styx album, but to actually hear something with a sense of humor. They were complete stiffs in the late ‘70s, which I’m sure you all know. It’s an unexpected and completely welcome surprise! But Curulewski messes with his nice reputation by bringing in that idiotic “Krakatoa,” which consists of him rambling like a madman delivering a vengeful speech on top of a mountain whilst something that resembles the THX theme wails in the background. This track morphs into the next one, a pointless rendition of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” He’s also responsible for that dreadful title track, which is a terribly pompous, messy and ugly excuse for “progressive rock,” in which he tries to mimic the terrible vocal styling of Mr. Nasal Birdbeak DeYoung. Bad idea. You can’t fault Curulewski too much when we have James Young writing songs now. Oh god. And he’s a worse singer than Dennis. I’m pretty sure he was that Tina Turner wannabe I heard in “Right Away” from the debut album. I’ll grant you that he sounds OK on “Witch Wolf,” which is a passable ZZ-Top-like rocker, but he sounds like his nipples are being electrocuted in “Young Man.” I also really hate that song’s rousing power chorus of “YOUNG MAAAAAAAN!” It just bugs me. I know I’m going to have to get used to that, because that sort of thing would become an integral part in their sound not too far down the road ................ but that doesn’t excuse the fact that it sucks. So, in the end, this is a pretty bad Styx album. It’s a disappointment after hearing Styx II, which was an unusually well developed album. But I will say one thing about The Serpent is Rising that is only barely noticeable: The melodies are getting better. Just slightly. You’d have to be a trained scientist like me to notice it, but it’s there!! For more information, read my 120-page thesis on the topic. Read the track reviews:
Man of Miracles (1974)Album Score: 9The best song on Man of Miracles is “Lies,” an incredibly toe-tapping rockabilly cover that The Beatles had once covered for Please Please Me. This doesn’t show my complete irreverence toward Styx’s signature brand of pompous songwriting, but it does illustrate how bland Styx’s melodies were in their own songs. I’m not one who holds Styx’s songwriting powers in any high regard during their classic period, but ... many of those at least had *something* to them. These early Styx albums, for the most part, are just an endless sea of pretentious ballads and bland bar-rockers. And Man of Miracles is no exception to that. But at least they’re well-done for the most part, and perhaps there are some things worth hearing on Man of Miracles... That is, if you are really interested in these early Styx albums. Now, let’s talk about a sprawling epic called “A Song For Suzanne.” By the words “sprawling epic” you should know right away that it was one of the byproducts of Dennis DeYoung (another one of his byproducts was his feces). But this time, it was actually done very well; it’s much better than his previous attempts, in my opinion. The introduction is nice, consisting of well-used sound effects, thoughtful atmospheric textures and DeYoung singing all mystical-like. This stops rather awkwardly and some Queen-like bouncy piano chords begin to play. But the awkwardness of the transition is duly forgotten considering this section is actually played well! And then there’s a brief ballad part that reminds me of a similar section in “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap comparison aside, let’s give Styx some congratulations for finally doing progressive rock song right for once and even being vaguely original with it. Of course all the heavier rock ‘n’ roll songs might not be original, but they’re quite fun to hear. They’re also quite numerous in this album despite the impression you might get after looking at that wizard on the album cover. The first thing that would come to anybody’s mind after looking at the cover is that this is some sort of overblown concept album. But it’s not even close. All things considered, this is one of their least overblown albums. Anyway, the heavy rocker “Rock & Roll Feeling” opens the album on a fun note. They don’t give us any riffs or solos that we haven’t heard a million times on other hard-rock albums, but they put a lot of energy into it, and that cannot go unnoticed. “Havin’ a Ball” is the second track and also a heavy rock number... It’s not quite as good (and mixed strangely with a very loud rhythm guitar for some reason), but it’s also an unpretentious toe-tapping affair. “A Man Like Me” and “Southern Woman” are two other heavy rockers, and they’re the exact same story. Dennis DeYoung’s “Golden Lark” oddly isn’t pompous at all, which must have been painful to him! But it’s also not a too terribly interesting song even though it has plenty of pretty atmosphere. In this song in particular, I lament over his lack of his melody writing skills. That song could have been so much better if he just had the talent. His “Evil Eyes” is very bland, and it never once does anything even vaguely interesting. It goes at a plodding pace no interesting developments and, as usual, a nothing-melody. By far the worst of these songs was the title track, a collaboration between DeYoung, Young and some other guy. It’s so bad that it makes most of their other songs sound like masterpieces. The intro is so INCREDIBLY overblown that it’s absolutely exploding all over the place and pieces of it are left splattered everywhere. The middle of the song features an UGLY guitar riff and features James Young’s singing warbles at its absolute worst. I really don’t know what the hell they were thinking with that one. It’s a Styxian nightmare for sure. Like swimming across the river to Hades. You might have wondered what happened to John Curulewski... Yeah, all he did here was collaborate on some of those generic heavy rockers I already talked about. If you’re expecting another “Plexiglas Toilet” number, I’m afraid you’ll be sorely disappointed. Read the track reviews:
