Tag Archive for: Pieces of Eight

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Styx- Blue Collar Man- 2120 Michigan Ave, Chicago- 2005

Styx here live in blues legend Willie Dixon's Chicago recording studio at 2120 Michigan Avenue, the site of the original Chess Records, back in 2005 laying down a soul-infused reading of Tommy Shaw's working class musical manifesto "Blue Collar Man".
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Styx- Pieces of Eight- Tommy Shaw, James”JY” Young

focusing on the  1978 release of "Pieces of Eight", former Styx member and co-founder Dennis DeYoung  confesses that, in spite of his major conceptual songwriting role on the band's 1977 breakthrough three million seller "The Grand Illusion", the highly-anticipated follow-up "Pieces of Eight" was not his finest hour. Styx guitarists/ songwriters/ singers Tommy Shaw and James Young stepped up creatively to fill the void on "Pieces of Eight", again selling triple platinum with the muscular "Blue Collar Man","Renegade","The Great White Hope","Queen of Spades", and "Sing for the Day".

Styx- Renegade- Sweden 6-18-19

Styx in June 2019 at the annual "Sweden Rocks" outdoor festival ripping through a spirited performance of "Renegade".
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Styx- Grand Illusion- Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young, Dennis DeYoung, Lawrence Gowan

Styx co-founder Dennis DeYoung, lifer James "JY" Young, and then recently recruited Alabama boy Tommy Shaw all join me here with current Styx keyboardist/vocalist Lawrence Gowan In the Studio for the early days of being the perennial opening act, saddled with the curse "big in the Flyover States", all the while writing and recording "Fooling Yourself","Come Sail Away","Miss America", "Man in the Wilderness", and "Grand Illusion".