Styx - Crystal Ball
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Artist: StyxBrand: STYX
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: A&M
Soundtracks:
- Put Me On
- Mademoiselle
- Jennifer
- Crystal Ball
- Shooz
- This Old Man
- Clair De Lune/Ballerina
Free Music Notes for Crystal Ball
Free Music Review: Tommy Shaw says hello to Styx on this masterpiece!
Hit: 5 Stars
In November of 1976, Chicago based rockers Styx released their sixth studio album, and second overall for A&M Records, entitled Crystal Ball, which was also their first album with new guitarist and singer/songwriter Tommy Shaw (a Birmingham, Alabama native), whom joined in late 1975 replacing John Curulewski.
Like its predecessor, 1975's Equinox, the band produced the album themselves and is still a classic.
The album starts with the hard rocking "Put Me On", which was written by Shaw, singer/keyboard player Dennis DeYoung and guitarist/singer James JY Young whom also does lead vocal on the track. The track has JY singing the hard rock section and the slower section was sung by Dennis and the drum sound changed to the drum sound that would be synonymous with the band in all of their later albums. Then, the track goes back to the hard rock section and ends with the ending riff speeding up on the tape (which sounds like the tape machine died) which then segues into Tommy's first lead vocal for the band, the US Top 40 hit "Mademoiselle" which was a great Shaw/DeYoung collaboration. Dennis' mid-tempo ballad "Jennifer" is a great song with excellent guitar leads by JY and Fender Rhodes and Solins Atring Ensemble playing by DDY. The first half of the album ends with Tommy's classic title cut which is one of the best Styx songs ever and featured excellent rhythm section work by the bass playing and drumming twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo respectively and one of DDY's best synthesizer solos and Tommy's phenomenal guitar solo at the end.
The rocker "Shooz" starts the second half and Tommy sings and screams his heart out on this track and cooks some excellent tasty slide guitar work whilst JY does a Jimi Hendrix like guitar solo in the middle of the track after one of Tommy's tasty slide solos. Next was Dennis' classic "This Old Man" which was a homage to his hard-working father. The album concludes with Dennis' piano arrangement of the classic DeBussy piece "Clair De Lune" which is changed from C# to C natural as a lead into the epic DeYoung/Shaw collaboration "Ballerina" (with a classic DeYoung vocal) which ends the album in a majestic way.
When it was released, it actually sold less than Equinox but eventually went Gold in 1978 after the success of the next album (see review).
If you like all of Styx's albums between 1975 and 1999, I recommend this album.
Crystal Ball Poster
Guitarist Tommy Shaw joined Styx in time for this 1976, helping the band begin the rise that would soon take them to the top. The album was a hit and Mademoiselle went Top 40; it joins Put Me On; Crystal Ball; This Old Man , and more theatrical pop!Classic Rock Music CDs
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