1973: The Serpent is Rising
The Serpent Is Rising is the third album by Styx, released in 1973. The band considers this to be their worst recording. Dennis DeYoung has gone far as saying it was "one of the worst recorded and produced in the history of music." The album peaked at #192 on the Billboard 200, their second-lowest charting album, and as of 2007 has sold less than 100,000 copies worldwide (two of these are owned by me!).
The album was reissued in 1980 with new lame artwork and a new title, Serpent.
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1976: Crystal Ball
The album's title track would become a concert staple for the band as it was performed on every subsequent Styx tour with which Shaw was involved.
"Shooz" was co-written by Shaw and James Young. The bluesy rocker had Shaw on slide guitar while Young contributed a Hendrix-like solo to the middle of the track after Shaw's slide solo.
"This Old Man" is a song that DeYoung wrote for his father and the impact his dad had on his life.
Debussy's classical piece "Clair De Lune" served as the intro to the album's closing track Ballerina. The version of "Clair De Lune" on Crystal Ball just had DeYoung on piano and changed the key from D flat to C as the next track ("Ballerina") started in C minor.
Although the album stalled at #66 upon its 1976 release, it would go platinum in 1978 after the success of the next album The Grand Illusion.
I had the delight over diving into this album and reviewing it in these posts:
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