Come Sail Away: The Styx Anthology [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Styx may have had their musical roots in the UK's burgeoning late-'60s/early-'70s prog-rock bombast, but they were true pioneers in at least one sense: The Chicago-bred quintet virtually defined the hugely successful "corp rock" boom that followed a decade after prog's original fortunes tarnished. And if that label suggests a certain sense of the formulaic, in Styx it actually denoted a band with sharp ears and a shrewder sense of rock history, attested to immediately here by the Yes-inspired harmonies of "You Need Love" and the staccato rhythms of the Beatles' "Getting Better" on "Winner Take All." This 35-track double-disc anthology charts a course from sudden fame to its sometimes stormy aftermath, spanning the band's 1972 debut and its resilient 2003 comeback contender, Cyclorama. But after working their way up from the Grand Funk-worthy, meat 'n' instant potatoes of "Rock and Roll Feeling" and bald-faced melodramatics of "Lady" and "Come Sail Away" to the gutsier edge of "Blue Collar Man" and "Too Much Time on My Hands," rising tides of punk and new wave began to erode their younger demographic. And by the time "Babe" gave way to the faux techno of '83's "Mr. Roboto," even those sympathetic to the band's hook-rich, prog-lite sensibility seemed restless. Still, their Tommy Shaw-dominate output in the '90s and beyond showcased a band that had subtly matured from their arena-rock cliché salad days. --Jerry McCulley

Tracks:

Best Thing
You Need Love
Lady
Winner Take All
Rock & Roll Feeling
Light Up
Lorelei
Prelude 12
Suite Madame Blue
Shooz
Mademoiselle
Crystal Ball
The Grand Illusion
Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)
Come Sail Away
Miss America
Man In The Wilderness

Tracks:

Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)
Sing For The Day
Renegade
Pieces Of Eight
Lights
Babe
Borrowed Time
Boat On The River
A.D. 1928
Rockin' The Paradise
Too Much Time On My Hands
The Best Of Times
Snowblind
Mr. Roboto
Love Is The Ritual
Show Me The Way
Dear John
One With Everything

Amazon.com

Styx may have had their musical roots in the UK's burgeoning late-'60s/early-'70s prog-rock bombast, but they were true pioneers in at least one sense: The Chicago-bred quintet virtually defined the hugely successful "corp rock" boom that followed a decade after prog's original fortunes tarnished. And if that label suggests a certain sense of the formulaic, in Styx it actually denoted a band with sharp ears and a shrewder sense of rock history, attested to immediately here by the Yes-inspired harmonies of "You Need Love" and the staccato rhythms of the Beatles' "Getting Better" on "Winner Take All." This 35-track double-disc anthology charts a course from sudden fame to its sometimes stormy aftermath, spanning the band's 1972 debut and its resilient 2003 comeback contender, Cyclorama. But after working their way up from the Grand Funk-worthy, meat 'n' instant potatoes of "Rock and Roll Feeling" and bald-faced melodramatics of "Lady" and "Come Sail Away" to the gutsier edge of "Blue Collar Man" and "Too Much Time on My Hands," rising tides of punk and new wave began to erode their younger demographic. And by the time "Babe" gave way to the faux techno of '83's "Mr. Roboto," even those sympathetic to the band's hook-rich, prog-lite sensibility seemed restless. Still, their Tommy Shaw-dominate output in the '90s and beyond showcased a band that had subtly matured from their arena-rock cliché salad days. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST STYX GREATEST HITS COMPILATION ALBUM THUS FAR........2007-06-26

I will be writing a review on the legendary masterpiece 2-CD compilation album entitled "COME SAIL AWAY, THE STYX ANTHOLOGY" by one of Rock's all-time greatest premiere bands ever. I give you one of America's favorite sons and one of Chicago's many pride and joy's, S-T-Y-X! "COME SAIL AWAY, THE STYX ANTHOLOGY" was originally released in 2004 on the UTV Records / A&M Records label on a special 2-CD Gold disc set series using the Original Recording Remastered process. As always, if I hear any new additional information concerning this legendary compilation album or the artist, I will edit this review immediately so that you the consumer will get the overall best informative and most accurate review possible.