Equinox (1975)Album Score: 11Well, this was quite a good change-up! At least something like Equinox gives me a reason to not feel so bad at myself for once having been a die-hard fan of theirs. (I mean, I'm still pointing a metaphorical gun down my throat, but perhaps it's no longer loaded.) This album goes beyond the “adequate” or “below-adequate” status of their previous works and actually dares to be “good.” Or, in the case of some of these songs, “very good.” Equinox marks Styx's debut with a big label, which could explain their new-founded improvement. I suppose if a big label wanted to market me, I would try to write better reviews!!! Anyway, enough with my self-centered dreaming... Dennis DeYoung has emerged as the principle songwriter of the group, and his songwriting skills have never been better! The festivities begin with the enthusiastic “Light Up,” a Yes-clone with an incredibly optimistic tone and a catchy and memorable melody. (Just using the term “catchy” and “memorable” to describe a Styx composition is an incredible turn from Man of Miracles.) Not only is the melody excellent, but their arrangements are wonderful, too. It has a music-hall vibe to it, which makes it quite a fun song to listen to. I'd go so far as to say this is more fun to hear than most Yes compositions, who often come off as overbearing. But here's Styx with the message “every day's a holiday!” They're much more pleasant blokes to hang out with. “Lorelei” is nothing more than an excellent pop song. The guitars are a little loud and glamorous, though, which gives this an arena-rock feel to it. But if it has an infectious chorus, who am I to cry foul? Arena-rock might be, in general, a crappy genre, but it's not too often they do it this well. “Mother Dear” is probably the most convincing progressive-rock tune they've ever conceived. Its semi-detached organ-riff is surprisingly catchy and memorable, and that combines well with those distinctly Who-like vocals. That cosmic instrumental interlude featuring the minimal atmosphere and those dark and sparse guitar solos in the middle is reminiscent of early King Crimson. “Mother Dear” might not have a ton of originality, but they borrowed from their predecessors to create a very good song. It's Equinox's shining star. So far, I've discussed the first three tracks of the album, which by far represent the best that Equinox has to offer. But, surprisingly, there aren't any terrible moments in the rest of the album. “Lonely Child” has kind of a sweet melody with one of Dennis DeYoung's more tolerable vocal performances (that is, apart from the too-typical Styx sound exhibited in those tight vocal harmonies in the chorus). What spoils that song for me is a choppy chorus that's distressingly without a good hook. “Midnight Ride,” a Led-Zeppelin-clone, is James Young's baby. (Unrelated: James Young looks like a basset hound.) The riff is actually pretty interesting, and the vocal melody even has some nice hooks in it. Young's metal electric guitar licks aren't anything amazing, but they're formidable... Even though his voice is a more annoying version of Dennis's, he manages to turn in a surprisingly decent vocal performance apart from those intensely annoying high-pitched wails of “Midniiiiiiiight Riiiiiiide” in the chorus. It's that chorus that ends up ruining things for me... And I would have also liked something that wasn't so freaking generic. “Born For Adventure” is a strange sort of song... It starts off sounding like it's going to turn into another heavy-metal song. It starts out playing some dark and tight riffs, but it doesn't go too far before it starts to sound vaguely Medieval. (Especially the chord progression at the end of the chorus, which combined with their nasally vocals sounds hilariously cheesy.) It's a bit of a rambly song, though, which is unusual considering most of their songs are stiffly structured. I'd even say that it's “pretty good” although it doesn't quite catch fire the way some of these other songs do. The last pair of songs go together. The first is a minute-long rambly acoustic guitar piece that John Curulewski put together... I'm almost positive that he made that up on the spot, but I could be wrong about that! And the second part is a tune called “Suite Madame Blue.” You can probably tell from the song title that this is one of the pompous things that Dennis put together, and you'd be right! But it's not nearly as bad as much of his later stuff. The first half of the song is typical of a DeYoung composition—the verses are twinkly and acoustic, and the chorus is rockin'. DeYoung's singing is pretentious as it could possibly get! Unfortunately, neither of these sections are terribly interesting. It gets better in the second half, which is almost a rock jam type of thing. It sounds way too 'uncivilized' than their more famous late-'70s albums, which is terribly refreshing to hear. The guitars are dark, pounding, and sort of awesome. Even the vocals in this section sound quite inspired... notably the echoing chorus of “Amerrricaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” they do in the middle. Quite good, quite good. Equinox was Styx at the crossroad of their career. It was their first album on a big label, but they were still very little known outside their hometown of Chicago. They seem to be concentrating on trying to write good music so that perhaps the world might sit up and take notice of them... Well, it would be a couple years before they would capture the public attention, but this still is quite an excellent album. For Styx. Oh and this would be Curulewski's last album with the group. He left Styx because he wanted to spend more time with his family...... obviously his kid was having a little trouble using the toilet. Read the track reviews:
