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Originally Posted by Screen13
I will say something for Styx's first four - which at least included the song that pointed their way to their better known future in "Come Sail Away" on Styx 2 (I may not like all of their music, but a weaker band would have split after four little selling albums with the potential to move onto better known areas) - they tried (and I have tried to hear them out in fairness) but they did not stand out that well. I have said something a little positive about the title track to Crystal Ball in my review of the Roadie soundtrack as well. Getting back to the theme of this topic, hey had a little potential for being Prog, but we know how the story goes. I will never criticize their talents and their will to at least go into the higher ranks of US AOR (it took talent and the guts to go out there and win the audiences even in that area), but it was not my kind of brew of music.
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I don't even like their first four albums either and I only became a nut for the band from their fifth album Equinox which was the last to feature John Curulewski.
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To some, their history is kind of like Journey - Early days slightly Jazz influenced Album Rock that was mainly instrumental/Steve Perry years;Styx were the John Curulewski-Wooden Nickel Years/Tommy Shaw years.
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There are certain similarities between the two and the most obvious was the injection of new members Tommy Shaw in Styx and Steve Perry in Journey, as Tommy Shaw gave the band that much needed spark and Steve Perry gave Journey that commercial appeal and a LEAD VOCALIST.
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Just to let those asking about one of Styx's original members in the know, he turned more to his family (I'm sure being in a then-under performing band helped his decision without knowing how far they were going to go - it's an understandable choice within a life choice with very uncertain career success rate) and actually saved some time to teach guitar in the Chicago area and was active in it's local music scene. He passed away in 1988.
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............ along with John Panozzo another original. Whenever I think of John Curulewski I always think of this amazing song, one of his few solo credits.
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Just wanted to pass another name around:
There was one other IL band that could be called "Crossover Progressive" in these modern days of multi genre name calling - Gabriel Bondage. They were not that great, but I did come across an album of theirs which was OK. Sadly, they sounded more influenced than original with a couple of bits VERY close to a couple of ELP's songs. They had the skills (if certainly not the name) to move into the AOR arena like Styx, but they faded away after a couple of independently produced albums, possibly into other areas of music.
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Never heard of Gabriel Bondage but they sound right up my street, so have made a note of them.
As for classifying Styx, it's a hard challenge. I'd actually say they evolved in the following sequence: Prog rock, pomp rock, AOR to concept rock, even though Tommy Shaw wanted to turn them more into a more outright hard rock band, whilst Dennis De Young was always more inclined to tow the concept line and had a strong eye of pop, it made for a great creative tussle between the two and in my opinion it's what made the band great.
Have you heard Tommy Shaw's first solo album? It's one of my favs from the early to mid 1980s.