STYX will forever go down in Rock n' Roll history and be remembered for composing and recording some of Rock's all-time greatest "slow ballads exploding into Hard Rockers" ever. I guess you can say that STYX followed along the same lines and tradition of LED ZEPPELIN and one of their many legendary Rock songs that would forever be the band's signature and trademark Rock anthem, "Stairway To Heaven." "Stairway To Heaven" would start out as a beautifully slow romantic and poetic acoustic arrangement which would end with a fast upbeat and explosive Hard Rock ending that would have you begging for more. In true retrospect, many of STYX'S classic Rock anthems follow the same LED ZEPPELIN formula but would take it a step further. I will mention more about this formula throughout this review. When the original members such as acoustic and electric guitarist Tommy Shaw met up and joined forces with guitarist James Young, keyboardist, vocalist and synthesizers Dennis De Young, bassist Chuck Panozzo and his brother, drummer John Panozzo, STYX would be born and a new era of arena Rock was about to begin and unfold. It was full speed ahead for STYX and the band would delight us for many years to come from 1972 to 2003 with such beautifully slow, poetic and romantic acoustic sound arrangements thus resulting in blowing us away with a fast explosive and electrifying sound fury at the end of their songs with such grace that the band made it look so easy to perform when it really wasn't. Which now brings me to the legendary compilation album I'm about to review for you today. "COME SAIL AWAY, THE STYX ANTHOLOGY" would be the result of the many great Rock anthems that STYX would deliver to all of us during the 1972 to 2003 period. In my opinion, "COME SAIL AWAY, THE STYX ANTHOLOGY" is without a doubt, a true testament of the greatness, pure genius and musical creativity of five extremely multi-talented musicians. This legendary compilation album is also a fine fitting tribute to a great band that was truly indeed, far ahead of their time. This is the story of STYX, their music is their story that speaks for itself.

It is now time to let the music of STYX to do all of the talking and back it up musically as it was truly intended. "COME SAIL AWAY, THE STYX ANTHOLOGY" from 2004 begins with DISC ONE starting with the CROSBY, STILLS & NASH sounding and incredible acoustic turned acoustic and electric Hard Rocker "Best Thing," the fast paced and explosive Hard Rocker "You Need Love," the formula at its best, the beautifully slow, poetic and romantic arrangement which would soon thrust into a Hard Rockin' masterpiece anthem, "Lady," the explosive and energetic Hard Rocker "Winner Take All," the sizzlin' and loud a*s kickin' Hard Rock anthem with a lot of heart and feelin', "Rock & Roll Feeling," the powerfully slow synthesized turned funkish Hard Rocker "Light Up," the synthesized Hard Rocker with a backbone, "Lorelei," the beautifully sounding acoustic arrangement "Prelude 12," which would evolve into the beautifully arranged mild acoustic number which would later explode into a Hard Rock extravaganza "Suite Madame Blue," the a*s kicking Hard Rocker "Shooz," the amazing guitar sounding effects and wizardry developing into a QUEEN-sounding Hard Rocker, "Mademoiselle," the brilliantly sounding acoustic arrangement turned Hard Rocker, "Crystal Ball," the unbelievable synthesized KANSAS sounding Rocker, "The Grand Illusion," the circus like atmospheric synthesized number turned into an acoustic Rocker, "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)," this next song is another fine example of the formula performed to its fullest potential. This beautifully slow STYX stamped trademark song would erupt into the Hard Rock anthem it was destined to become, a masterpiece. The Hard Rocker of Hard Rockers, "Come Sail Away," the daring and in your face Hard Rocker "Miss America" and the beautifully slow mystical and mysterious number growing into another Hard Rock anthem, "Man In The Wilderness." END OF DISC ONE.

