Styx Grand Illusion
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=129483
Printed Date: February 22 2025 at 05:52
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Topic: Styx Grand Illusion
Posted By: bardberic
Subject: Styx Grand Illusion
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 20:43
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I'm struggling to make this determination myself, as I reclassify some albums on my computer. This was right at the crossroads of the two genres. To my surprise, I'm finding myself leaning more towards proper prog rock for this one - it wasn't until their next album that they really deeply delved into AOR. Come Sail Away is really the only AOR track on this one imo. The reset is prog. What do you think? Edit 1: I've made up my mind... it's prog rock. Not quite AOR, yet, imo. Still want to hear your opinions. Edit 2: Even Come Sail Away is proper prog, imo...
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Replies:
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 21:05
| Grand Illusion is certainly prog. |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 21:09
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I've never considered them to be a prog band. There wasn't really anything "progressive" about their sound, particularly when this album came out in 1977. It had all been done previously. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: bardberic
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 21:20
Thank you! I thought I'm going crazy or something. Everyone, even on RYM, is telling me I'm wrong lol
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Manuel wrote:Posted By: bardberic
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 21:39
Well then what about bands like Spock's Beard? They haven't done anything that hadn't yet been done. Or Wilderun? Prog doesn't necessarily mean inventive... if that were the case, then Korn would be prog, which they certainly were not...
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 22:42
| I would say this particular album is probably half and half. Styx are one of those not quite prog bands imo though. |
Posted By: bardberic
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 23:10
That's exactly what I'm feeling, and why it is so hard for me to choose on my computer. Edit 1: I decdided to keep the whole album as progressive rock, but I labeled the version of Come Sail Away sung by Eric Cartman from the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZPQ09RyBeQ" rel="nofollow - South Park Chef Aid album as AOR just because this song really does cross the boundaries of both genres Edit 2: Actually I even kept the Eric Cartman version as Prog Rock as it did NOT sound right when comparing it to other AOR tracks.
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Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: August 06 2022 at 23:52
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Accessible, but Prog nonetheless. ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 00:44
Grand Illusion is probably their best album in my opinion, but I think this is where I stand, too. ------------- Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson |
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 04:35
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The Grand Illusion is prog, but neither very innovative nor particularly good (or bad) prog. Prog does not actually have to be innovative to be prog. That said, I've owned the album since the 1970s and I cannot remember playing it the last 30 years. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: bardberic
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 05:04
Yes I agree. I have it rated on RYM as a whopping 2.5 stars lol. It's listenable, but I'd almost always rather put on Kansas or Yes if I wanted traditional synth-heavy prog. This might have been the first time I listened to it in five years, since I purchased the album. I just think because of how synth heavy and generic it sounds people just jump on the AOR bandwagon, tbh. The funny thing is, Styx may be the only classic rock-era prog band for whom I actually prefer their AOR stuff to their prog stuff... Kansas I can tolerate, but the others from the era kinda suck. Probably because they were a pioneer of AOR.
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Posted By: mathman0806
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 05:50
| On an aside, I think of AOR = "album oriented rock" as a format for radio stations I listened to in late 70s/early 80s, not a type of music. There were characteristics that different rock songs had bands played that fit that format but it wouldn't necessarily be a style. So, Styx had AOR songs, as did Floyd, Tull, Zeppelin, the Who, Boston, Aerosmith, ... now I somtimes conflate AOR with arena rock, which Styx would fit. I think if someone asked me kind of music Styx plays, I would just give it the broad "rock" label. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 06:04
I've always classed Styx as an Arena Rock (or AOR) band in my Artists & Albums database, but that doesn't mean they can't be a Prog-Rock band too, although if the name is anything to go by, Styx should be classed as an Underground band. 
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Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 07:46
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I like the album and I don't care what genre label one wants to stick on it. You could call it pomp rock, rock grotesque, over-the-top rock... the music remains the same. But I personally prefer the Pieces of Eight album. ------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 07:51
true
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Posted By: earlyprog
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 08:15
Your indecision is not surprising. This is exactly why they are labelled prog related on PA which by the way is not a prog genre.
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Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 09:25
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A couple of its tracks are proggy, but that's not saying much. ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 09:39
Absolutely Progressive Rock ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 12:02
Rehashing old sh*t is not progressive. You've put a bow on some old dung. ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: Jeffro
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 13:25
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I hate the term AOR. "AOR" was created as a radio format, not a type of music. Why can't it simply be rock, or classic rock? Besides, it's a stupid term. Any rock that's on an album is be definition album oriented. That being said, Grand Illusion is prog rock enough, at least in places, for me. It's not King Crimson, It's not PFM, it's not even Genesis but "prog" has, and should have, a broader meaning. ------------- We all dwell in an amber subdomain, amber subdomain, amber subdomain. My face IS a maserati |
Posted By: Mormegil
Date Posted: August 07 2022 at 13:46
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AOR. Little bits of prog here and there, but they never struck me as all out "progressive". ------------- Welcome to the middle of the film. |