The Prog Rock Album Club

Trollheart · 01-29-2014, 02:06 PM

The grand illusion --- Styx --- 1977

Unknown Soldier is always going on about how great Styx are, and to be honest I've never been able to agree or disagree, as I know very little of their output beyond the singles (which, as we all know, is quite often the worst way you can judge a band) and quite frankly have never felt the urge or need to get deeper into their discography, though I have it all somewhere here on my computer. This is their seventh album, their first real commercial success so far as I can see and the album that preceded by two the one on which they would have their biggest hit, the sugary ballad “Babe”, which took them to number one but forever after ensured they were pegged as a soft rock ballad band by anyone, including me, who did not know of the rest of their material. This is also the second album with mainstay Tommy Shaw and on it Styx continued the practice they had stared on 1976's “Crystal ball”, that of splitting the vocal duties between founder Dennis DeYoung and Shaw.

There were two hit singles from the album, “Fooling yourself (The angry young man)” and the vastly superior in my opinion “Come sail away”, and this album began a cycle of hits and platinum albums for Styx which would take them through the latter half of the seventies and into the early eighties before a hiatus of seven years between “Kilroy was here” and “Edge of the century” would mark a slow decline in popularity, at least commercially, for the band, with their last proper offering coming all the way back in 2003. They're still shown as an active band, but I think at this point, with the two main members pursuing solo careers and nothing new on the horizon, you would have to consider Styx as a band to be a dead duck.

But back in the seventies and eighties they could do no wrong, especially once this hit. I was more than a little surprised to find how proggy much of this album is (obviously I would expect it to be, given that this is the PRAC), with big squealing keyboard passages and fanfares from DeYoung but still enough raw guitar power from Shaw to make it seriously rock, especially on “Miss America”, where the close vocal harmonies owe more than a little to Queen. I really like “Come sail away”, particularly because it's one of those songs that fools you into thinking it's a ballad with its soft piano intro and gentle vocal, then about halfway through it kicks up and becomes a mid-paced rocker, while still retaining its original identity. Nice.

There's a slow sort of southern boogie feel to “Man in the wilderness”, reminds me of Blackfoot, though I know they came later so I guess I should swing that around. Still, I heard Blackfoot first so to me it's how it sounds. Nice sort of flutey sound to it on the keys, and there's more than a hint of early Kansas in it too. Another one that treads the ballad line without tipping over into it. Good strong ending. Like the medieval organ and pulsing bass opening to “Castle walls”, very Asia-like keyboard middle section, oh so proggy! Good bit of Arena there too and of course the whole thing is very reminiscent of the Alan Parsons Project, especially on “The turn of a friendly card” which ... let me just check ... yeah, came out later BUT one of the lines in the lyric is “Far beyond these castle walls” and THAT, my friends, was the debut album for Chris de Burgh, released in 1974! Spooky! And, quite possibly, a little scary.

As far as this album is concerned, it's damn good. A nice mix of prog and some straight-ahead rock with the odd bit of AOR thrown in for good measure. It doesn't really get going, for me, until about the third track, which is not to say the first two are bad, just didn't impress me that much. But does this make me suddenly want to break into a Styx binge? Do I feel like I've been missing out? Answer is no. But has it made me want to never check out another Styx album? Answer is also no.

In conclusion, I would say I'm not going to end up as enamoured of this band as Unknown Soldier is, but I can see why he likes them. Whether this is their best album, or one they should be judged on only he can tell me, but as I said at the beginning this came first in a cycle of about five albums that seem to comprise Styx's “purple patch”, so I'd have to say it's a reasonable representation of what they could do, and what they were capable of.

Rating: 7/10

Unknown Soldier · 01-29-2014, 05:18 PM

Some good points there concerning the album and btw there is a third vocalist as well in James Young who on that album sings "Miss America" and if you ever get around to trying anymore Pieces of Eight, Paradise Theater and Kilroy Was Here are a must. Forget Cornerstone it's an average album (the one that contains Babe) but knowing your taste you might like it

As for The Grand Illusion I pretty much adore that album, especially the four track genius of "Come Sail Away" "Miss America" "Man in the Wilderness" and "Castle Walls" imo one of the best four track sequences to appear on any album, even though "You're All I've Got Tonight" "Bye Bye Love" "Moving in Stereo" and "All Mixed Up" by you know who could give it a run for its money.

At the end of the day the brilliance of Styx is wasted on you and I'm sure Anteater would agree with me

Should have my Utopia review up over the weekend.

Trollheart · 02-02-2014, 01:49 PM

C'mon guys! Get the lead out! This is officially the last day to be posting reviews. We'll give DJ a free pass as he's been locked out of his data, but surely the rest of you can get writing? Tom Waits for No-Man, y'know...