Crystal Ball (1976)Album Score: 7Ew. I've known about these Styx albums for awhile, but the incredible contrast between Crystal Ball and their previous album Equinox always seems to catch me off-guard. Despite the fact that Equinox was filled to the brim with rip-offs from other bands, it was also a genuinely enjoyable album to hear. The melodies were accessible, the instrumentals were formidable, and *heck* even their singing was tolerable. It was just one year after that, they released Crystal Ball, an album that amounts to nothing more than a rancid piece of pig's garbage. Yeah. That bad. The way I see it, there were two possible explanations for this foul turn. It could have been the evil force of Tommy Shaw who not only appeared on this album for the first time but either wrote or co-wrote five of these seven tracks. That's quite a lot for a newbie! It could also have been that the music critics were complaining too much about Styx ripping off other bands, and they responded by coming out with something more 'original.' And, you know, these guys don't have enough taste to come out with an appealing sound on their own. Either way, Crystal Ball is Styx sucking like they've never sucked before. Yeah, this is worse than any of their Wooden Nickel albums. No joke. It doesn't get a whole lot more embarrassing than the first track, “Put Me On.” It begins with a texture of arpeggiated synthesizer loops, attempting to create a sort of synthscape. But the atmosphere is plain, boring and not even close to matching the synthscape that opened Equinox. This quickly and awkwardly transforms into a choppy, fast-paced electric guitar sections, which comes off like a poor man's Rush (sad as that might seem). James Young comes in with a sort of growling vocal performance, which is just terrible to hear. I mean, the dude had a hard enough time singing in his normal voice; the last thing he needed to do was growl when he was singing. Icky!! The song abruptly gets better when a series of fluttery synthesizers come in and a ballad commences. We can hear Dennis DeYoung's vocals, which sound surprisingly sweet and angelic. Unfortunately, this part doesn't last long enough, because they let that electric guitar part close the album. ...Oh man, what a clumsy song! Fortunately, it's up from there, but the rest of these tracks are woefully mediocre. “Mademoiselle” was their attempt at an arena-rock anthem, but they needed a catchier melody to make it actually work. (And parts of it curiously sounds like The Beatles' “Getting Better.”) Hm. And then there's “Jennifer,” Dennis DeYoung's flashy ode to whomever. It actually starts off pretty well with a pleasant, shuffley rhythm that sounds vaguely like a bossa nova. But it isn't long thereafter that they litter it up with a terribly clunky, pounding electric guitar section which has zero inspiration. Hmph! The title track is Tommy Shaw's only solo contribution to the album, and unfortunately he's not off to a great start with the group. I like the acoustic beginning well enough, but the heavier chorus section is so empty melodically and lacking so much spirit that I can do nothing but groan profusely. It's obvious right from the start that man is as insufferably pretentious as Dennis DeYoung is, and he's an annoying singer, too. Yeah, he fits in OK! The surprise highlight of the album is James Young's “Shooz.” When I first reviewed this album, I singled that track out as the most detestable, but I must have grown a taste for generic blues songs since then! (It's also very reminiscent of Spinal Tap... so it has unintentional appeal.) At the very least, the electric guitars sound good here, especially in the latter half where someone does this neat slide effect. OK! And then there's another one of Dennis DeYoung's things, “This Old Man,” that has a nice Medieval vibe at the beginning. Honestly, DeYoung's insufferable pretentiousness doesn't bother me as long as he comes up with a catchy melody. Look at his 1983 hit, “Mr. Roboto” for pete's sake. Nothing is more pretentious than that hunk of crap, but it's so catchy that it's literally impossible to dislike. Unfortunately, “This Old Man” is completely without a notable melody, and there is nothing left but a ton of empty pretentiousness. Plus, there's a really weird part in the middle with a detached organ and incessant whisperings of “psssssh” and “ahhhhhh.” Er... next! The final song, “Clair De Lune / Ballerina” is perhaps the most pretentious of them all. It begins with an excerpt from Claude Debussy's famous piano piece. Styx being Styx, they had enough gall to think they could add to the song. The piano beings to play simple patterns and Dennis DeYoung's squealy whine begins to warble...... But honestly, this part isn't that bad. At least the harmonies are pretty good, and DeYoung's simple vocal hooks is catchy enough. Unfortunately, the song loses serious points at the end where they layered so much empty guitar noises over it that it turns out to be just a noisy mess. Ick. So, Crystal Ball is nothing but a big flop. And Tommy Shaw is nothing but a flop, too. Oh, why am I even listening to this? WHY?! Read the track reviews:
