THE GRAND ILLUSION

Now. this is the apex of Styx!! "TheGrand Illusion" is the kind of prog-related melodic hard rock that Styx had struggled for years and years to accomplish through their previous catalogue. and now it became a vinyl reality!! Styx never really intended to become part of the prog movement, but they clearly were interested from the outset in developing a connection with some formal elements and artsy spirits from the genre. This thing that was shown in specific portions of preceding albums is now the highly dominant strategy. "The Grand Illusion" is a slightly conceptual album revolving around the miseries resulting from the advent of consumerism and the contradictions of the American "way of life" as an alleged ideal for the contemporary man. The namesake track states that perfectly, with those monumental amalgamations of synths, organ and dual guitars solidly orchestrated all over the rhythm duo's military vibe. 'Foolin' Yourself' goes to a more bucolic mood although the enthusiasm remains equally explicit. This song sounds like a cleverly ordained mixture of country rock and Wakeman-era Yes: even though this is a Shaw-penned song in which he shows off his soft, precise singing and his acoustic guitars, it is DeYoung who steals the limelight with his elegant keyboard layers and fluid synth solos. 'Superstar' is, to my ears, a frustrated epic: maybe the way it is the way that the band wanted it to be, but I truly believe that this piece could have benefited from a bigger development, perhaps adding a couple of more melodic section instead of heading for the fade-out after DeYoung's soliloquy. Anyway, that is not the problem of 'Come Sail Away', a true Styx staple that shows how well the band could intertwine the diverse spirits of a piano-driven ballad, the stamina of heavy rock with a good melodic component and an extended spacey symphonic rock interlude: more than AOR, this is prog rock from an AOR-ish perspective. The album's second half is actually the most consistent. 'Miss America' grabs you by the neck like only Young's heavy rocking vision can, but here it is augmented by prog-related ornaments during the instrumental sections; Shaw's 'Man in the Wilderness' states a sense of amalgamation similar to that of 'Come Sail Away' (to a degree), only this time the ballad parts are guitar-based and the symphonic element is more pompous and less spacey. And next is. 'Castle Walls', which to my ears is both DeYoung's best composition ever and Styx's best song ever. This piece brings a sense of PF-meets-Yes-meets-ELP with a truly American flavor like Kansas provided for some of their most ambitious compositions in their first 5 studio efforts. Despite the loud nature developed in the harder sections, this piece is obviously introspective, something like a portrait and a celebration of the inner self that still breathes, beats and lives, hidden beneath our material possessions and physical surroundings. The album's closure is a brief joint reprise of music and lyrics from 'Superstar', 'Come Sail Away' and 'The Grand Illusion', completing the idea of our modern society's futility as the intellectual guideline for the album. This album incarnates what Styx has always aimed to be, and things were naturally not meant to be the same after its release and subsequent tour. I won't go further into this, but rate this album as an excellent item for any rock and prog rock collection.