Replacing the band's volume in A&M's Classics series, Greatest Hits collects all Styx's major chart and radio hits, from "Lady" to "Show Me the Way." Although they were a definitive album-oriented rock band, creating records that were meant to be listened to as a whole, their finest moments were always their singles, making Greatest Hits the only ...
Other than being their first platinum-selling album, The Grand Illusion led Styx steadfastly into the domain of AOR rock. Built on the strengths of "Come Sail Away"'s ballad-to-rock metamorphosis, which gained them their second Top Ten hit, and on the high harmonies of newcomer Tommy Shaw throughout "Fooling Yourself," The Grand Illusion ...
Styx's feisty, straightforward brand of album rock is represented best by "Blue Collar Man" from 1978's Pieces of Eight, an invigorating keyboard and guitar rush -- hard and heavy, yet curved by Tommy Shaw's emphasized vocals. Reaching number 21, with the frolicking romp of "Renegade" edging in at number 16 only six months later, Pieces of Eight ...
Equinox produced Styx's first single with A&M, the highly spirited "Lorelei," which found its way to number 27 on the charts. Although it was the only song to chart from Equinox, the album itself is a benchmark in the band's career since it includes an instrumental nature reminiscent of their early progressive years, yet hints toward a more ...
It seems that a double-disc collection of Styx would contain all their biggest hits, along with all of their key album tracks. Come Sail Away: The Styx Anthology comes close to fitting that description, but it falls short in a couple of noticeable ways. The compilers have made a conscious decision to emphasize the progressive hard rock side of the ...
Since there was a Pure Funk and Pure Disco, it makes sense that a Pure '70s would follow. It couldn't be called "Pure Rock," since a lot of this simply doesn't rock at all -- "American Pie," anyone? However, all 20 songs on this collection (mostly culled from the Polygram vaults) reek of the '70s, and that's why this is a fun listen. Yes, it's ...
Presenting radio with one of the best rock ballads ever, Cornerstone gave Chicago's Styx their big break with the number one single "Babe," which held that spot for two weeks in October of 1979. "Babe" is a smooth, keyboard-pampered love song that finally credited Dennis De Young's textured vocals. While this single helped the album climb all the ...
Although Dennis De Young's concept about man being replaced by robots in the near future failed to get off the ground, Kilroy Was Here still harbored two of the band's best singles. "Don't Let It End" almost captures the same endearing qualities as their number one hit, "Babe," did four years earlier, peaking at number six, and the synthesized ...
After successfully establishing themselves as one of America's best commercial progressive rock bands of the late '70s with albums like The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight, Chicago's Styx had taken a dubious step towards pop overkill with singer Dennis DeYoung's ballad "Babe." The centerpiece of 1979's uneven Cornerstone album, the number one ...
During the '90s, such veteran arena rockers as Journey and Styx mounted comebacks, both of which featured all, or most of, their classic lineups. But in both cases, both reunions were fleeting, and instead of packing it up for good, both acts soldiered on with new frontmen -- in Journey's case, Steve Augeri got the nod to fill Steve Perry's shoes, ...
The British collection The Best of Times: The Best of Styx is a flawed but adequate overview of Styx's biggest hits. Most of the group's best-known songs are here, but they're sequenced out of order, and a few new songs, plus a re-recording of "Lady," are tacked onto the end of the disc. It's fine for what it is, but it's hardly definitive, and ...
Like 2004's less than stellar Cyclorama, those looking for this to be the big Styx record that will catapult them back into the mainstream will be sorely disappointed in the contents of this record. It's not a CD of new material, rather, it's a 14-song collection of covers from some of the band's influences and all-time rock favorites. Starting ...
Remastered and repackaged, this is a treasure trove for die-hard Styx fanatics waiting for a proper reissue of their early works. But casual buyers best beware: this isn't the Styx that sang "Come Sail Away" or "Mr. Roboto," but a different though no less enjoyable group altogether. This two-disc set comprises their first four records under the ...
The Best of 70's Supergroups is a thoroughly entertaining 14-track collection that contains a wealth of album-rock and hard rock hits, including such radio staples as "More Than A Feeling," "Evil Woman, " "Come Sail Away, " "Taking Care of Business, " "American Woman, " "Black Magic Woman, " "Green-Eyed Lady, " "Sweet Home Alabama" and "We're an ...
Rock bands classified as "progressive" have been pairing off with symphony orchestras for decades, sometimes with positive results, a good example being Procol Harum Live in Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, that group's biggest selling album. According to guitarist/singer Tommy Shaw, who has been fronting Styx since a legal settlement ...
The Best of Styx is a bit of a misleading title, since this eleven-track collection misses many of their big '70s hits, including "Come Sail Away," "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" and "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)." "Lady, " "You Need Love, " "Best Thing" and "Winner Takes All" are here, along with some album tracks that help make the ...
Crystal Ball wasn't as successful as Equinox, but it was a better album, showcasing Styx's increased skill for crafting simple, catchy pop hooks out of their bombastic sound. ~ Daevid Jehnzen, All Music Guide
Styx was one of the all-time favorite targets of many rock critics, but the mixture of bleeding-heart ballads, catchy arena rock, and ambitious art rock appealed to millions in the late '70s and early '80s. After 13 years apart, the Chicago-based band's classic lineup of vocalist/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, vocalist/guitarist Tommy Shaw, vocalist ...
Styx was one of the titans of the hugely popular AOR movement -- along with Boston, Foreigner, Journey, and REO Speedwagon -- embraced by the U.S. mainstream in the late '70s and early '80s. The end of the Chicago-based band's peak period coincided with one of the most ambitious and notorious projects of the time, the 1983 concept album Kilroy Was ...
Since their late-'90s reunion, Styx has been the subject of countless budget-priced compilations. And as usual, the "compilers" are quite sneaky -- as buyers are fooled into thinking they're buying a compilation of original versions, before finding out that the versions are from the latter-day live releases. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that ...
Assembled with the cooperation of the band, Styx's entry in Universal's 20th Century Masters -- The Millennium Collection series of discount-priced best-of's, surveys the group's tenure at A&M Records, where they scored most of their popular success. Of course, the early hit "Lady," recorded for RCA-distributed Wooden Nickel Records (and thus in ...
The eleven selections on Rebound's Classic Rock: 80's certainly don't fit into the conventional definition of "classic rock." After all, "classic rock, " by most definitions, ended somewhere in the '70s; the '80s were a time of New Wave and album-oriented hard rock. That's exactly what you get here -- "Owner of a Lonely Heart," "Everybody Wants to ...
Unlike its predecessor, which veered away from the title's classifications, the eleven selections on Rebound's Classic Rock: 70's fit squarely into the classic definition of "classic rock." This may be a little predictable for some listeners, but for budget-minded fans of classic rock, this is a good way to acquire such gems as "Every Picture ...
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