July 7, 1977 - Styx and The Grand Illusion

A month since my last release, a new band is joining my library when Styx released their seventh album (and only full one that I have) "The Grand Illusion" on July 7, 1977. But who are Styx? They were a 5-piece rock band from Chicago, Illinois and they have 4 original members still on this their seventh, and breakthrough album. They consist of John Panozzo (drums, percussion), his brother, Chuck Panozzo (bass), Tommy Shaw (vocals, guitars), James Young (vocals, lead guitar) and Dennis DeYoung (vocals, keyboards). DeYoung sings lead on 4 of the 8 tracks, Shaw sings lead on 3 and Young sings lead on 1. Let's check out some new prog-rockers!

The album kicks off with the title track "The Grand Illusion" and has DeYoung on lead vocals. It has a marching opening and his singing sounds pretty epic as the guitars and keyboards carry a decent main riff. Young plays a pretty good guitar solo, then it's back to the marching riff with some solid drums. We hear a verse, another solo, and one final epic verse before the main guitar riff is repeated until the end with some cool keyboards overtop. The next song "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" has Shaw on lead vocals and has an awesome keyboard opening by DeYoung with some sweet synthesizer. It moves into guitar-led main riff with some cool bass as well. Shaw's voice sounds epic as well and it's quite similar to DeYoung's. They play a catchy chorus with more cool synths and we also hear an excellent synth solo by DeYoung in this very well-done single. It rnds with another wonderful synth solo that I think is very Emerson-like, always a great comparison! Track 3 is "Superstars" and Shaw is on lead again. DeYoung plays a kind of corny keyboard riff that opens the song, but the guitar in the verse is much better. It's a slow, catchy verse with lots of high vocals that sounds pretty epic. I don't think the keyboards are great in this one but Young plays a cool guitar solo and they continue to jam the main riff until it slowly fades out. The side ends with the six minute "Come Sail Away" as DeYoung is on lead vocals and playing some epic piano to lead this opening. His voice sounds pretty great as he holds lots of long notes and sings about sailing away. Young plays the synths we hear over the piano that add to the epicness of this tale. Bass and drums join for the second verse as DeYoung continues to serenade us with his singing and piano playing. Some great drumming and epic guitar signal a shift into a more rock riff and we hear the chorus finally. It's very simple, but very memorable and pretty damn catchy. Everything slows down and gets very dreamy as we hear Young play some more epic synths. This part sounds pretty cool and they segue nicely back into the rock riff. We hear more sweet guitar and it turns out the angels are aliens! They jam out the chorus with Young now soloing overtop on guitar with some more epic stuff. It fades to an end and I thought this was a pretty sweet song, and side!

Side two kicks off with "Miss America" which has an epic, slow synthesizer opening. Young sings his only lead vocal on the album and his voice is lower than the others but he also seems like a pretty good singer. The verse is carried by a wicked little guitar riff by Young as well. DeYoung and Shaw sing "Miss America!" in the chorus and this song is quite the toe-tapper! They play another verse and chorus before we hear a sweet keyboard solo by DeYoung followed by a pretty good guitar solo. They play a couple more verses and chorus' before jamming the main riff until it slowly fades to an end. Up next is "Man In The Wilderness" and it opens with a slow rock riff led by Young on guitar. Shaw is on lead vocals again as his high voice fits this light rock mood well. Young and Shaw both play some cool guitar but  nothing really jumps out. The keyboards in the background are also decent, but nothing special. After three minutes in the mood shifts to a new, harder rock riff and Young goes off for a cool guitar solo. He and DeYoung play some nice stuff in this solo, then it's back to the chorus. They slowly jam until the end with Shaw hitting some high notes as it fades out. Track 7 is "Castle Walls" and some slow bass carries the beat as guitar and synths sync up for an epic opening riff. DeYoung is on lead vocals again and I think he is my favourite singer of the bunch as he sounds epic without even trying. Things pick up a bit in the chorus, but it's back to the epic, slow riff led by some cool guitar. A cool synth riff takes over and we hear some nice drums by Panozzo that add to the epicness. It's a pretty cool slow instrumental bit led by DeYoung's keyboards. Young plays a decent guitar solo that continues into the chorus and he also plays it out with some more good guitar at the end of another epic, but slow song. The last track is "The Grand Finale" and has DeYoung again on lead vocals for this two minute song. They mix together the previous songs into one short song! He uses lyrics from several of the songs over again and it's driven by the same riff as in "Superstars". It's an interesting concept and a fitting end to this very epic and grand album.

That is the end of "The Grand Illusion" and I thought it was a pretty good album. I liked the first side better than the second, but it was a very epic offering and had lots of great guitars and keyboards. Add in three viable singers and it's easy to see why this would become their breakthrough album. "Fooling Yourself" was my favourite, but the whole album was quite solid and a welcome addition to the library.