I think to fully appreciate Styx's debut, one has to immerse themselves into the era from which they came. As I've mentioned a few times prior, while England and Europe had full blown progressive rock scenes operating in the early 70s, America's labels didn't support it. Couldn't see the commercial value. Album rock was an English thing. Singles are where it's at! This mindset prevailed despite massive sales going to English bands thriving in that market. It isn't like progressive rock didn't exist on these shores, it's that they were 4 to 5 years behind the curve. There were meager attempts (commercially speaking that is) by awesome groups that remain unfairly obscure such as Ram, Polyphony, and Sanctuary. But they were few and far between. The mid to late 70s saw the grassroots prog movement here finally explode - to strictly local and regional audiences. Essentially the major labels missed the boat. Something they were careful not to replicate as the States were the leader in future musical endeavors, the various styles of heavy metal in particular comes to mind.
So back to Styx. Their debut was a fish out of water. A prog rock record released by an American band. Now it didn't help that Styx weren't really all that progressive to begin with. It's 1972, so you're up against Yes' Close to the Edge and Genesis' Foxtrot as but two examples of hundreds. It's miles less interesting than that. What Styx really did was predict the regional nature of such music here in America. They couldn't be more Chicago born even if they tried. Most folks were likely to discover Styx's debut after the fact, long after they were megastars. And in that scenario, they also fail, because this is a long way from their patented professional AOR / prog formula. Styx's debut is music for the local club set, not the arena.
With all of that in mind, were it a private press, or even a major label one-off flop, the album would have more underground fans. It's definitely charming. The lengthy opener 'Movement for a Common Man' has a lot of quality jams and songwriting. Besides, I heartily agree with the old codgers in 'Street Collage' lol. 'Best Thing' was their big bet on a hit. It's a really good song, but too heavy and dirty for 1972 pop rock. It's definitely an album rock cut. 'Quick is the Beat of My Heart' is another quality hard rock track. There's nothing weak on this debut, though it was hardly a bold statement going mightily forward. It sounds hedged primarily because Styx were never truly an all-out prog band. They were a Chicago bar band who extended their skills way beyond their peers. And it ultimately paid off.
Ownership: LP: 1972 Wooden Nickel. Single sleeve with a cool cover. I'm not sure how I obtained this. Memory had it I bought it new with the rest of the Styx back catalog back in 1977/1978. No way this would have been my original copy. Too used. The vinyl has fingerprints (something I never did even at 12 years old), and the markings aren't consistent with my older records that I bought new. Obviously I need to clean it lol. And the cover is also in worse shape than others from that era. I know I've had it forever, so I'm guessing I picked it up in college at a used store. In thinking about it, I had a buddy in the 7th grade that did buy this, and I don't recall liking it that much, so I never bought it back then. It would also explain why it's an original 1972 copy when there were repressing's readily available new by the late 70s, and all my copies were just that.
CD: 2005 Hip-O Select (The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings). As I stated on the Man of Miracles review: Awesome - features 2 discs that encapsulates their 4 album run on RCA's Wooden Nickel imprint. Comes with liner notes and full album details. Funny enough, this is another Baltimore connection item. I happened to be in town for business in 2005, and had a little time to visit the Sound Garden. Picked this up of all things.
1985; 7/19/22 (new entry)
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