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"Pieces of Eight, was about not giving up your dreams just for the pursuit of money and material possessions." (Dennis DeYoung).
"Pieces Of Eight" is the meeting point between prog and pop.
For Styx, one of those typical music groups that throughout their career managed to touch both the pinnacle of musical sophistication and the most absurd clichés. The 1978 album is perhaps the true culmination, the greatest masterpiece a band can create and give, offering their heart and emotions to the audience.
"Pieces Of Eight" has the fortune of being released during the band's golden age, proudly following the well-deserved platinum album "The Grand Illusion," and surpassing it significantly on the emotional level. The album exudes elegance and royalty and interweaves its notes of aggressiveness with sweet yet complex spaces of tranquility.
DeYoung’s synthesizer takes the spotlight in almost all instrumental sections, while Shaw's guitars seem to mainly take on the role of directing the drums and bass through various irregular tempos. Enhancing everything are the fantastic voices, accompanied by the impressive choirs that follow the music with indescribable skill. The album opens with engaging aggressiveness in "Great White Hope": a fake audience cheering the band’s acts, an explosion of sounds created by instruments that seem to go wild as the skilled guitarist and singer James Young screams with all his might, with his vehement voice sounding choked. More relaxed is "I'm O.K", where the undisputed protagonist is the Hammond organ, followed nonetheless by the prevailing synthesizer solo. In this track, the first prog influences are audible, mainly due to the guitar breaks and organ interludes.
On the same rock-symphonic line is the exceptional "Sing For The Day", which I would dare to define as a brilliant song, introduced by a catchy synth melody and a very good vocal line by Tommy Shaw reminiscent of Kansas, while the chorus returns to purely Styx style, maximized by the choir's sound. Serving as a bridge, "The Message", all synth, introduces "Lord Of The Rings", which is very, very likely inspired by the book of the same name: the song is energetic and almost anguished, with the bass interweaving astonishingly with the keyboards; the genius part of the song remains the instrumental interlude: here we are dealing with pure progressive, neither taking away nor adding to the great masters of the genre. From one masterpiece, it transitions to another without respite: "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" is a powerful piece that knows how to excite and move at the same time, and once again makes clear why this group is often associated with Kansas in style: at certain parts, it feels almost like hearing Steve Walsh (Tommy Shaw's voice is indeed very similar).
Finally, we can talk about a somewhat sweet piece with "Queen Of Spades", but only briefly: after a tender and delicate interlude, this song also reveals its more aggressive sides. "Renegade" is yet another flirtation with prog, and I would say the result is more than welcome: it once again underscores the greatness of the album and the musicians. As the album draws closer to its end, the emotions tend to increase ever more, certainly with the title track "Pieces Of Eight", in which the undisputed vocal leader Dennis DeYoung delivers an extraordinary vocal performance, followed by immense choirs once again, that make tears flow by the gallons!
With melancholy, we reach the last piece "Aku Aku", a very sad and decidedly intense instrumental, which gradually fades away, gently leaving us to ourselves and our solitude.
An album that you truly never want to end, a masterpiece that can even make one forgive the choice of the horrible cover art.
All this is "Pieces Of Eight".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Great White Hope (04:23)
(intro)
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Ladies and Gentlemen your attention please,
In this corner, wearing white, from the city of the big shoulders,
The number one contender in a ten-round exhibition for your entertainment.
So, when the bell sounds, prepare yourselves for the main event."
When I was a young man, I had to kick and scratch and claw
Now it's like top gun in the Old West, everybody wants me to draw
If I had known it would be like this I might have given it a second thought
But if someone had told me to give it up, it's a line that I wouldn't have bought
(Chorus)
Look at me
I'm the great white hope
Can't you see
I'm up against the ropes
Don't you know
It's so hard to cope
When you feel
Like the great white hope
Now you've paid your money you're sitting in your ringside seat
And I know that some of you out there, might wanna see the champ get beat
If I had known it would be like this I might have given it a second thought
But real life sure isn't like school, there's some lessons that just can't be taught
Chorus
02 I'm Okay (05:44)
Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Eight, Skate, Seven on the Rotate!
If I could stand
Beside myself
Would I see me or maybe someone else
'Cause it's hard to please
Most everyone
When your spirit's got you on the run, on the run
They say do your best
But don't cause a fuss
Don't make waves be like the rest of us
But I can feel the tide is turning fast
'Cause deep inside I know that I can't last
Another day
Not another day!
'Cause I'm O.K.
