It is not very common that when an artist puts out a great album, they follow it up with another great album. There are many examples where this has come close, but usually one album is usually slightly better than the other. But this is exactly what Styx accomplished in 1977 and 78. In 1977, they put out the iconic album "The Grand Illusion," which I talked about a couple of months ago in a previous post. A year later, they followed it up with the release of "Pieces of Eight," which is another iconic album equally as brilliant as the first.
Like its predecessor, "Pieces of Eight" has some great hard rocking tunes like "Renegade" and "Great White Hope" as well as some more progressive rock tracks like "I'm OK," "Sing for the Day" and "The Message" and then combine both elements in tracks like "Blue Collar Man." Of course the other tracks are strong too and takes this album out of the shadow of "The Grand Illusion" and put it on an equal standing with it.
Track Listing:
1. Great White Hope
2. I'm OK
3.Sing for the Day
4. The Message
5. Lords of the Ring
6. Blue Collar Man
7. Queen of Spades
8. Renegade
9 Pieces of Eight
10. Aku Aku
Styx:
Dennis DeYoung- keyboads, synthesisers, pipe organ, vocals
James Young- guitars, vocals
Tommy Shaw- guitars, mandolin, vocals
Chuck Panozzo- bass, vocals
John Panozzo- drums, vocals
With "Pieces of Eight," Styx accomplished what many acts have never been able to do. That is follow a great album up with another. It all takes me back to the time when this album defied the disco craze and gave us some great music to listen to.
Next post: Queen- News of the World
To buy Rock And Roll Children, go to www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/RockAndRollChildren.html
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