The Grand Illusion (1977)Album Score: 9If I was around in 1977, I probably would have given Styx's first great success the big thumbs-down and attributed its great success to little more than hype. After all, this is not even close to being Styx's best album; Equinox has it beat by a mile. And, frankly, I don't find it a whole lot better than some of those Wooden Nickel recordings, either. Nonetheless, time would have proven me wrong. Thirty-one years on, The Grand Illusion has endured. Styx has triumphed. Oh woe is my hypothetical self! ...But seriously, I already divulged my true secret regarding Styx and The Grand Illusion. I was a big fan of this album in the middle of 2001, and I still suffer from the consequences of that shame. But should I feel ashamed? After all, this album helped me move onto other bands that were like Styx, but greatly superior to them. The big hit single, “Come Sail Away,” for example sounds like a cheesified version of Renaissance's haunting, ethereal masterpiece “Bound for Infinity” from one of my favorite albums Prologue. (Luckily, Renaissance's song uses dynamic mood changes and stays away from cheaply conceived heavy metal.) The Medieval sound of “Castle Walls” begins as a boring version of any early-'70s Genesis track, and the instrumental interlude consists of tedious, cosmic ramblings that Pink Floyd were such masters at. So, there you go. Styx were good at being stepping stones. That's why I feel comfortable walking all over them. I suppose I should stop it with the autobiography and actually start writing about the music. The only thing that Styx tended to do better than their contemporaries were writing accessible melodies. Of course, you would argue that bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis and Renaissance and Yes had their minds on things other than melodies. Eh, it doesn't matter. I don't listen much to classic rock radio station anymore, and one benefit of that is I get to avoid one of those station's staples, “Come Sail Away.” It begins with Dennis DeYoung singing along in his trademark whiny vocals with a twinkly piano and childish synthesizers, and then a cheesy heavy-metal chorus pops up. The arrangements, unfortunately, come off as cheap rather than inspired. So what's good about the song, then? It's the melody, stupid! That's why it's such a big hit. Despite the utter cheesiness of it, the memorable tune makes it. I also find that cosmic instrumental interlude with the bending synthesizers to be one of their better Floyd impersonations. It's not a complete waste, but I don't find it to be nearly as inspiring as many music fans do. One good thing I can say about The Grand Illusion is that it was a huge improvement over Crystal Ball, and I think the main reason for that is because Tommy Shaw figured out how to write a song. His “Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)” is quite a decent pop song with pleasant, hooky melody. The instrumentation is a far cry from matching the likes of Yes, but Styx give us a rather appealing mix of pure synthesizers and acoustic guitars with that one. The worst thing about it is the lyrics, but I suppose they had good intentions. Although Shaw's “Man in the Wilderness” is a really bland song that's so super-serious that I can do little but groan while it's playing. But again its melody is rather nice. The biggest surprise of the album, however, was not Tommy Shaw, but it was James Young! Yeah, that basset-hound-looking dude with the voice that sounds like an electrocuted version of Dennis DeYoung. He came up with “Miss America,” a rocking song with a convincing riff, catchy melody, and lyrics that are surprisingly rather biting. The points he raises about beauty pageants aren't anything new, but the sarcastic way he presents them seems to give it a fresh edge. Wow. Another song I really enjoy is the title track. It's a rather pompous, but melody is especially good, and probably the catchiest one of the whole album ... it's the sort of melody that I can get stuck in my head and it doesn't bother me. Plus, it has probably the nicest guitar solo ever in a Styx album. I know that's not saying much, but it's still icing on the already nice cake. When it's all said and done, there are only two songs here that actively annoy me. The worst of them is Superstars, which is basically a vocal-led track. ...Trust me, it's a bad idea for these guys to concentrate on vocals ever, because they have those irritating high-pitched voices. But that song made even worse because of a dumb, two-note guitar riff and a melody that's nowhere near as good as the others. The other song that bugs me is the closing one “The Grand Finale,” which is a rehashing of some of the songs that already appeared in the album. I object to the way the song sounds especially as it begins with a vocal-led redux of “Superstars,” and I also object to the way Styx thought we would actually want to hear these songs again. Seriously, once was enough. Read the track reviews:
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All reviews are written by Michael Lawrence.
