Seems like it took me forever to start upgrading all my crappy vinyl Styx albums to CD. Never thought much about it, actually, until one day some guy apparently dumped his whole collection at the used store, including 3 of the band's first four albums with original artwork! So I picked up about 8 or 9 Styx CD's in one shot...a "pile of Styx", if you will! :-)

"Styx I"

1. "Movement for the Common Man" (13:11)
   • Children of the Land
   • Street Collage
   • Fanfare for the Common Man
   • Mother Nature's Matinee
2. "Right Away" (3:40)
3. "What Has Come Between Us" (4:53)
4. "Best Thing" (3:13)
5. "Quick is the Beat of My Heart" (4:49)
6. "After You Leave Me" (4:00)

Finally reissued...with the CRAPPY ARTWORK!!! Oh well, can't win 'em all I guess...at least I'm smarter than those idiotic people on eBay who are paying $20-30 for this shitty thing!! Quite the scam, yes indeed...

Not many people know that Styx released 4 albums prior to Equinox, and for good reason: they all STINK!! The best part of this one is "Street Collage", which is just some guy talking about a dirty, smelly hippie who walked into his office..."Best Thing" is a pretty ballad, too.

"Styx II"

1. "You Need Love" (3:44)
2. "Lady" (2:56)
3. "A Day" (8:19)
4. "You Better Ask" (3:54)
5. "Little Fugue in 'G'"--instrumental (1:17)
6. "Father O.S.A." (7:08)
7. "Earl of Roseland" (4:39)
8. "I'm Gonna Make You Feel It" (2:23)

Well, it's got "Lady", the band's first hit single, but that's about it...at least it's got the original artwork.

"The Serpent is Rising"

1. "Witch Wolf" (3:55)
2. "The Grove of Eglantine" (4:50)
3. "Young Man" (4:44)
4. "As Bad as This/Plexiglass Toilet" (6:04)
5. "Winner Take All" (2:52)
6. "22 Years" (3:26)
7. "Jonas Psalter" (4:37)
8. "The Serpent is Rising" (4:46)
9. "Krakatoa"--spoken word (1:31)
10. "Hallelujah Chorus (from Handel's Messiah)" (1:28)

The best part about this album is the hilarious novelty song "Plexiglass Toilet", which I first heard on Dr. Demento many years ago...when he said it was done by Styx, I thought he meant some totally different band ("Sticks", perhaps?)

"Man of Miracles"

1. "Rock & Roll Feeling" (2:56)
2. "Havin' a Ball" (3:50)
3. "Golden Lark" (3:22)
4. "A Song for Suzanne" (5:16)
5. "A Man Like Me" (2:47)
6. "Lies" (2:45)
7. "Evil Eyes" (4:05)
8. "Southern Woman" (3:08)
9. "Christopher, Mr. Christopher" (3:58)
10. "Man of Miracles" (4:55)

Oh man, I know I said their early albums weren't that great, but this one is exceptionally bad. Cool cover, though. Oh, here's something that took me by surprise. It turns out that both Serpent and Miracles are OUT OF PRINT, and so hotly desired that they sell for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS EACH on eBay!!! (My cost was about $5.99 -- muahahahahah.) Even the original Wooden Nickel records go for mint, which is a shame, because I gave away my crappy vinyl versions a long time ago....

"Equinox"

1. "Light Up" (4:17)
2. "Lorelei" (3:19)
3. "Mother Dear" (5:25)
4. "Lonely Child" (3:47)
5. "Midnight Ride" (4:17)
6. "Born for Adventure" (5:12)
7. "Prelude 12"--instrumental (1:21)
8. "Suite Madame Blue" (6:30)

Finally, the band manages to put together a halfway decent album. My favorites are the proto-heavy metal anthems "Born for Adventure" and "Midnight Ride"; also "Mother Dear" is kinda pretty. Cool album cover with the block of ice on fire.

"Crystal Ball"

1. "Put Me On" (4:56)
2. "Mademoiselle" (3:57)
3. "Jennifer" (4:16)
4. "Crystal Ball" (4:32)
5. "Shooz" (4:44)
6. "This Old Man" (5:11)
7. "Clair de Lune/Ballerina" (7:09)

Tommy Shaw joined the band here, and although he brought invaluable talent and direction to the band on future releases, it sure ain't evident here. The title track is haunting and beautiful, definitely the best song Tommy sung for Styx, but the rest gives Man of Miracles a run for its money...

"The Grand Illusion"

1. "The Grand Illusion" (4:36)
2. "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" (5:29)
3. "Superstars" (3:59)
4. "Come Sail Away" (6:07)
5. "Miss America" (5:01)
6. "Man in the Wilderness" (5:49)
7. "Castle Walls" (6:00)
8. "The Grand Finale" (1:58)

Undoubtedly the most popular Styx album ever, and God only knows why. Okay, it *does* contain the band's two best songs, "Come Sail Away" and "Miss America" (that last one is a MONSTER ROCKER!), along with good work on "Fooling Yourself", "Man in the Wilderness", and the title track (I suppose.) But "Superstars" SUCKS, and "Castle Walls" ain't that great either. "The Grand Finale" is pretty stupid, too (it's not really a song, but a mixture of three other songs from the album...)