I finally found the person I've been searching for
I'm alright
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure
'Cause I believed them when they said I must do things their way,
They tried to cast me in their mold
But I just had to say,
That I'm O.K.
I'm O.K. this way yes I'm O.K. Yes I'm OK!
I'm O.K.
I finally found the person I've been searching for (everybody sing now!)
I'm alright
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure (whoo!)
I'm O.K.
I finally found the person I've been searching for (yahoo!)
I'm alright
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure
I'm O.K.
I'm feeling good about myself and that's for sure
I'm alright
I'm O.K. this way yes I'm OK!
03 Sing for the Day (05:01)
Hannah you're with me in spirit wherever I go
To the ends of the earth and all points between high and low
Each night by the stage you appear as you are
The ever intangible child
Ageless and timeless as Dorian Grey
Oh Hannah I know that it's you and you're leading me on
Hannah you're my inspiration my fountain of youth
And as your surrogate leader I'm bound in your search for the truth
And yes how the truth rushes out
When it's become honestly clear
I see your anxious and curious eyes
But Hannah I need you as much as you think you need me
Come to your window tonight and we'll fly to your dreams
And we'll
Sing for the day sing for the moment
Sing for the time of your life
Come for an hour stay for a moment
Stay for the rest of your life
Hannah don't fail me I need you like never before
Father time's at my back on my heels
Behind every door (and he says)
Son when the youth has but gone from your face
Will she let you grow older with grace?
Or will she give you up for one younger than you?
Oh Hannah please tell me the things that he says are untrue
Hannah I'm honestly hoping you'll always be there
Sing for the day sing for the moment
Sing for the time of your life
Come for an hour stay for a moment
Stay for the rest of your life
05 Lords of the Ring (04:35)
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the music in their story
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the lands of ancient glory
In the year of the Lords
The message came from above
The heavens opened with their mighty sound
that shook the people in the town
And so we came from everywhere
The young and old the rich and poor
To hear the legend of the magic ring
and of the powers it could bring, they sing
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the music in their story
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery it brings
May we someday wear its glory
And now the message is clear
As I became a Lord this year
And though the legend was pure fantasy
We still need the hope it brings, so let's sing
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To believe is a wonderous thing
May we always sing their glory
All hail to the Lords of the Ring
To the magic and mystery they bring
To the promise in their story
07 Queen of Spades (05:41)
Written by James Young/Dennis DeYoung
Lead Vocals by Dennis DeYoung
Day into night she's with me
How sweet is her warm embrace
Safe in the scent of jasmine
So safe in her gold and lace
Mornings I find, she's left me
So cold so alone, but aware
I try to escape, she finds me
Oh run though I may, she's there, there, there, there, there...
Luck is a lady whose smile is as cold as a stone
She'll bring you things, many things you might never have known
But when your die is cast she'll have the final laugh at you
She'll lock you in a duel, where you come out the fool
Beware of the Queen of Spades
Her black widow's curse might find you yet
Beware of a love that you will regret
Her love means only your death
Day into night she's with me
Turn of a card, she's there
The first time is free, you know
But from now on, pay me, me, me, me, me... (Ha Ha Ha You Lose)
Beware of the Queen of Spades
Her black widow's curse might find you yet
Beware of a love that you will regret
Her love means only your death
08 Renegade (04:17)
Oh mamma I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home
Oh mamma I can hear you a-crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up the news is out they've finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This will be the end today of the wanted man
Oh mamma I've been years on the lam and had a high price on my head
Lawman said get him dead or alive now it's for sure he'll see me dead
Dear mamma I can hear you crying you're so scared and all alone
Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long
The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
The judge'll have revenge today on the wanted man
(face melting guitar solo)
Oh Mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Hangman is coming down from the gallows And I don't have very long
The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me
The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today of the wanted man
09 Pieces of Eight (04:44)
It's six o'clock
Good morning sounds are everywhere
The warmth of spring, a gentle breeze blows through my hair
I hurry through my life never stopping to see
How beautiful it was meant to be
I'm just a prisoner in a king's disguise
Broken dreams as we shuffle by
It's six o'clock it's quitting time I'm done for the day
Out on the streets I overheard a lady say
We now have everything or so people say
But now this emptiness haunts me every day
We seek the lion's share never knowing why
Come alive spread your wings and fly
Pieces of eight
The search for the money tree
Don't cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
Can't buy you everything
Don't let it turn your heart to stone
(instrumental)
Pieces of eight
The search for the money tree
Don't cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
Treasures filled with emptiness
Don't let it turn your heart to stone
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