Anteater · 02-02-2014, 08:51 PM

Journey - Look Into The Future (1976)

One of the few late 70's American prog classics I was surprisingly unfamiliar with, this sophomore release from future AOR superstars Journey was certainly something I needed an excuse to explore...and I can only say thanks to Unknown Soldier for giving me that opportunity, because I really enjoyed this sucker from start to stop!

While Side B is where a lot of big meat was for me (the title cut, 'Midnight Dreamer', 'I'm Gonna Leave You'), there's some tasty hard rock gems to be found long before the title track, particularly the Schon-penned 'She Makes Me (Feel Alright)' and the rumbling, almost cosmic groove of 'Anyway'. Gregg Rolie is certainly a very different singer from Steve Perry, but he does such a great job all throughout this album that I'm rather curious where he might have taken the band into the 80's as lead singer if things had turned out just a little different. Guess we'll never know though eh?

Like Ambrosia's debut back '75 and Styx right around the same time, Journey's marriage of the Californian hard rock aesthetic with prog. and jazz-fusion explorations is never anything less than interesting...and the longer the songs got, the more it sinks in just how underrated this collection is. That's what I got out of it anyway.

9 out of 10

Unknown Soldier · 02-03-2014, 08:26 AM

Ra was always interesting as an album, as it was the first Utopia album that was truly a group effort instead of being a Todd Rundgren album in all but name. Utopia had largely been set-up by Todd Rundgren to allow another outlet for his progressive rock tendencies and he recruited some outstanding musicians in Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton and John Wilcox. The album was a highly ambitious concept piece, designed to show the strengths of each band member. Ra is not an album for everybody, but I'd say it was one of the finest examples of what a 'cinematic progressive rock album' should sound like as you'd expect from Todd Rundgren. So its grand and excessive in most aspects. Todd Rundgren's music was often complex and Ra is no exception. As an album I wouldn't call it a masterpiece but a rewarding listen to anybody with an open mind.

8 out of 10

Trollheart · 02-03-2014, 06:39 PM

Hate to do this guys but ... is this working? I'm seeing less conversation and debating about albums, and although this was my idea and I accept blame for it, I think I've screwed up. It's almost like we're now each in our own little listening cubicles listening to our album while someone else listens to something else, and there's no back-and-forth, no cut and thrust. We each review an album and that's it, on to the next, with no discussion.

Look at our reviews this time. With the exception of US's comments on Styx (and remember, these are his choices) nobody is talking. Should we go back to just doing the one album? I'm really not sure which way to go, but I tend to think that my way has fallen flat on its face, and rather than inject fresh interest into the club it's just isolated us from each other.

Opinions?
Ideas?
Comments?
Death threats?

Trollheart · 02-03-2014, 06:43 PM

... and he's back! Another (probably dumb) idea. Since I'm doing Progarchives top 100 Prog albums of 2013, would yiz be interested in following that? Like maybe all take album 100 and review it, give your comments and see if they tally with mine in the review in my thread? Some great albums in there, though admittedly they're all current, as in last year.

Anyone else with ideas shoot away: I'm just tossing out possibilities here, but I think we definitely need to get "back in the clubhouse" as it were and all start talking and discussing more together.

"Kum-ba-ya my lord, kum-ba-ya...."

Anteater · 02-03-2014, 07:10 PM

One idea that might be interesting is setting up a "prog room" over at plug.dj for a specific time/date, finding a full stream of the album we'd like the Prog Club to review, and listening through it together (or different streams of each individual song that comprises the album). Afterwards, we could all write up individual reviews based on our individual perception of the music and rate it accordingly.

This method gives us the opportunity to discuss the album track-by-track with commentary and encourages more Club-like interactions before we come back to this thread to review anything.

Trollheart · 02-03-2014, 08:28 PM

Sorry Ant, Plug does not interest me in the least, not to mention that we'd have problems with time differences and I like to listen to my albums in my own way. I just don't see that working for me at any rate...

Anteater · 02-03-2014, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Sorry Ant, Plug does not interest me in the least, not to mention that we'd have problems with time differences and I like to listen to my albums in my own way. I just don't see that working for me at any rate...

Oh come on mister grumpypants, it gives the club an excuse to be more interactive. It was a mere suggestion in any case: feel free to explore other methodologies.

