Ranking the Studio Albums: Styx

greetings everyone P Pardo here from Co tranquility welcome to another edition of ranking the studio albums today we're going to look at the studio output of u.s. rock act : what you want hard rock band sometimes prog bands sometimes pop band all together really really great band as far as I'm concerned sticks alright so this is just the studio albums these are not live albums not compilations not covers albums just the live albums so we're gonna start as i always do from my least-favorite to my absolute favorite I would say with sticks I like a good chunk of their discography quite a bit there's a couple albums that are real spotty in my opinion that have their own share of really strong Tunes but kind of spotty albums those are the ones you're gonna hear about first so you know of course the the objective of these shows to just kind of talk about the band and the albums and to get your rankings as well okay because of course these are just my rankings these are how I rank them we all hear things differently so the most important thing is that we talk about the band talked about the album's and why we love the ones we love so much right so let's get started I'm gonna start off at the bottom of the barrel again not an awful album but not a great album either edge of the century one of their nineties albums okay this one that here is without Tommy Shaw this is with glen burtnik in the band handful of gray of strong tracks a handful of poppy kind of bad but you know for those who like the kind of the ballads and the pop stuff the band did you know a couple pretty popular tunes on here right but you know show me the way and a couple others but for me I very rarely reach for this one for me it's my least favorite of all the Styx albums okay but a couple strong tunes on there alright next I'm going to go with Kilroy Was Here you know a concept album that probably could have been a hell of a lot better but I think Dennis DeYoung wanted to do kind of like a real kind of cheesy glitzy Broadway style presentation really did not work so well here a couple songs that I kind of like you know heavy metal poisoning is a pretty fun tune I think what else cold war I kind of dig you know don't let it end I guess it's a good pop song them mr. Roboto kind of real cheesy but kind of fun I don't know it's just for whatever reason another one of those stick sounds that I just don't reach for too much I like a couple tracks on it the rest of it yeah I don't know I think this it was becoming more about the Dennis DeYoung show at that point and the rest of the guys were kind of you know trying to figure out hey is this a direction we want to be in right next up I'm gonna go with brave new world all right here we have kind of like the reunion of the classic lineup of the band back again decent album okay maybe not classic Styx but you know you got Tommy back in the band and you know Dennis is still here and all the other guys you know jy company you know there's some this probably suffers a little bit from too many tracks but I do think there's enough on here to make it a pretty enjoyable album selmak not bad at all I actually like the sound better this is cyclorama this was the last studio album for a long time up until the recent mission from a couple years ago and I remember when this first came out I was like you know yeah it's okay and then I kind of really never listened to it much I have in recent years started to revisit this album quite a bit and actually I think it's a pretty strong album yeah for all you folks who were like you know sorry no sticks with that Dennis DeYoung well you know what I think they do a fine job on here with Adam I think this this is a you know basically a Tommy jy and company album obviously some good rock tunes on here I got a lot of cool Styx harmonies we know and love you know Lawrence Gowens got a nice presence on here as well I just think it's a really good Styx hard rock album okay strong in my opinion next up I'm gonna go with paradise theater okay probably their last pretty strong album from the eighties I think because I think he'll Roy is a sway step down from this I think there's plenty to love on this album I was into this quite a bit when I saw them I tried so hard to see him on this tour I'm like my father cuz this was I mean I was not even driving yet when this came out and I remember my father was like you know what if you really want to go see sticks they're playing and at the Meadowlands and you're East Rutherford New Jersey if you want to go I'll buy us tickets I'll take you and I'll go with you and I was like really Saturday night it's like cool so we went Saturday morning when tickets went on sale to ticketron remember ticketron you actually had to go and wait online to buy a ticket there was no ordering online all that kind of stuff this way pre-internet and I remember we got like five or six people up to where our you know to getting up there to the to the clerk to the teller and they're like sorry tickets are all gone we're like oh we've been there all morning I was I was pretty devastated because I really wanted to see sticks because I was really into it at the time you know very early 80s here but again some some strong stuff on here you know too much time on my hands is a great tune snowblind that bunch of strong tunes on here I like this album all right next up I'm gonna go a cornerstone again an album when it first came out I was really into and you know what forget babe I know most of us never need to hear that song again but a huge hit for the band but a lot of really other strong tracks I absolutely love lights and you got Eddie and the borrowed time a lot of boat on the river a lot of really really strong strong cuts on this album you know Never Say Never such a great song yeah always been a big fan of this album and I can thank my my cousins Linda Ann for turning me on to this band back in the like late 70s I remember this first came out they're like you got to hear this you got to hear this and they'd like turn me on to this grand illusion and Pieces of Eight all like right around the same time I was like oh life forever change right there so I'm a big fan next up I'm gonna go with the debut okay cheesy album cover and I think the original LP different cover on it I don't know I only have the CD issue here which is a pretty lame but you know what I like all that kind of early Wooden Nickel stuff I think it's really good the band kind of trying to figure out like what direction they were gonna go in they're kind of hard rock and prog a little bit of pop here you know you got the with the the opening kind of like classical rock movement alright movement for the common man what do you got right away what has come between us best thing you know a couple of really good tracks on here I think Creek is the beat of my heart you know early early stuff no Tommy Shaw here of course john corlett ski on coldy guitar with JYJ why sings a lot of the lead vocals on those first couple albums you know him and Dennis DeYoung and mr. C band still trying to find their way but still a really good I think hardrock proggy album next up I'm gonna go with I'm sorry that was uh yeah that's first excel sticks to it's the next one I think this is stronger I think each album early in their career they would start to get a little better you know this has got their first big hit lady on it dynamite song father OSA Earl of Roseland you know a lot of really strong tracks on here you need love some boogie rockers