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(More customer reviews)I did not own a single Styx album until recently - which is odd because the group was highly popular during the late 1970s/early 1980s when I was a teen (all 80s teens liked Styx right?). My suspicion is that it may have had something to do with the fact that I was a Yes and Pink Floyd freak at the time and was unyieldingly provincial in my listening habits, although it may have been a subconscious observance of what I refer to as the "Styx stigma". For whatever reason, I am sorry I waited this long because The Grand Illusion (1977) rocks like nobody's business and Styx is a darn good band. As a huge fan of progressive rock (I am still a raving Yes-head), the whole package appeals to me on many levels: soaring three and four part vocal harmonies by excellent high tenors; super Hammond organ work; blazing Rick Wakeman-esque Moog (synth) solos; great synthesizer tones; dynamic acoustic/hard rock contrasts; agile ensemble work (all of the musicians are very good); and to top it all off, wonderful harmonic and melodic development. Mix in the heavily distorted guitar of Led Zeppelin along with the thunderous and tight rhythm section of Deep Purple and the blueprint for The Grand Illusion is pretty much drawn out. Although superficially similar, this album is light-years ahead of previous works such as Equinox (1975) and Crystal Ball (1976). In spite of the fact that those albums are very good (and recommended) they do not exhibit the compositional sophistication of The Grand Illusion. This is wonderful and crisply produced progressive hard rock and certainly provides me with a great deal of enjoyment - after all isn't that what rock is all about? All in all, this is an engaging and superb album, a heck of a lot of fun to listen to, and is highly recommended along with Pieces of Eight (1978). For those new Styx fans (like me) that enjoy this band and want to explore other progressive hard rock bands, the album Point of Know Return (Kansas, 1977) might also prove enjoyable.
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Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this album.SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2009.--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.
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