STYX
Styx is an American rock band from Chicago that became famous for its albums from the mid-1970’s and early 1980’s. They are best known for melding the style of pop rock with the power of hard-rock guitar, strong ballads and elements of international musical theater. Styx is best known for the hit songs “Lady” (#6, 1973), “Come Sail Away” (#8, 1977), “Babe” (#1, 1979), “The Best of Times” (#3, 1981), “Too Much Time on My Hands” (#9, 1981), and “Mr. Roboto” (#3, 1983). The band has four consecutive albums certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. (More from Wikipedia)
While in my 20’s (in the late 1970’s), I got to know three brothers in Raleigh; and the youngest of them was really into music. Unlike the last time, when I was still in high school, I was a little more grown up; I still didn’t really take notes, but I would often buy records by some of these bands. The bands that he introduced me to include the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind, still two of my all-time favorite groups; Styx; Be-Bop Deluxe; and Kraftwerk.
(March 2010)
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There is a long article on Trillion in Allmusic (by Eduardo Rivadavia) that starts off: “For every American progressive rock band that found increasing success on commercial radio during the second half of the ’70s – Journey, Styx, Kansas, etc. -- there were additional dozens possessing the same sonic recipe for infectious bombast but which, for some reason or other, just never made the grade, including Trillion.” It is hard to know why some albums grab listeners and others do not, but clearly, no one has the formula figured out yet.
Trillion had the good fortune to land some co-billings with major bands of the day, such as Styx, Heart and Aerosmith; and they had a striking cover as well, with what appears to be a three-headed snow leopard coming out of the top of a mountain. However, their 1978 debut album, Trillion sold only modestly.
An interesting thing about progressive rock bands is that most of them did not hit the ball out of the park with their first album, the way that King Crimson and Boston did. As I noted in my last post, the first hit songs for Yes came on their third album, The Yes Album. Journey didn’t make any real noise on the music scene until vocalist Steve Perry joined up for the fourth album, Infinity. The breakthrough album for Styx, The Grand Illusion was their seventh album. Leftoverture was the album that put Kansas on the map, their fourth album. With Trillion though, the band was never given the opportunity to develop an audience or to refine their sound.
Fergie Frederiksen has enjoyed a long, prosperous and highly varied career in music. Frederiksen was asked by his friend Tommy Shaw to replace him as lead singer in a band called MSFunk, the final permutation of the Smoke Ring that had formed from the combination of two earlier bands from Norfolk, Nebraska dating back to as early as 1959, Little Joe & the Ramrods and the Strollers. Tommy Shaw had been asked to join Styx, where he became one of their key bandmembers up to the present day.
(October 2012)
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But most of the albums in Ernie Guyton’s birthday present to me I did not have. He included Styx’s second album, Styx II, that I quite enjoy; and The Best of Bread (by Bread) reminded me again that soft rock can be quite delicious. The original My Fair Lady (featuring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews) was another treat; I was also delighted to notice in small letters “Not for Sale” on the white label, meaning that it was a promotional LP. Thus, although this LP was a big seller and is quite common, this gives the album some collector’s value. The reason is that, besides being rarer than the commercial or record-club releases, promotional and DJ albums were the first ones manufactured; and the quality tends to be a little better.
(November 2012)
