As noted on The Grand Illusion, Styx were my favorite contemporary act as a 12 year old. Going into my first year as an teenager, they also represented the first band I began to deep dive on. I believe Styx II was the second full length for me to own/hear.
About 18 years ago I wrote the following (after acquiring the CD comp): "Styx II, the album famous for spawning ‘Lady’, starts to show the band tighten up their sound and composition structure. The first three tracks are awesome (including ‘Lady’) and features their best “pure prog” tune with the eight minute 'A Day'. They don't sustain the momentum though. Each early Styx album has at least one hideous woofer, where they try to show that they can play old style 50’s rock and roll, and Styx II is no exception. The band were too diverse for their own good in the early years. ‘Lady’ didn’t become a hit until 1975 just after the release of their 5th album Equinox. From there they skyrocketed into the mainstream."
Yea, exactly that. Typical unfocused early Styx release. But it does include John Curulewski's greatest contribution to the group which would be 'A Day', a wonderful drifty melancholic proggy number. 'Lady' is a beautiful song, and the A&R guys missed the boat originally. That track would also predict their future. In the end, not really a great work overall, and arguably the worst of their original quartet of albums. But I'm not selling it at this point.
Ownership: LP: 1973 Wooden Nickel. Single sleeve version with an RE on the bottom right. Technically a repress, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was really pressed in 1975 (after 'Lady' became a hit) but Discogs has '73. I think I got this at K-Mart in North Dallas (Forest and Inwood) in 1978. I bought a lot of records there. Remember - I was pretty much hamstrung by where my mom (or dad) was going. I'm lucky she let me buy records at all honestly, as she was pretty religious, especially during this era. The store is long, long gone. It was near a very rich area of Dallas, so it's target audience was gone by the 80s. Mom loved the store, but it was a distant drive from our humble neighborhood far to the west.
CD: 2005 Hip-O Select (The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings). As I stated on the Man of Miracles review: "Awesome - features two discs that encapsulates their four 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 CD up of all things to buy." Considerably different - then - from my 2021 LP haul of rare prog and electronic (at good prices too). But in 2005 I wasn't doing much crate digging and it seemed that all LPs were too expensive at the used stores. I'm sure I missed out on some gems, even then.
1978; 5//05; 11/12/23 (new entry)
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