you know hard rock stuff a little bits of prog I dig this out as I do you know all their early stuff alright next up I'm gonna go with their latest album the mission this to me was one of the greatest kind of return to form or just kind of comeback albums in recent memory you know specifically from a band that hadn't released a studio album in a long period of time you know like five 10 years at least I think this is dynamite it's a concept album alright and you say what you want at the lyrical content it's kind of like hokey sci-fi stuff created by Tommy Shaw but I don't care the tunes are memorable Tunes rock the little bits of pop that's on here are just absolutely addicting there's plenty of prog on here just so many great songs locomotive god what else radio silence absolutely love radio silence what a hook to that song red storm just absolutely kills just top to bottom it's not a long album so like maybe 35 minutes long I wish it was longer I'm hoping they have another studio while I'm left in them if this is to judge by I mean just so good the guys sound great playing great I really really liked the sound a lot like it a lot alright next up and I got this on a two-on-one so I'm gonna tell you which order we're gonna go here so I am gonna go with manna miracles which is basically that guy right there okay I'm going with that one next you know rock and roll feeling it did the tunes that that bookend the album rock and roll feeling which is a really good hard rock and boogie song and the title track man of miracles are so good and there's a bunch of really strong things in between but I just I like that this album a lot okay again a couple tunes like a lot of the early albums you know a couple really great tunes and a couple clunkers but still a pretty strong album I'm gonna go the next album after that okay well actually I went the wrong order there sorry guys so man and miracles is actually going to be my favorite of the two here serpent is rising is actually going to be the one coming up after after the mission okay so and again you know white wolf young man young man's a kick-ass tomb the serpent is rising crack its ow both of these albums are pretty similar and pretty almost equally as good so that's why I found it kind of easy just to kind of rank them next to each other right but I'm gonna go with the first one serpent is rising and the next one close to the top is Amanda miracles alright next and these these were like set in stone before I even have to do this this these were like no doubters crystal ball is gonna be up next I'm a huge fan of crystal ball Tommy shows first album with the band you know Mademoiselle killer killer song Claire la lune ballerina no killer killer epic song what else we got Jennifer the title track crystal ball one my favorite stick songs of all time you know just the old man it's there really really really strong album a great release with a brand new important member like if you go look at Rock history where a band got an injection of new blood and that new blood turned out to be someone really really important to the band that's one of like the best debuts with an important new member in rock history for me love it alright next up I'm gonna go with what I got in the shirt so sorry if I think some of you guys out know Equinox is not my favorite but it's near the top Equinox killer album killer album sweet Madame blue come on light up Lorelei mother dear lonely child midnight ride for crying out loud born for adventure a really strong album okay if it wasn't for the next two this would definitely be my favorite sticks out but the next two and again you know and I kind of agonized I've been doing this for a couple of years now you know I Stix has been a band that I've always loved since I was a kid but I've even as I've gotten older I've started to appreciate them even mid even more and most people who you talk to about sticks and about what their favorite Styx album is generally debate these two these next two and over the course of my life being a Styx fan I have these two have flip-flopped favorite second favorite favorite second favorite so many times I can't even tell you but I think where I'm at here in 2020 I go by which one I listen to more now okay and while I think that there's a couple of tracks on pieces of eight which is my number two that I probably like better than maybe anything on the grand illusion I think the grand illusion I listen to more and I think top to bottom for me it's a stronger out because every cut is just so great but there's a couple on here that I mean my favorite song of all time my Stix is on this out so grand illusion is my number two favorite album by them you know it's got great white hope I'm okay sing for the day Lord of the Rings I mean come on Queen of Spades is my favorite song of all time by kiss I mean I kiss I think I've done that before in a previous Styx show I've said kiss instead of sticks sorry blue-collar man obviously a classic you know renegade obviously a classic the title track pieces of H is absolutely spectacular a killer album a killer album that for any of you who say that that's your favorite Styx album hey it was mine for so many years and you know a couple months now it might be again I don't know but today I'm gonna go with the grand illusion just for me this is Styx is full-on prog album okay and there's just great songwriting on here irresistible Meli's the instrumentation is just stellar you know the title track grand illusion fooling yourself okay you know super stars Miss America castle walls castle walls is killer what a prog epic that is alright man in the wilderness the grand finale and of course you know everybody's favorite Styx anthem come sail away just for me it's my number one but those are the couple are damn good too so let's recap my list starting from number one going all the way to yet so number one the grand illusion number two pieces of eight number three Equinox number four crystal ball number five mana miracles number six the serpent is rising number seven the mission number eight sticks to number nine sticks number ten cornerstone number eleven paradise theater number twelve Cyclorama number thirteen brave new world number fourteen Kilroy and number fifteen we're gonna go with edge of this tree okay so there you have it again I want to hear how you rank the sticks albums studio discography let it go down below alright what's your favorite what's your top five what's your top ten or rank well fifteen of them whatever floats your boat so hopefully enjoyed this little trip down Styx memory lane I always like talking about Styx this was fun so business on the web at www.mayfirm.com up this weekend well all the shows that I have planned this weekend will all my guest hosts have all had to be postponed every single one of them so that's what happens right so look for all the the cool program that was going to do with Butch Jones Chris allo and Mike Antonelli in the weeks to come just not happen on this weekend all right it happens guys so but tomorrow got a great show for you tomorrow I'm gonna do ranking the albums rush and their studio albums so that is coming tomorrow you don't want to miss that I don't think I have anything else coming tomorrow we'll see I might pop something else in tomorrow we'll see but so stay tuned for that and we'll see you real soon take care bye bye

Channel: Sea of Tranquility

Views: 41,707

Keywords: styx

Id: P_024psou5U

Length: 16min 30sec (990 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 25 2020