Avtor: Peter Podbrežnik
Izvajalec: Styx
Založba: Wooden Nickel Records
Izid: 1972
Trajanje: 33:46
Ocena: 3.5/5
American arena rock champions Styx are nowadays, a bit superficially, mostly remembered as one of those legendary bands Americans stuck to like flies to honey in the good old days, while in Europe they never really landed any particularly wide commercial success or the name recognition that comes with it. Still, the legendary quintet, who racked up four multi-platinum studio albums in a row and ruled the top of the popularity charts in the late seventies and early eighties, to this day carry the title of one of the most talented and innovative American rock bands of all time. Their fusion of progressive and hard rock, especially advanced for its time, seasoned with pompous symphonic arrangements, crunchy guitar phrases and epic harmonies, was later key to the birth of arena rock.
This Chicago band, which took its name from the greatest river of the ancient Greek mythological underworld, kicked off its long career, marked by plenty of ups and downs, as one of the first American prog rock bands in the true sense of the word. Along with Kansas, they were also the only American prog outfit that managed to claw its way out of the sea of mediocrity and reach the stars of commercial success, but that was already in the era when they had mutated into arena rockers.
By the time their self-titled debut came out, the band was made up of twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo on bass and drums respectively, keyboardist/vocalist Dennis DeYoung, and guitarists/vocalists James Young and John Curulewski. You can clearly hear that Styx had already learned a lot from European prog and hard rock role models, led by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. All three singers loved layered vocal harmonies, while decisive guitar riffs and DeYoung’s organ wizardry also held an important place in their sound. The pairing of the two brothers delivered a potent, solid rhythm section. The difference in the singers’ voices was what always gave Styx their stamp of exceptional dynamism. The simple lyrics, on the other hand, were more or less always their weak spot, since they preferred writing about love affairs and impressions from Saturday night parties (so American). Fantasy concepts only came along a bit later.
»Styx« is very ambitiously conceived, despite the band still hunting for a recognizable sonic identity, which is already hinted at by the opening, 13-minute-plus prog rock mouthful »Movement for the Common Man«, split into no fewer than four different sections. Its third part, »Fanfare for the Common Man«, features a symphonic arrangement originally written by classical composer Aaron Copland. It’s worth noting that Styx pulled off this kind of feat five years before ELP and their adaptation of the same classic. This sprawling art rock undertaking is marked by a blend of diverse time motifs and a fusion of symphonic and hard rock, with prominent harmonies in the main chorus. Already here you can clearly hear their pronounced feel for epic melodies, ambient pomp and theatrics, which would only keep growing in the future.
The sleepy »Right Away«, where James Young takes the lead vocals, is a mix of blues and funk with a simple melody and choral vocal harmonies in the chorus. The epic »What Has Come Between Us« comes off far more interesting, opening as a dynamic hard rocker with a paranoid piano tune before suddenly morphing into symphonic rock with a melodramatic, sacral arrangement and mighty harmonies. Here you could already talk about a prototype of the typical, recognizable Styx sonic vocabulary. Their first single, »Best Thing«, only managed to scrape the tail end of the American charts at the time, a far cry from their later commercial successes. It’s kind of a shame it didn’t get more attention, because it’s a really good effort marked by a dynamic organ line, rainbow-colored harmonies, heavy rock guitar phrases and wittily executed rhythmic transitions. Throughout the whole album, there’s no shortage of tasty guitar solos from both guitarists and DeYoung’s solo wizardry on organ and synthesizer.
The energetic »Quick As the Beat of My Heart« is marked by a generous fusion of funk and hard rock, watched over by an excellent vocal performance from Young. Potent guitar phrases are dynamically woven through branching organ passages. The closing art/hard rock hybrid »After You Leave Me«, also greased with melodic harmonies, leans a bit toward the creations of Coverdale/Hughes era Deep Purple, which means it’s yet another surprisingly innovative piece.
»Styx« was, even with a fair amount of rookie rashness showing through, a solid debut for this legendary Chicago band, who went on to crank up their exceptional knack for crafting epic anthems and power ballads even further over the rest of their career. In 1972, Styx were the undisputed favorites of the otherwise obscure American prog rock scene and, alongside Blue Öyster Cult and Kansas, the other innovative newcomers on the scene, one of the few bands that sounded ‘European’, even though the lion’s share of their lyrics was typically American.
Line-up
John Curulewski – guitar, vocals and electronics
Dennis DeYoung – organ, piano, synthesizer and vocals
Chuck Panozzo – bass guitarJohn Panozzo – drums and percussion
James Young – guitar, acoustic guitar and vocals
Production
John Ryan and Bill Traut
Track list
- Movement for the Common Man
- Right Away
- What Has Come Between Us
- Best Thing
- Quick Is the Beat of My Heart
- After You Leave Me
