I’m grouping these four albums together because that is how they were packaged for me. Way back in The Academy Days when I was still very much into Styx. I was able to receive these four albums recorded on two cassettes from my cousin who was an even bigger Styx fan back then. They were a pair of cheapo K-Mart cassettes and she put on album on each side. Well, for one reason or another, I never really listened to them then. Once I got back to Indiana and started down the Heavy Metal path, these tapes were filed in my little cassette suitcase. Now that The Metal Years were over, I found myself returning to some of my old favorites from days gone by.
I finally dusted off these old Styx gems and really enjoyed them. I was especially enamored with their first album. It wasn’t anything like The Grand Illusionor Cornerstone that I loved but it was still very interesting and good to listen to. Each of the others had tracks that I was already familiar with and were closer in sound and design to my favorite Styx albums. Maybe that difference is what had me going back to that first album so much. There is something about Movement For The Common Man that appeals to me. Maybe it is the recorded conversations that sprinkle through it. Maybe it is the track length and composition. Maybe it is that the sound has a tone that is so 1970’s.
I spent a good block of time flipping these two cassettes and eventually would get them all on CD along with other Styx albums.
Movement For The Common Man
What Has Come Between US
Best Thing
Light Up
Lorelei
Suite Madame Blue
Blue Collar Man
Renegade
Too Much Time On My Hands
The Best Of Times