This Day in Music History: Styx/Cyclorama (02/18)

Styx released their 14th album Cyclorama on this date back in 2003. It was the first first album since they replaced Dennis DeYoung with Lawrence Gowan. It's been basically Tommy Shaw's band ever since and that might be a good thing. The band just seems to have more fun without DDY. Wonder why...

Side One

This Day in Music History (06/16): Styx/The Mission

The Mission is the sixteenth studio album by the band Styx, released on this day in 2017. It was also a nice surprise for their fans, who basically had no idea a new album was being worked on. It is the band's first studio album since 2005's Big Bang Theory, their first album of original material since 2003's Cyclorama, and their highest-charting studio album in the United States since 1983's Kilroy Was Here, reaching #45 on the Billboard 200. 

A concept album, it tells the story of a mission to the planet Mars in the year 2033. The album's story was written by Tommy Shaw and Will Evankovich.

The album was conceived in 2015 when Tommy Shaw composed the guitar riff that became the record's closing track "Mission to Mars". The first lines Shaw wrote were "Now we can say it / This is the day / We'll be on our way / On our mission to Mars". The story was then formed around this idea.

Styx announced the album in conjunction with the release of the lead single "Gone Gone Gone", while "Radio Silence" and "Hundred Million Miles from Home" were later made available prior to the album's release.

My fave track:

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Music Monday: Styx/Cyclorama (Side Two)

The first side of this album can be found here.

As a quick review, the band had spent three years on the road and released a couple of live albums, but this was their first studio album with new keyboardist Lawrence Gowan.

Music Monday: Styx/Cyclorama (Side One)

After being on the road for more than three years, Styx finally released an album of new material on February 18th, 2003. That album was called Cyclorama.

This is the 14th studio album by Styx, and was the first studio album with Lawrence Gowan, following the departure of group co-founder Dennis DeYoung in 1999. It was also the last album to feature Glen Burtnik, and the only album released by the Lawrence Gowan/Tommy Shaw/James Young/Glen Burtnik/Todd Sucherman lineup.