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Anteater · 08-28-2015, 09:48 PM

03. Styx - Equinox (1975)

Well....long story short folks, Equinox is an insanely important album in regards to AOR. Until this point, Styx was considered to be a purely "art-rock" outfit with a bit more groove than your typical band at this point in the 70's, and nobody thought they had much of a future at the time. With this album, however, the shift into more commercial territory with a bigger emphasis on catchy, pompish synth breaks and catchy guitar leads erupted on radio at the time with lead single 'Lorelei', which quickly soared to the Top 30 and brought Dennis DeYoung and co. some much needed exposure. You could see the eyes of the folks at A&M projecting dollar signs onto the nearest wall when this thing went Gold, lol!

And while most of us know that particular song, the rest of the tunes don't slouch none either. In fact, you can hear arena rock being formulated as a genre here, the beginnings of something that a few crossover records around the same time were starting to grab onto (such as Queen's A Night At The Opera). Accessible, yet grandiose and absolutely riveting in a live setting once you throw in a few extended drum and guitar solos.

For all intents and purposes therefore, this was the start of the American butt rock revolution. You can hear it in the key-soaked uppercut of 'Light Up', the ELP-gone-bar-band riffage of 'Midnight Ride', and even a more elaborate, delicious form of what would become the power ballad in fan favorite 'Suite Madame Blue', a proggy little journey that deals with the ideal vs reality conundrum of the American Dream for the skeptical and idealistic alike.

If you like important albums and are looking for a good starting point to get into Styx chronologically, this is a very impressive album. If you also love AOR in general though, I think this is essential listening and a good entry place for the snobby progheads who don't believe in pop sensibility or having fun.