Best Styx album?

I found out that they have stuff I haven't heard that is good. I'm looking for early albums. Anyone have a recommendation for possible first purchase?

I have to sign out, but I'll check this thread. Thanks!

What a goddawful pile of a band.

but in the early/mid seventies - they did some pretty good and innovative music. Someone in another thread described their decline (esp the horrid "Mr Roboto") as a point to where they came to parody themselves - how painful. Especially since some of their early work was really good.

it has Mr. Roboto on it.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7kxo_styx-mr-roboto

Mr. Roboto - Styx

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Mata ah-oo hima de
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto,
Himitsu wo shiri tai

You're wondering who I am-machine or mannequin
With parts made in Japan, I am the mod-ren man

I've got a secret I've been hiding under my skin
My heart is human, my blood is boiling, my brain I.B.M.
So if you see me acting strangely, don't be surprised
I'm just a man who needed someone, and somewhere to hide
To keep me alive-just keep me alive
Somewhere to hide to keep me alive

I'm not a robot without emotions-I'm not what you see
I've come to help you with your problems, so we can be free
I'm not a hero, I'm not a saviour, forget what you know
I'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond his control
Beyond my control-we all need control
I need control-we all need control

I am the modren man, who hides behind a mask
So no one else can see my true identity

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to
Thank you-thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you

The problem's plain to see: too much technology
Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize.

The time has come at last
To throw away this mask
So everyone can see
My true identity...
I'm Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy! Kilroy!

Kilroy was their downfall.

:hi:

I have to admit that I inspired the thread - pointing to some of the early work as good - but not connected enough to the early albums as to recommend ... hope that someone else who remembers the early work can recommend an album. I would say Pieces of Eight - but that may be as much for the time in my life (and thus why I connected to that music - esp "the Renegade") rather than it was really the best example of their early (and fairly innovative) music.

Sadly, they are a bad that personifies the problem of trying to appeal to pop and not only losing self in doing so - but becoming completely ridiculous - when there was enough of a following of the earlier work to probably keep them working for years.

http://www.google.com/musicl?lid=VXDFUgnmWRD&aid=iTJsVlB68_F&sa=X&oi=music&ct=result

It still is my favorite after all these years.

Grand Illusion, THEN Paradise Theater.

Wow. We think alike. I hope that means our minds are great.

I'm not saying they will be my favorite band, but I realize things aren't all or nothing.

but I do think you will appreciate some of the early work - as well as the sorta "performance art" of the progress of their career in terms of how to completely anhiliate the earlier reputation of a band by chasing the pop charts. I can't think of another band (though I am sure there are countless others) that did such good solid work and then in pushing the pop became so bad that they completely erased their early reputation. In some ways they are a forgotten object lesson that new groups ought to look at as a case study of what to avoid.

retain their integrity. Not only wasn't this the case with STYX, but as you said, many people won't bother to look into their whole catalog. I appreciate you bringing their early stuff to my attention.

In fact, it was the very first "rock" album I ever bought. Well, asked my dad to buy for me--I was 11 or 12. I think we were in Kmart...!

x(

Until I explored their early stuff. Sometimes you just can't write off a band.

Hi mvd,

I have heard most of Styx's albums, and think that they actually have quite a range in quality. There are a couple I would recommend to almost anyone to give a shot, especially Styx-haters, while there are a couple that I think do a good job illustrating why Styx have a reputation for being one of the worst bands ever! My recommendations would be to start with:

Pieces of Eight- This is actually my favorite Styx album of all. It's close to The Grand Illusion but a bit more rock-oriented and with more solid songs over all. It includes the singles "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and the very underrated "Queen of Spades" and the minor, forgotten hit "Sing for the Day." Also, it has "I'm OK" which most people would probably find cheesy but I actually find kind of inspirational!

Next I'd go to The Grand Illusion, which is sort of a concept album, but filled with a good bunch of songs as well. You've probably heard "Come Sail Away"; it's admittedly dorky but kind of fun at the same time! It also had the single "Fooling Yourself" and some other good songs in "The Grand Illusion" and the dark "Man in the Wilderness", which is one of my personal favorites.

Those would be the two I'd recommend. If you like them and want to try some others I'd try Equinox first. It's from the mid-seventies and more progressive-rock influenced, but includes the single you mentioned liking, "Lorelei", in addition to "Light Up" and the excellent, at least IMHO, forgotten track "Suite Madame Blue."

If you like that one, I'd give Crystal Ball a shot. It has the cool, poppy single "Mademoiselle" along with the title track, which is very good.

Beyond those albums, their albums get much spottier. Those four released from between 1975 and 1978 are are in my opinion, their peak as a band. They released several albums (five, I believe) on the Chicago record label Wooden Nickel in the early seventies. I haven't heard all of these and wouldn't be surprised if most of them never made it on to CD. Of their early ones, I'd recommend 1972's Styx II, which has their only early hit "Lady" (which still gets some classic rock radio airplay) and a diverse bunch of accompanying songs, including the psychedelic "A Day", "You Better Ask", on which they sound an uncharacteristically heavy bar band, and "I'm Gonna Make You Feel It" which is just a nice early-seventies pop-rock song. This one's actually probably my second-favorite Styx album, personally, but I didn't recommend it earlier because it sounds quite different from their better-known material and I'm not even sure if it's available in a format besides vinyl.

As for their later material, there's not much I care for on 1979's Cornerstone, although I do like the sappy ballad "Babe", which is one of their best-known songs and their sole #1 pop hit. Paradise Theatre is probably the best of their later albums, because it has the catchy singles "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Nothing Ever Goes as Planned", but I don't remember being as impressed with the album as a whole. (Though I haven't listened to their later albums very much.) And I'd steer clear of their last album Mr.Roboto, even though I think the title track is good dumb fun, the album as a whole has a concept that just doesn't hold together all that well. Plus, fights over the concept and incorporating it into their stage show were the main cause of the band's break-up IIRC, so that's just kind of sad...

Well, now that I've rambled this much about Styx, I truly feel like a geek, but I do think they are a band who gets much more of a bum rap than they deserve. They recorded a number of good tracks throughout their career, but I would say their most solid albums are from the mid- to late-seventies. There are some good tracks scattered throughout their albums from other periods, though, but I'd start with Pieces of Eight and The Grand Illusion, and then proceed to Equinox, Crystal Ball, or Styx II if you like those. The CD Styx's Greatest Hits is also a decent compilation, though it leaves off a few of their best album tracks in order to include the bulk of their chart singles, which weren't always their best work.

Alright, I've probably given you way more information than you ever wanted to know about Styx, but hopefully I've at least been helpful! haha

...in the very cleverly titled "The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings":

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Wooden-Nickel-Recordings/dp/B0007LLPM4

:hide:

I mean I suppose there must be a "best" Styx album, but its a purely relative term. :evilgrin:

His most recent release with Jack Blades (Shaw-Blades, Influence) is great.

I don't think Tommy Shaw was with them yet on Equinox, but it does have some good songs on it.

The Grand Illusion is the best. I like some songs off of Pieces of Eight and Cornerstone, but I can only take so much Dennis DeYoung. Paradise Theater also has some good songs, and it was the big album the year I graduated from high school (1982).

If you ever want to piss off an 80s metal-head, though, compare Queensryche to Styx. Concept albums, classically trained vocalists-the case can be made.

:hide:

that actually makes more sense to me.

I'll buy a few songs today, because I don't like taking risks on albums with so many in my wish list.

Not as bad as their new stuff, but not really my thing. I feel glad I gave them a chance, though, as open minded about music as I am.