Styx

Styx may have had their musical roots in the UK's burgeoning late-'60s/early-'70s prog-rock bombast, but they were true pioneers in at least one sense: The Chicago-bred quintet virtually defined the hugely successful "corp rock" boom that followed a decade after prog's original fortunes tarnished…

Styx was one of the titans of the hugely popular AOR movement – along with Boston, Foreigner, Journey, and REO Speedwagon – embraced by the U.S. mainstream in the late '70s and early '80s. The end of the Chicago-based band's peak period coincided with one of the most ambitious and notorious projects of the time, the 1983 concept album Kilroy Was Here…

With the success of Styx's album The Grand Illusion, Wooden Nickel Records, Styx's previous label, released Best of Styx, which contained selected Styx songs in the Wooden Nickel catalog. Styx had left Wooden Nickel to sign with A&M Records several years earlier, so the compilation does not contain any songs from Styx's three A&M albums that preceded this album's release…

The 1972 self-titled album from Chicago-based quintet Styx could be considered an ambitious outing for any band's debut. Clearly influenced by the primarily U.K-centered progressive rock scene, Dennis DeYoung (keyboard/vocals) hooked up with twin siblings Chuck Panozzo (bass/vocals) and John Panozzo (drums/percussion/vocals) in a combo named the Tradewinds during the late '60s…

For Styx II (1973), the Chicago-based quintet continue much in the same vein as their eponymous debut. The primary difference was the inclusion of the Dennis DeYoung power ballad "Lady" – which catapulted the combo into the Top Ten pop singles survey at an admirable number six…

Apparently, there are more die-hard Styx fans in the late '90s than anyone would have imagined, since Styx quietly went gold with Return to Paradise, their first release for CMC International. Some might say that the success was due to re-recordings that peppered Return, but that's not true – it never would have sold that much if it didn't have new recordings, since that's what the hardcore fans wanted. Return to Paradise gave them some, but Brave New World presents the first full-fledged collection of new Styx material in nearly a decade…

Assembled with the cooperation of the band, Styx's entry in Universal's 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection series of discount-priced best-of's, surveys the group's tenure at A&M Records, where they scored most of their popular success…

Edge of the Century is the twelfth studio album by Styx, released in 1990. It was the first Styx album featuring A&M solo artist Glen Burtnik, the only album to feature the Dennis DeYoung/James Young/Glen Burtnik/Chuck Panozzo/John Panozzo lineup, and the last album to feature John Panozzo on drums (he would die six years later of gastrointestinal hemorrhaging)…

Cyclorama is the fourteenth studio album by Styx, released in 2003. This was the first studio album with Lawrence Gowan, following the departure of group co-founder Dennis DeYoung in 1999…

Like 2004's less than stellar Cyclorama, those looking for this to be the big Styx record that will catapult them back into the mainstream will be sorely disappointed in the contents of this record. It's not a CD of new material, rather, it's a 14-song collection of covers from some of the band's influences and all-time rock favorites…