Customer Reviews

Crystal Ball

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tommy Shaw's arrival for the 1976 effort Crystal Ball completes the classic line up of the best band that bridged the 70s to the 80s, Styx. Shaw organic style of compositions compliments the rest of the group's style. Balancing the pomp of DeYoung and the fire of JY Shaw's songs fit like a glove. The voice of Tommy Shaw also took the band to another level giving them basically three lead singers. The songs are solid front to back with the freshman Shaw given the title track. Crystal Ball, to me, was more successfull than many othert Styx efforts because of the balance between the hard rockers (Put me On, Shooze), Dennis DeYoung's introspective "This Old Man" and "Ballerina", and Shaw's organic, soulful, rock rythms. Tag this to the overall quality of each song (there's no filler here) and you have one of the best the band ever commited to vinyl.

Crystal Ball marked a turning point for the band, and that was the departure of John Curulewski and the arrival of a certain young Southerner named Tommy Shaw who would help the band launch them in to superstardom. Crystal Ball, although not selling as well as their previous album, Equinox, is still an excellent album. It's a mellower album. "Put Me On" is the opening cut, with band vocal harmonies, James Young, and Dennis DeYoung sharing vocal duties. The end part, with Dennis DeYoung singing is the mellow part. Dennis DeYoung's "Jennifer" is a great piece with nice vocal harmonies, I really like the synth ending. The album's centerpiece is the title track, fully written by Tommy Shaw. It starts off almost folk-y, but then Dennis DeYoung gives us some nice synth solos to go with it. This is the cut that receives FM radio airplay. "Shooz" is a more rocking-number that you might often find on one of their early Wooden Nickel albums, while Dennis DeYoung's "This Old Man" (luckily, it's not a cover of the nursery rhyme everyone had known since kindergarten), shows Styx at their most progressive. I am in to prog rock and this band had often got a bad rap in prog rock circles, but if you're a prog rock fan and don't run at the thought of the band, I can recommend this album (as well as any of their other major label efforts up to Pieces of Eight). The band had often did the occasional cover of a classical piece, like Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" off their 1972 debut, Bach's "Little Fugue in G" off Styx II, and Handel's "Halleljah Choras" off The Serpent is Rising. This time it's a short cover of Debussy's "Claire de Lune", which then segues in to "Ballerina". To me I think the album gets a bit ignored, especially when their following was none other than The Grand Illusion, which made them from only a locally known band (the Wooden Nickel albums) to moderately selling act (their first two major label albums) to major AOR arena rock act. Regardless this is a fantastic album and if you're a Styx fan, you need this album.

This album is an excellent hard rock album. I bought this on 8-track in the 70's after hearing Lady Jennifer and Sweet Madmoiselle on the radio. I was blown away when I listened to it. Every song was rock at it's finest. This was Tommy Shaw's first album with Styx and was a big improvement. Crystal Ball and Ballerina are excellent hard rock tunes. After hearing this album I knew they were on the brink of superstardom which occurred with their next album The Grand Illusion.

30 years after its release, this album is now only remembered for its exceptional title track. Upon its release, Styx fans who had loved the band's previous release, "Equinox", felt initially that the band was slowly selling out. The band had been playing with commercial sounds before, but the lyrics were becoming bubblegum on songs like "Put Me On" and "Mademoiselle". At the same time, the title track, the solid "Jennifer" and the closing track, "Ballerina", showed some rawer emotions from a band that had generally been known for its working-class style until now. "Crystal Ball" is certainly not a disaster for the band; it was simply a so-so step on their journey to arena rock superstardom.

Crystal Ball was the first album featuring Tommy Shaw and one of Styx's best albums. It is another sample of Styx at their best. The tracks on this album:
-Put Me On: A two-part rocker sung from the perspective of a record with leads by Dennis and JY.(8/10)
-Mademoiselle: An excellent pop-rock song by Tommy Shaw.(8/10)
-Jennifer: Probably the weakest song on the album but still worth a listen.(7/10)
-Crystal Ball: The title track is a work of art in itself and became the biggest hit on the album.(9/10)
-Shooz: An extremely addictive blues/rock song that blows away every similar song I've heard. Leads by Tommy Shaw.(10/10)
-This Old Man: DeYoung's apparent tribute to his father is a little behind but the chorus saves it a little.(7/10)
-Claire de Lune/Ballerina: A beautiful ballet(duh)song similar to Suite Madame Blue, although not as good. A little long.(8/10)

Overall, an excellent album, although it could be longer. Still, pick it up and get your rock'n'roll shooz!

With the addition of Tommy Shaw to the band, Styx would ultimately go on to great success, and evidence of that was shown on this album. Although it's not the best of styx, no Styx fan should be without this album. Although "This Old Man" is a bit forgettable, the other songs on here are must haves. T. Shaw's shivering "Crystal Ball" is one of Styx's most famous hits, and for a good reason. DeYoung's "Mademoiselle" is possibly one of Styx's most classic pop songs, and JY and Shaw's "Shooz" is one of the greatest Styx rockers of all time. It may be Styx in a small dose, but it may be some of the only Styx you'll need. However, as I said earlier, you should buy this album if you're a Styx fan already. Those who are new to the band might want to try Equinox or possibly Paradise Theatre first. And, as also mentioned, it's a tad short (only 35 minutes). But if you are a Styx fan, you MUST have this album!