DISC TWO picks up right where DISC ONE left off beginning with the a*s kicking synthesized Hard Rocker "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)," the uplifting synthesized mild Rocker "Sing For The Day," the a*s kicking Hard Rock anthem "Renegade," the Rock n' Roll opus with a synthesized and orchestrated Hard Rock sound touch, "Pieces Of Eight," the heartfelt synthesized mild Rocker "Lights," the beautifully slow sounding Rock anthem that would be another STYX stamped trademark song, "Babe," the rude awakening sounding Hard Rocker "Borrowed Time," the beautifully slow and mandolin filled mild song "Boat On The River," one of the most beautifully sounding Rock anthem ballads ever, "A.D. 1928," which would grow and shake Rock n' Roll to its very foundations with the rugged Hard Rocker "Rockin' The Paradise," the synthesized Rocker with a life of its own, "Too Much Time On My Hands," another one of STYX'S trademark Rock anthems, the beautifully sounding and breathtaking mild Rocker "The Best Of Times," the slow a*s kicking Hard Rocker "Snowblind," the synthesized and energetic Rocker "Mr. Roboto," the synthesized progressive Rocker "Love Is The Ritual," the beautifully slow and encouraging song with hope, "Show Me The Way," the beautifully sounding acoustic and orchestrated song "Dear John" and the true STYX Hard Rock anthem that kicks a*s, "One With Everything." END OF DISC TWO. May I also add an important note and highly commend all of the bandmembers on a great job well done. Much of the music contained on this album is extremely difficult to play. However, the band's timekeeping was laid down perfectly resulting in enabling the other bandmembers to join in and harmonize beautifully and perfectly together. WHAT A SOUND!

This legendary greatest hits compilation album is another great album for everyone of all ages to hear, enjoy and appreciate. This compilation album should automatically be considered an necessity to own as a valuable and important part of his or her own personal music collection. This compilation album will definitely prove to stand the test of time and will always be around to be enjoyed, cherished and appreciated for many years to come, NOW AND FOREVER. You can do all of your album researching and purchases either on Amazon com or at your nearest local Borders Books and Music store.

In closing, STYX has successfully continued in entertaining sell-out audiences the world over up to this very day. STYX has also persevered through many band personnel changes through the years but STYX'S own special blend of magical sounds remain fully intact. With this in mind, STYX has forever left their place and mark in Rock n' Roll history and their accomplishments, contributions and achievements speak for themselves and will never ber forgotten. Knowing this, I guess it is safe to say that STYX is here to stay to delight us further with their sound resulting in many more gothic tales and stories within the STYX saga and legacy that would still need to be told and written in pages and chapters. But that, my fellow readers and reviewers, you will just have to stay tuned and read further more about it at a later date. So here's to you Tommy, James, Dennis, Chuck and John. Thanks for the great memories and moments with many more still yet to come. And as the saying goes, "AND THE REST IS ROCK N' ROLL HISTORY," need I say more? Thanks for reading my review and I truly hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have truly enjoyed writing it for your reading pleasure. I also deeply hope that all of you will read all of my other reviews in the near future when time permits. STYX RULES! Long Live Rock n' Roll. Rock out always and take it easy. Forever in Rock, John L.

Philosophical Breakthrough.......2007-05-30

This CD finally proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that there is no God. No benevolent ruler would sit idly by while music this bad was being unleashed on innocent people. A plague of locusts would be much easier to take than this CD.

Styx featured the kind of song writing that only developmentally delayed junior high kids would pen. Then, they performed their songs over a barrage of generic guitars and cheesy synthesizers. The result is the most synthetic, formulated music ever to come out of the corporate music industry.

Awesome Collection of Styx.......2007-01-08

Styx is one of those groups that many people seem to hate, and yet has always done well both in concert and on tour. One likely explanation is that Styx has sung songs that often almost "gimmicky" or too cute for some fans. One example is "Mr. Roboto." Furthermore, their commercial success may turn some critics away because some people have the opinion that commercial success means little or no artistry. Regardless of why the opinions are what they are, Styx had a long successful career and though they had many pop hits they began life with a progressive and harder edge.

As Styx's popularity waned they tried to experiment with their music, which is always dangerous for a long-established group since their existing fans may feel betrayed and the genre they are trying to break into either reviles their music or doesn't recognize what they are trying to do. "Kilroy Was Here," from which "Mr. Roboto" was taken, was such an experiment. "Kilroy Was Here" was a concept album. I think that had Styx been a new group the album may have worked. However, many longtime Styx fans felt betrayed by an album that appeared to diverge from Styx's traditional music. This album marked the end or the beginning of the end for a monster group that had churned out many top 40 songs.

Styx continues to release albums, with two albums released in the 1990's and two released after the beginning of the new millennium. This album covers up to the 2003 release "Cyclorama."

This CD is a significant improvement over "Styx - Greatest Hits." As with the previous release, I'm not sure that all of the songs on the CD are "greatest hits," but certainly they are representative of Styx from the beginning of their career to the end. This CD is much like "Styx - Greatest Hits" in that it makes a great sampler of Styx. However, serious fans will want to move beyond this collection and acquire Styx albums.