01-29-2014, 02:06 PM	#591 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	The grand illusion --- Styx --- 1977 Unknown Soldier is always going on about how great Styx are, and to be honest I've never been able to agree or disagree, as I know very little of their output beyond the singles (which, as we all know, is quite often the worst way you can judge a band) and quite frankly have never felt the urge or need to get deeper into their discography, though I have it all somewhere here on my computer. This is their seventh album, their first real commercial success so far as I can see and the album that preceded by two the one on which they would have their biggest hit, the sugary ballad “Babe”, which took them to number one but forever after ensured they were pegged as a soft rock ballad band by anyone, including me, who did not know of the rest of their material. This is also the second album with mainstay Tommy Shaw and on it Styx continued the practice they had stared on 1976's “Crystal ball”, that of splitting the vocal duties between founder Dennis DeYoung and Shaw. There were two hit singles from the album, “Fooling yourself (The angry young man)” and the vastly superior in my opinion “Come sail away”, and this album began a cycle of hits and platinum albums for Styx which would take them through the latter half of the seventies and into the early eighties before a hiatus of seven years between “Kilroy was here” and “Edge of the century” would mark a slow decline in popularity, at least commercially, for the band, with their last proper offering coming all the way back in 2003. They're still shown as an active band, but I think at this point, with the two main members pursuing solo careers and nothing new on the horizon, you would have to consider Styx as a band to be a dead duck. But back in the seventies and eighties they could do no wrong, especially once this hit. I was more than a little surprised to find how proggy much of this album is (obviously I would expect it to be, given that this is the PRAC), with big squealing keyboard passages and fanfares from DeYoung but still enough raw guitar power from Shaw to make it seriously rock, especially on “Miss America”, where the close vocal harmonies owe more than a little to Queen. I really like “Come sail away”, particularly because it's one of those songs that fools you into thinking it's a ballad with its soft piano intro and gentle vocal, then about halfway through it kicks up and becomes a mid-paced rocker, while still retaining its original identity. Nice. There's a slow sort of southern boogie feel to “Man in the wilderness”, reminds me of Blackfoot, though I know they came later so I guess I should swing that around. Still, I heard Blackfoot first so to me it's how it sounds. Nice sort of flutey sound to it on the keys, and there's more than a hint of early Kansas in it too. Another one that treads the ballad line without tipping over into it. Good strong ending. Like the medieval organ and pulsing bass opening to “Castle walls”, very Asia-like keyboard middle section, oh so proggy! Good bit of Arena there too and of course the whole thing is very reminiscent of the Alan Parsons Project, especially on “The turn of a friendly card” which ... let me just check ... yeah, came out later BUT one of the lines in the lyric is “Far beyond these castle walls” and THAT, my friends, was the debut album for Chris de Burgh, released in 1974! Spooky! And, quite possibly, a little scary. As far as this album is concerned, it's damn good. A nice mix of prog and some straight-ahead rock with the odd bit of AOR thrown in for good measure. It doesn't really get going, for me, until about the third track, which is not to say the first two are bad, just didn't impress me that much. But does this make me suddenly want to break into a Styx binge? Do I feel like I've been missing out? Answer is no. But has it made me want to never check out another Styx album? Answer is also no. In conclusion, I would say I'm not going to end up as enamoured of this band as Unknown Soldier is, but I can see why he likes them. Whether this is their best album, or one they should be judged on only he can tell me, but as I said at the beginning this came first in a cycle of about five albums that seem to comprise Styx's “purple patch”, so I'd have to say it's a reasonable representation of what they could do, and what they were capable of. Rating: 7/10 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

02-02-2014, 01:49 PM	#593 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	C'mon guys! Get the lead out! This is officially the last day to be posting reviews. We'll give DJ a free pass as he's been locked out of his data, but surely the rest of you can get writing? Tom Waits for No-Man, y'know... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

02-03-2014, 06:39 PM	#596 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Hate to do this guys but ... is this working? I'm seeing less conversation and debating about albums, and although this was my idea and I accept blame for it, I think I've screwed up. It's almost like we're now each in our own little listening cubicles listening to our album while someone else listens to something else, and there's no back-and-forth, no cut and thrust. We each review an album and that's it, on to the next, with no discussion. Look at our reviews this time. With the exception of US's comments on Styx (and remember, these are his choices) nobody is talking. Should we go back to just doing the one album? I'm really not sure which way to go, but I tend to think that my way has fallen flat on its face, and rather than inject fresh interest into the club it's just isolated us from each other. Opinions? Ideas? Comments? Death threats? __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

02-03-2014, 06:43 PM	#597 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	... and he's back! Another (probably dumb) idea. Since I'm doing Progarchives top 100 Prog albums of 2013, would yiz be interested in following that? Like maybe all take album 100 and review it, give your comments and see if they tally with mine in the review in my thread? Some great albums in there, though admittedly they're all current, as in last year. Anyone else with ideas shoot away: I'm just tossing out possibilities here, but I think we definitely need to get "back in the clubhouse" as it were and all start talking and discussing more together. "Kum-ba-ya my lord, kum-ba-ya...." __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

02-03-2014, 08:28 PM	#599 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Sorry Ant, Plug does not interest me in the least, not to mention that we'd have problems with time differences and I like to listen to my albums in my own way. I just don't see that working for me at any rate... __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018