Crystal Ball, the 1976 release by Styx, is almost unmistakably of their most underrated releases, and in many terms I'd say that it is their most underrated release. Common knowledge holds that this was the first album to feature newcomer Tommy Shaw from Alabama, and his presense is immediately felt. Styx's first five albums were all quite experimental - even the previous year's release of "Equinox" had some very experimental outings on it, and a lot of it was due to John Curulewski, who left immediately after "Equinox" was released. This album, on the other hand, provides Styx with their most straight-forward outing up to this time. It also provided some of their best and most underrated material.

As previously stated, this album was, at the time, the most straight-forward release of Styx's career, which gives the album an immediately brighter sound and feel. This is much to the album's strength, but in many way it makes the album pale instrumentally next to "Equinox". Although "Equinox" was a more complex outing than "Crystal Ball", its' songs often lacked hooks (which had become rather constant in every prior album release). From the onset, every single one of the songs on "Crystal Ball" has a memorable hook that you may find yourself humming to yourself more than once!

When people talk about "Crystal Ball", they often say that "this album is suggestive of things to come with Styx" in it's relationship with "Grand Illusion", but this is a better album. It's arena rock at it's finest, and the only time that Styx managed to match it was on "Pieces of Eight". Check this album out if you're a Styx fan in general - or a fan of good rock music. This album will not disappoint you.

Crystal Ball is the second in a run of four Styx albums (Starting with "Equinox" and ending with "Pieces of Eight") that I think represents their most creative and cohesive efforts.
It was the first album to include Tommy Shaw, who wrote the title song (the fact that his tune was given this honor serves to disprove the recent allegations that Dennis DeYoung was a power monger, by the way).
The album is exciting because it balances the remaining rawness and hunger of the struggling band with the powerhouse rock force that it would soon become.
Unique features of this album include: JY's extensive use of the "wah effect" on guitar solos, most notably during "Jennifer." This served to give the album a bit of a psychedelic feel, as does the song's dreamy ending.
On the rocker "Shooz," Styx proved that they were capable of living up to Chicago's blues reputation, and Tommy's use of the slide on his guitar is a feature I can't recall on other Styx songs.
While "Ball" used to be one of my favorite Styx songs, it ends with a somewhat weak fade out, though the lead solo is nice.
"This Old Man" is a beautiful song - an apparent tribute to DeYoung's father. While once again the fadeout is a bit extensive here, it provides a solid transition to "Claire de Lune/Ballerina." This piece concludes the album, and is as worthy of that task as "Suite Madame Blue" was on the previous record. "Ballerina" is a Styx epic in the vein of "Suite" and "Come Sail Away" (which was released on the next record). The transition from piano ballad to guitar-driven rocker is seamless, and the solos traded between JY and Tommy at the end both complement and compete with each other.
All in all, I'd have given it a 4.5, but since that's not an option, I rounded up. Good job, Styx!

In November of 1976, Chicago based rockers Styx released their sixth studio album, and second overall for A&M Records, entitled Crystal Ball, which was also their first album with new guitarist and singer/songwriter Tommy Shaw (a Birmingham, Alabama native), whom joined in late 1975 replacing John Curulewski.
Like its predecessor, 1975's Equinox, the band produced the album themselves and is still a classic.
The album starts with the hard rocking "Put Me On", which was written by Shaw, singer/keyboard player Dennis DeYoung and guitarist/singer James JY Young whom also does lead vocal on the track. The track has JY singing the hard rock section and the slower section was sung by Dennis and the drum sound changed to the drum sound that would be synonymous with the band in all of their later albums. Then, the track goes back to the hard rock section and ends with the ending riff speeding up on the tape (which sounds like the tape machine died) which then segues into Tommy's first lead vocal for the band, the US Top 40 hit "Mademoiselle" which was a great Shaw/DeYoung collaboration. Dennis' mid-tempo ballad "Jennifer" is a great song with excellent guitar leads by JY and Fender Rhodes and Solins Atring Ensemble playing by DDY. The first half of the album ends with Tommy's classic title cut which is one of the best Styx songs ever and featured excellent rhythm section work by the bass playing and drumming twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo respectively and one of DDY's best synthesizer solos and Tommy's phenomenal guitar solo at the end.
The rocker "Shooz" starts the second half and Tommy sings and screams his heart out on this track and cooks some excellent tasty slide guitar work whilst JY does a Jimi Hendrix like guitar solo in the middle of the track after one of Tommy's tasty slide solos. Next was Dennis' classic "This Old Man" which was a homage to his hard-working father. The album concludes with Dennis' piano arrangement of the classic DeBussy piece "Clair De Lune" which is changed from C# to C natural as a lead into the epic DeYoung/Shaw collaboration "Ballerina" (with a classic DeYoung vocal) which ends the album in a majestic way.
When it was released, it actually sold less than Equinox but eventually went Gold in 1978 after the success of the next album (see review).
If you like all of Styx's albums between 1975 and 1999, I recommend this album.

This is where it begins for Tommy Shaw. This is a spectacular effort by the band. John C. has departed and in comes in Shaw with his knack of capturing the top 40 hit. On this release though that never really happened so this may be considered a warm-up to their next, 'The Grand Illusion'. Lead off song "Put Me On'another James Young classic and can still say that after all these years the song still rocks. This is the album also, that sees James Young starting to take a backseat on lead vocals. As on their first four albums James Young was very prevalent on lead, but as success found its way with the band DeYoung and Shaw capture the spotlight for the top 40 hits that keep the band selling millions of records. I always like to link albums together as must have's. If you have one then you must have another because they just go together. If you pick up 'Crystal Ball' then please pick up 'Equinox' also. They have a certain flavor to them and they rock. Nothing bad here on this cd.