References: Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. II—Columbia Record & Tape Club (again)—Johnny Rotten’s “I Hate Pink Floyd” T-shirt—Phantom of the Paradise—The Clash—Elvis Costello—The Jam—Prism—The Who—Rolling Stone Magazine—Tangerine Dream—Brian May—Vietnam—Ezekial
This is the big one, guys. This is the one I had as a kid; the Styx album I ordered through the Columbia Record and Tape Club (10 records for a buck!).
I was probably taking my cues from FM radio at the time, my much beloved/hated 92 CiTi FM (the station time forgot). The thing is, just about everything in that bundle I ordered—which, if I recall, also included albums by Kansas and Chicago—paled in comparison to the double-album set, Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2. I guess even as a 12- or 13-year-old I’d heard something about this guy Dylan, and was curious enough to include in my order (they sure weren’t playing him on 92). The dark horse, as it were.
Suffice it to say, I did not wear out the grooves of my The Grand Illusion album (or the Kansas or Chicago albums, for that matter). Still, I hadn’t learned to Hate the Other when it came to music; that would come later, with the discovery of punk. If Johnny Rotten strutted around with a home-made “I hate Pink Floyd” T-shirt, mine would have read (if I’d had the gumption to make one) “I hate Styx.”
Listening to The Grand Illusion, I’m tempted to think that I gravitated towards Dylan instead because it sounded more authentic to me. I’m not saying that Dylan’s music is objectively more authentic than that of Styx—that’s a debate for the bar—but that that’s how it felt. To me. As a 13-year-old, in his basement, in Winnipeg. Today, though, it sounds harmless enough—certainly not the music apocalypse I once viewed it as.
Side One of Styx’ seventh album, The Grand Illusion
“The Grand Illusion”—Love ’em or hate ’em, everything that makes Styx Styx is in this song; the (grand) pomposity, the wigged-out keyboards, Dennis DeYoung‘s over-the-topic vocals. But the words are actually somewhat thoughtful, something we’ll get to when we come to the “themes of the album” section.
“Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)”—Listening to this again I couldn’t help wonder if this was a response to the burgeoning punk rock movement, that from the perspective of an on-the-cusp prog-rock band out of Chicago might have looked threatening. (Apparently not—see notes on the album below). Anyway this song is a fun pop tune but maybe it goes on a little too long, although you can say that about nearly every Styx song.
“Superstars”—Big harmonies on this one. The lyrics are about what you’d expect from the title (“I’m your late-night fantasy”). DeYoung seems to be encouraging younger musicians in this one, though, which is kind of a cool sentiment, I guess. The rhythm is kind of this plodding funk beat. But then the tempo takes off for a brief instrumental break. Lots of melodic guitar playing (recent addition Tommy Shaw?). DeYoung also adds an ill-advised spoken-word part that sounds like it was rejected by Paul Williams for Phantom of the Paradise. Long fade-out on the harmonies blaring the chorus.
“Come Sail Away”—Ah, the song that cements their reputation in the annals of Yacht Rock. Anyway, you know this one—it starts with tinkling piano, and DeYoung’s voice is unmistakable as he sets out for “the virgin sea.” I think this song has its charms, in a very 1977 kind of way. (To put things in some kind of perspective, that year also saw the release of debut albums from The Clash, Elvis Costello, and The Jam). It’s six minutes long, the first two of which are intro, and then the song takes off like Canadian band Prism‘s “Spaceship Superstar” (released the same year). Hearing this while in COVID “social lockdown,” big anthemic tub-thumpers like this one make even more sense. Then there is the space-odyssey part, complete with some laser-ish sound effects, and then an extra walloping guitar comes in (think The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”) and the song slides into arena-rock heaven. The angels are singing. This song is also a reminder that this album sold boat-loads.
Side Two of The Grand Illusion, Styx’ triple-platinum 1977 album
“Miss America”—These guys never met a long pretentious intro they didn’t like. Still, after all the folderol, we get a decent rocker that recalls the band’s boogie-rock roots but has some added (if theatrical) bite. Its raunchy licks and the generic vocals mark it as a song written and sung by guitarist James Young. Charges of misogyny could apply, but giving the band the benefit of the doubt, maybe the whole thing is a metaphor for the U.S. (In fact Rolling Stone did make this charge, to which Young replied, “I was experiencing fame for the first time myself, and I had sympathy for what every Miss America experiences – that fleeting fame. Rolling Stone was completely wide of the mark.”)
“Man in the Wilderness”—And then the fun stops. The opening notes mark this one as a hash-influenced existential moper. It’s too bad, ‘cos up until this point the album had some momentum. But this song just drags it down into the muck below the misty mountain hop. It also gets your hopes up that guitarist Shaw, who wrote the song and takes the lead vocal, is going to sing “motherless child” after the line “Sometimes I feel like a.” Hopes are dashed repeatedly. A late-in-the-game guitar line and quirky prog riffage attempt to salvage things, but it’s just adding lipstick to a silk purse, or whatever that saying is.
“Castle Walls”—The third six-minute saga on this eight-song album. You know you’re in for a DeYoung history lesson, or something about a knight and a dragon. Sure enough, you get loads of imagery, mention of minstrels, set to organ, with a lullaby-like melody. The guitar comes in and yes, Game of Thrones fans, you’ve found your way back to Westeros. There’s also some Tangerine Dream-ish (or The Exorcist-ish) keyboards at the break, and some tribal tom drums. All that drops out and there’s just the bass, then the song’s melody played on compressed, layered electric guitar for a thick, full sound. Then a lead guitar solo, leading back into the chorus. There is a melodic hook in there. “Every man must meet his destiny,” DeYoung sings, and you can practically see the trucks backing up onto his suburban Chicago lawn to just dump bags of money onto it.
“The Grand Finale”—Repeats the chorus of “Superstars” then goes into “The Grand Illusion,” and bellies up to the bar with Queen‘s Brian May for the end-guitar part. A brief and acceptably pretentious way to end the album.
Fun facts about The Grand Illusion
• in a 2013 interview, Shaw said that he was inspired to write “Man in the Wilderness” after opening for Kansas in Detroit and watching the headliner’s set. The song is about Styx’s sudden rise in popularity, and Shaw’s brother, a tank commander in Quang Tri during the war in Vietnam. “It was a very difficult job and took its toll on his spirit for a long time. He’s a lot like me, and I could never imagine what it must have been like or how I would have handled it. Then to have it all be such a senseless chess game played by old men in Washington, D.C.—it was worthy of a mention in the song.”
• “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” is another Shaw song, apparently written about DeYoung (according to Wiki).
• according to Mitchell Jay on the blog Behind the Song, “Come Sail Away” contains references to the Bible verse of Ezekiel chapter 1:1-28 “where a large wheel/cloud (depending on text) appears to Ezekiel and gives him instructions from God.”
• citing the Styx episode of Behind the Music, Jay also says that Shaw and the band’s promo man Jim Cahill travelled to several U.S. stations “with bags of cocaine in an effort to get more airplay for this song.”
• Cartman has been known to sing “Come Sail Away” on South Park. This I did not know before researching this album, so already this time-consuming and some would say degrading project has paid for itself in knowledge.
• the album sold 3m copies in the U.S. alone.
• according to loudersound.com, The Grand Illusion is an “existentialist concept album, themed on the struggle for meaning in life in an increasingly consumerist society.”