"Pieces of Eight"

1. "Great White Hope" (4:22)
2. "I'm OK" (5:41)
3. "Sing for the Day" (4:57)
4. "The Message"--instrumental (1:08)
5. "Lords of the Ring" (4:33)
6. "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" (4:05)
7. "Queen of Spades" (5:38)
8. "Renegade" (4:13)
9. "Pieces of Eight" (4:44)
10. "Aku-Aku"--instrumental (2:57)

Now this is an album I can really get into. Lots of full-force rockers on this one, namely "Renegade", "Blue Collar Man", "Queen of Spades" and "Great White Hope". The title track is also a major anthem, especially accompanied by the closing instrumental, and although "Lords of the Ring" sounds a bit overblown, I still kinda like it. "Sing for the Day" sounds pretty gay, though.

"Cornerstone"

1. "Lights" (4:38)
2. "Why Me" (3:54)
3. "Babe" (4:25)
4. "Never Say Never" (3:08)
5. "Boat on the River" (3:10)
6. "Borrowed Time" (4:58)
7. "First Time" (4:24)
8. "Eddie" (4:15)
9. "Love in the Midnight" (5:25)

The most Styx-ish of all the Styx albums. So what if it's got "Babe", hey I still like that song, God only knows why. "Boat on the River" is a pretty Tommy Shaw ballad, and "Borrowed Time" fills the speakers with their trademark chorus wail. Hmm, the only song I could say really SUCKS is "Never Say Never".

"Paradise Theater"

1. "A.D. 1928" (1:07)
2. "Rockin' the Paradise" (3:35)
3. "Too Much Time on My Hands" (4:31)
4. "Nothing Ever Goes as Planned" (4:46)
5. "The Best of Times" (4:17)
6. "Lonely People" (5:22)
7. "She Cares" (4:18)
8. "Snowblind" (4:58)
9. "Half-Penny, Two-Penny" (4:34)
10. "A.D. 1958" (2:31)
11. "State Street Sadie"--instrumental (0:27)

This was actually one of the first crappy vinyl records I ever acquired (got it for Christmas one year, I think.) Some great songs here, weighed down by two downright awful tracks: "Lonely People" (yawn!) and "The Best of Times" (ack! DAMN them for making that pukey song a hit!) "Snowblind" stirred up a lot of controversy when some Christian looney thought it contained Satanic backwards masking...and sure enough, if you listen to the part just after the first chorus backwards, you can clearly hear, "Satan is in our VOICES! VOICES! VOICES!" I doubt they did that intentionally, though...

"Kilroy Was Here"

1. "Mr. Roboto" (5:26)
2. "Cold War" (4:21)
3. "Don't Let it End" (4:53)
4. "High Time" (4:28)
5. "Heavy Metal Poisoning" (4:54)
6. "Just Get Through This Night" (6:01)
7. "Double Life" (3:43)
8. "Haven't We Been Here Before" (4:04)
9. "Don't Let it End (reprise)" (2:22)

A concept album, which proved that a band like Styx should never do concept albums. I suppose it doesn't suck THAT bad, but except for "Heavy Metal Poisoning" (which, in response to the "Snowblind" controversy, contains a bit of backwards speech which a friend of mind determined was James Young reading that latin crap printed on the back of a one-dollar bill), "Double Life", and "Mr. Roboto", there isn't much good you can say about this one.

Oh yeah, should probably point this out...sometime during the band's greatly extended downtime, I got a chance to work on a video shoot for James Young's solo single (didn't do much except stand around, though) and got JY to autograph three of my crappy vinyl albums! Silly me, I should have brought my whole collection...

"Return to Paraise" (live dbl CD)

The band jumps on the "Nostalgic Reunion" bandwagon here, with Tommy Shaw (who left some years ago to join Damn Yankees) reforming with the three other main guys (drummer John Panozzo couldn't attend because he was, well, dead.) The result is a surprisingly good live set -- outstanding, in fact. Expectedly, they play all their hits from "Lady" to Paradise Theater (but nothing from Kilroy Was Here? How odd...) but there are a few surprises -- "Lorelei" and "Boat on the River", notably. They also do a GREAT version of "The Grand Illusion" (far surpassing the studio version, I must say!) A few new songs, too, though nothing to write home about.

on crappy vinyl:
• "Styx" (original art)
• "Pieces of Eight" (personally autographed by James Young)
• "Paradise Theater" (personally autographed by James Young)
• "Kilroy Was Here" (personally autographed by James Young)
• "Caught in the Act" (live 2LP)

on even crappier cassette!:
• "Edge of the Century"

Previous Band Back to Index Next Band