An act having a hit single that only charts years after its original release is not an uncommon tale. Aerosmith experienced it with \u201cDream On,\u201d and Styx had their own brush with this phenomenon when \u201cLady\u201d got its second wind after they had released their fourth album Man Of Miracles<\/i> two years later.<\/p>\n
Styx II<\/i>, their sophomore effort, was the first time the members of the band wrote the majority of the songs on the album, and this works as both a blessing and a curse for Styx. Depending on who wielded the pen, you either got something fantastic or something less than stellar.<\/i><\/p>\n
The disc opens up with a powerful one-two punch of \u201cYou Need Love\u201d (a song that, honestly, had the power to be a hit single had the fates smiled upon it) and \u201cLady.\u201d \u201cYou Need Love\u201d features a powerful vocal performance from James \u201cJ.Y.\u201d Young, and easily lays the groundwork for what Styx would release over the course of the \u201970s and into the \u201980s.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cLady\u201d is a song that doesn\u2019t need much fawning over, having ingrained itself onto AOR stations over the course of 50 years. Doesn\u2019t matter, really; it\u2019s a great love song that still maintains its power today.<\/i><\/p>\n
The first signs of trouble come with the next two tracks, both written and sung by guitarist John Curulewski. \u201cA Day\u201d just seems atypical of what Styx had done to that point, or what they would do; it\u2019s just too trippy of a number to fit their style. And while \u201cYou Better Ask\u201d fares a bit better, it still doesn\u2019t quite have the muscle needed to maintain the equilibrium the album had going into those tracks.<\/i><\/p>\n
Keyboardist\/vocalist Dennis DeYoung\u2019s dip into the world of Bach, \u201cLittle Fugue In \u2018G\u2019\u201d (which, honestly, sounds like it\u2019s in the key of D), surprisingly, fits, and is brief enough to act as a palate cleanser that leads into \u201cFather O.S.A.\u201d\u2014a track that takes some time to gain its footing, but eventually turns into a decent enough number.<\/i><\/p>\n
The closing numbers, \u201cEarl Of Roseland\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m Gonna Make You Feel It,\u201d might not be the greatest songs Styx put out in their career, but prove to be enjoyable nonetheless. \u201cEarl Of Roseland,\u201d in particular, also had the potential to be a hit single; why it was never given the chance, I don\u2019t know.<\/i><\/p>\n
All in all, Styx II<\/i> is a marked improvement for the band, and showcased the songwriting ability of DeYoung well. Gone was the reliance on cover versions; here was a band that could stand on its own two feet, even if there was still the occasional stumble. I kinda wish there had been more to work with on this one, but at least it leaves the listener wanting more\u2014which is the best thing a record can do.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5844],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-47221","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-styx","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/47221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=47221"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=47221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}