Styx
Pieces Of Eight

THE REVIEW

"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".