Styx has been classified many ways. Some critics call their music prog-lite. Some critics call them arena rockers and glam rockers. I guess I do not understand what any of these definitions mean when applied to Styx. I think many of these songs still have an edge to them. As an example, "Miss America" is a rocking song. "Crystal Ball" and "Renegade" are also rockers on this CD. There are other fast-paced songs, but they are more pop, such as "Fooling Yourself" and "Lorelei."

Ignore the criticism of Styx if you are a fan of Styx. They created their own style of music, which added, not subtracted, from rock music. They did not try to be like anyone else. I think most groups, including Styx, would rather be thought of as creating their own genre rather than fitting into an existing genre. I think in many ways they did exactly that. In the process they created detractors. Oh well. There will always be someone who wants to denigrate a successful artist. If you like what you've heard of Styx's music and are looking for a good overview of their career, this is the CD. If you are looking for early Styx that had yet to be a pop success, try "The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings."

Enjoy!

Groan!.......2006-10-29

Just what we needed. Q:What could be worse than a CD of Styx greatest hits? A: a TWO CD set of Styx greatest Hits! Double the swill! I know there's lots of you Mr.Roboto heads who'll hate me for saying this,but Styx were undoubtably the worst band who ever made it big. Overwrought,overblown,and sappy. Just to be fair,though, Tommy Shaw was a pretty good guitarist. Too bad he didn't have better songs to play on. Miserable.

THIS ALBUM IS FRIGGIN AWESOME.......2006-08-16

I became a Styx fan about 2 years ago when I was a senoir in high school. The first time I heard the song Blue Collar Man (long Nights) I instantly fell in love with the classic lineup of Dennis DeYoung, The Panozzo Brothers, James Young, and Tommy Shaw. This was the very first Styx CD I ever bought and I loved it so much I had to go out and buy the rest of the Styx albums. I love every song on this CD from "Best Thing" all the way to "One With Everything". I do think that there are some songs missing though such as "Don't Let It End", "First Time", "Haven't We Been Here Before", "Queen Of Spades", and "Superstars", and there are no songs from BRAVE NEW WORLD which really is a great album. And I also feel that there isn't enough from the wooden nickel era. But that is the truth with every greatest hits or anthology album something is always missing to someone that is why we buy the individual albums and why artists release more than one greatest hits album.

But enough negative stuff this is a great album to start with. They start with their first Top 100 hit off their self-titled album STYX with "Best Thing". And then comes two songs off of Styx II The Top 100 hit "You Need Love" and the original "Lady" their first Top Ten hit. They then showcase "Winner Take All" off of THE SERPENT IS RISING and "Rock & Roll Feeling" from MAN OF MIRACLES. Then comes their best off of EQUINOX with their classic songs, "Loerelei", "Light Up", and the two parter "Prelude 12" and "Suite Madame Blue". Then comes the start of the Tommy Shaw era album CRYSTAL BALL with the songs "Crystal Ball", "Shooz", and the Top 40 hit "Mademoisselle". Then the THE GRAND ILLUSION with the songs "Come Sail Away", "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)", "Grand Illusion", "Miss America" and the full length version of "Man In The Wilderness".

Then they start disc 2 with my favorite album PIECES OF EIGHT. They start out the 2nd CD with my favorite song too. "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" they also have songs "Sing For The Day", "Renegade", and "Pieces Of Eight" from that album. Then comes the songs off of CORNERSTONE with their only #1 hit ever. "Babe" plus other songs like "Lights", "Borrowed Time", and "Boat On The River". Then comes the songs off of the album PARADISE THEATRE with "Too Much Time On My Hands", "The Best Of Times", "Snowblind", and the two-parter "A.D. 1928" and "Rockin' The Paradise". Then comes "Mr. Roboto" from their album KILROY WAS HERE. Then comes two songs from their first reunion EDGE OF THE CENTURY. Their Top Ten Hit of the 90s "Show Me The Way" and their spin on the music of that day with "Love Is The Ritual". Then comes the emotionally gripping song dedicates to their late and great drummer John Panozzo in "Dear John" off of RETURN TO PARADISE and then they finish off the anthology with "One With Everything" from CYCLORAMA which features Lawrence Gowan.

Well thats it sure its missing a few things but doesn't every greatest hits album for any band have songs that they miss. This a great album to start or end your collection. I highly suggest that you buy this album today.

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