THE GRAND ILLUSION

I am still fairly new to progressive rock especially compared to the people on this site who have been listening to prog since the 70's. Today I was thinking back to how much my tastes in music have changed over the past 2 to 3 years and I decided to go back and listen to an album I used to love, Styx's The Grand Illusion. What I realized was that my music tastes really haven't changed that much and albums like this were introducing me to the genre of progressive rock before I even knew it.

Every song on this album is enjoyable and there are many tinges of prog throughout it. I might even go so far as to call it a masterpiece of prog-related music, which in my mind does not mean it deserves a five star rating on this site, but it is definitely styx's finest work and I consider it a masterpiece of whatever genre you want to call it. There are no really weak songs on this album, but the highlight for me would have to be castle walls. Something about that building keyboard part just sticks in my head and even used to give me chills sometimes. If you are looking for pure progressive rock, keep moving, but if you take this album for what it is then you have a great album that I expect most prog fans will enjoy.