Listening Party - Pieces of 8

[Toph]

Ladies and Gentlemen! Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Attention, Please! In this corner, wearing white, from the city of the big shoulders....in a ten round exhibition for your entertaining....so when the bell sounds, prepare yourselves for the main event!"

And we've gotten to Pieces of Eight! If anything, the followup to the Grand Illusion sees Styx with a harder edge, but essentially continues down a path started with Grand Illusion. If Tommy Shaw made his debut with Crystal Ball, made himself heard with Grand Illusion, he makes his biggest impact with Pieces of Eight, penning and singing all three charted singles.

A few other key tidbits about Pieces of Eight
- Many copies of the LP have neither the band's name or the album title on the cover
- It is the only Styx album where the biggest songs are contained on the second side (you could maybe argue that Equinox is split with Lorelei and SMB).
- Its the only Styx album with 2 instrumentals
- Its the last Styx album with prog-like influences
- It was the last Styx album to use Barry Mraz as a production assistant/engineer

So, where are you on Pieces of Eight? One of your faves? Relisten to it again for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwzl5u9KzqQ

[yogi]

GREAT GREAT album. Will argue about the last album with prog influences. Love In The Midnight off of Cornerstone is a very prog piece IMO.

[Toph]

GREAT GREAT album. Will argue about the last album with prog influences. Love In The Midnight off of Cornerstone is a very prog piece IMO.

Fair point on Love in the Midnight. Always seem to forget about that one.

[gr8dane]

Ahh yes.Pieces of 8.
After first spin,I knew the Equinox Styx was gone for good.
I played this a lot and liked it too,and a lot more than GI.
Guess I now had adjusted to the 'new' sound of Styx,and liked that this one rocked.
As with GI,there are a few songs that I would be OK if I never heard again.
Renegade and Blue Collar Man.Heard them way too many times.

[scarab]

another shift in sound toward mainstream, with just a perfect hint of wooden nickel days.
probably my favorite album (close to paradise theatre).
these guys can actually rock! (and no show tunes! )

[Toph]

another shift in sound toward mainstream, with just a perfect hint of wooden nickel days.
probably my favorite album (close to paradise theatre).
these guys can actually rock! (and no show tunes! )

I wouldn't be so sure about the "Show tunes" bit. Not to give away too much of my review, but Sing For the Day could have landed right on Cornerstone and the title track is sniffing at the heels of Broadway...

[masque]

ahhh good ole POE........man what a follow up to GI.......at this point it cannot be argued that they were at the top of their game.......starting with equinox to this album it is an unbelievable run of 4 quality albums.

this album has more of an edge and sounds like a band that has played live alot.....several of these songs were perfectly written to sound huge in a live environment playing each town's "enormo domes".

this album has my favorite JY tune "great white hope".

it has DDY's best hard rocking tune "queen of spades"

it has tommy at the top of his game with Renegade, BLM and SFTD.....not to mention Aku-Aku.

it has one of DDY's finest moments in writing a prog influenced song with the title track.

there is not one song on this album that I do not love.

the album sound great, flows great and is just a pure joy to listen to even to this day.

I will also agree that overall this is pretty much the end of their prog influences with the exception of parts of "love in the midnight".

honestly, to my ears, this album is as close to being a coin flip with GI as any album they did. I know this sounds like a cop out but there are days I think GI is #1 and then there are times with I feel like POE is my #1.......they are so close in enjoyment to me that there is no clear cut answer for me.

I gave GI a 9.5 score and I will also give PO8 a 9.5.

[FormerDJMike]

I didn't care for this at first. I liked Renegade, BCM and QOS but that was it. Some of my friends and I used to refer to it as "Pieces Of S***".

However, I was a very young kid so what did I know? Years later I rank this as my 3rd favorite album behind Paradise Theater & Grand Illusion. Not a bad cut on it. I never really liked the album art. In fact when Redbeard interviewed them for this Dennis said something like "I had no idea what these old women were doing on the cover. Now that I am much older they look pretty good".

GWH is a great album opener followed by another great track "I'm OK". Sing For The Day was the flip side to the Renegade 45, both songs on the 45 are great. The Message is a filler tune but I just see it as an intro to "LOTR". I probably like Side 2 best.

I'll pull out my vinyl in the next few days and give this a more recent listen.

[Everett]

Best album EVER. Except for the message/lords of the ring meh.

[ztyxlynne]

Well another great album. I love I'm ok. I always loved Johns drum opening to this song. Queen of Spades is another great rocker. Esp Dennis screaming in the middle of it. And let's not forget the title track. Tommys songs should go without saying. And I think Great White Hope is one of JY,S best. But did Tommy's hits on this album and the lack of Dennis's bring the change of sound or the start of ballad's to the next album and beyond?

