PIECES OF EIGHT

The song "Sing For The Day" is one of the best Styx songs ever, but the remainder of the album is tragically annoying and ultimately unsatisfying. There's also a few nice songs and good touches here and there. One thing about Styx is that you may not like them, but you've got to admit that they're never dull and predictably ordinary or formulaic. The songs are very well-crafted, polished, and original. The vision of each song is obviously inspired, over-wrought with corniness, bombast, and grandiosity. It's a great album on the technical side but not the artistic side. No one said Styx were great artists, just memorable musical mountebanks with magical mojo, mystifying mastery, and mystique.