[Everett]

Check your pm's topher

[Toph]

Ok, here is my take on Pieces of Eight. First the songs:

Great White Hope - A great beginning with MC Dennis once again introducing the idea with then JY taking over lead vocals. Styx always knew how to start out an album and this one doesn't hold back. The pounding drum shows that this is going to not just be a rocking song, but will set a tone for the entire album. This song, while good and exciting, begins to show the limits of JY's songwriting. The same shout out "Look at Me!" and vocal triad response ("I'm the Great White Hope!") is eerily similar to "Well aren't you?" with the response "Miss America!"

I'm Okay - A continuation of DDY theme that started with Grand Illusion and his "hey you're okay" and "deep inside we're all the same." Use of the Cathedral of St. James organ really helps give this song some depth. Always wondered why the chorus gets muddied at the end of the song. Its like they are singing with marbles in their mouths. Otherwise, a good song that I'm surprised didn't get more airplay.

Sing For The Day - No doubt that we get a preview of Cornerstone with this one. A light, sprite-like tune that brings out the acoustic Tommy Shaw. Brightness and happiness are purveyed through this tune. Not unlike Foolin' Yourself and Lights - very upbeat. Acou-Styx.

The Message - the first of two instrumentals. Not spectacular, but a solid link into the next song.

Lords of the Rings - Styx really hasn't had a misstep in an album and a half, so they're due by this point. And we fall off with this one. Lords of the Rings is just a little too D&D, Hobbit, fantasy like for my tastes. JY singing this DDY song doesn't help. OK, there is an analogy here, but I don't think it works. Always wondered what this would be like if DDY sung it, but quite frankly, not sure it would be any better. Best redeeming part - keyboard solo.

Blue Collar Man - And the most overplayed Styx song ever is up. Not much more you can say here - song gets more airplay and band-acknowledgement for a song that peaked at #21 than any I know. That being said BCM is the first straightforward Tommy rocker we've gotten from Styx. Others have either prog (CB, MIW) or blues (Shooz) influences.

Queen of Spades - DDY's ode to gamblers. Has a bit of a Suite Madame Blue feel at the beginning before going all out in arguably, DDY's hardest rocking song EVER. Man, Pieces of Eight keeps the energy up with three straight hard rocking songs.

Renegade - A true classic - great harmonizing. What else can be said. The Steelers and the terrible towel - a classic rock big time song. Straightforward hard rock with the keyboard playing a very subtle role in the background. But the keyboard does make one entrance with a classic long extended note at the end of the guitar solo right before the second "Oh Mamma" (necklace anyone?) One of Styx's biggest hits and huge staying power for a song that didn't even crack the top 10 singles when it was first released.

Pieces of Eight - At this point, I'm ready to slow things down just a bit as the energy on the previous three tracks is really hard hitting. We get that with the title track, which gets us back to the Grand Illusion comparison. On Po8, we've had similar songs to Grand Illusion, Foolin' Yourself, and Miss America, so we might as well end it with one that is structurally similar to Come Sail Away. That being said, LOVE this underrated title track. Of all the A&M title tracks, this one gets significantly less love than any other one. It doesn't deserve that fate - a great song that I wish more people were exposed to. Means much more to you at 40 than 10.

Aku-Aku - Styx pulls a fast one on us. Every other album ends with a bang - this one ends in a whimper. A slow-fade out that just kind of disappears into the air. It was always hard for me to get my head around this ending. Don't really know what the message is that I am supposed to get here. An interesting, if not ideal way to end an album.

Overall, I can see why Dennis got restless during this album. It is very similar to Grand Illusion. In fact, I would argue these two albums that are most similar in the Styx catalog are GI and Po8. Every other album brings a new sound to it. The only thing that Pieces brings new to the table is the more straight forward Tommy rockers. For the hard rocker, this is the ultimate Styx album as the only "lighter" songs are SFTD and Po8. Everything else is a rocker. If there is a any change going on here, it is starting to leave the progressive influence for more straight ahead rockers.

But for me, Pieces of Eight comes up a tad short. It is just too similar to Grand Illusion and where it differs (straight forward rockers that start to leave the progressive era behind), is not a plus for me personally. Don't get me wrong, I like the album fine, and many of the songs, but I'm ready for a bit of a different sound. I'll get that with Cornerstone, which we'll listen to next.

[Everett]

I really enjoy everyones reviews on these albums. Just wish i had the patience to write my own