Customer Reviews

Equinox

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the one album where Styx was firing on all cylinders. It was their first on the A&M label and probably their best. Obviously inspired by the promotion to a major label, having left Wooden Nickel, Dennis DeYoung seemed to be re-born. Before he gave up high energy rock for his all-ballads-and-broadway sound, Dennis had previously taken control on Styx' next best effort, Styx II. Possibly dejected by that album's lack of sales, he took a back seat on "Serpent is Rising" and "Man of Miracles," the albums susequent to II, but he came back strong here. "Light Up" opens the album with a hint to the light pop sound Styx would adopt on future projects, but the album breaks hard and fast with "Lorelei," an infectious power pop song with which I'm sure most Styx fans are now familiar. "Mother Dear," a song co-written by John Curulewski, one of the original band members, is hauntingly beautiful with a few power guitar riffs thrown in just to keep you guessing. The song also reminds us that DeYoung is a hell of a good keyboard player. "Midnight Ride" is James Young's hard rock offering -- before he seemed to lose confidence in his ability to write songs. Reminiscent of a Ted Nugent chord progression, the song offers those of us craving metal with melody. During that time period, we came to look forward to the one JY rocker on each album. There are no weak efforts on this CD. If only Styx were still making recordings like this.

I'm 14, and I got into Styx almost completely by chance. My parent have no record players or LP's, and neither have any Styx cassettes or CD's. My Dad and I were just listening to SIRIUS classic rock, and Lorelei came on. I IMMEDIATELY LOVED THE SONG! That night, I also happened to watch "Big Daddy", and learned that the song Mr. Roboto was by Styx. Since then, I've been collecting their albums. In fact, this is the first of theirs I bought (because of Lorelei), and I was not dissapointed. The very first song I heard told me that I was going to enjoy this band for years to come. Well, one year later, I'm still into this album. Compared to their others, it's not their best, but it's still essential to have for Lorelei and Light Up alone.
Light Up: Ought to be in their Greatest Hits I. Very mellow, 60's feel. 9/10
Lorelei: Styx's first step towards stardom, and one of the their best songs to date. 10/10
Mother Dear: Strange, upbeat feel. It's actually very entertaining. 8/10
Lonely Child: Very nice, passionate love song. DeYoung's vocals are top notch here. 9/10
Midnight Ride: Probably the most forgettable JY rocker. Still O.K. though. 7/10
Born For Adventure:A DeYoung rocker. It's a very heavy sound, which doesn't quite match DeYoung's vocals. 6/10
Prelude 12/Suite Madame Blue: Just barely worse than Lorelei. Another classic Styx prog/mainstream hit. 10/10

This is the one Styx album I can still listen to from start to finish without skipping any songs. It perfectly blends the keyboard/guitar sound that so many band were not able to do (including Styx in their later music). There is no weak song in the lineup. It also serves as the last album John Curelewski played on sadly. Although I like the song, "Light Up" is an indicator of things to come in the Styx sound.

Dennis DeYoung wrote some great rockers in "Lorelei" & "Born For Adventure" that he was rarely able to do in later efforts and JY's "Midnight Ride" is the typical great hard rocking song we came to expect from him. It's a shame that since this album, JY has only been delegated an average of 1 song per album, a crime in my opinion, with vocals being taken over by Dennis DeYoung (and later Tommy Shaw). This comment however does not diminish the fact that this is a complete album from start to finish. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes classic rock!

Styx's first album with A&M, 1975's "Equinox" marked the beginning of the band's musical progression (not to say that their previous combination of classical movements and mystic rock and roll had lost its flame).
"Equinox" shows the first major departure from their trademark mixture of classical arrangements and hard rock, but still represented here with the enigmatic 'Prelude 12' but most notably, the magnificent epic 'Suite Madame Blue,' boasting John Curulewski's blistering yet graceful guitar work and Dennis DeYoung's lyrics blending poetry with politics (just in time for America's upcoming bicentennial the following year). 'Midnight Ride' is a dazzling arrangement, full of Styx's musical imagination, while 'Lorelei' introduced Styx fans to their unique brand of artistic pomp tunes, with a pop-like melody, combining folk legends and romance.
"Equinox" proved Styx's progression and musical horizons, revealing their synthesized world of guitars, keyboards, and pure arena-style magic.

I waited at least (gasp) over 25 years from the time that I had first heard of Styx (maybe 79-80) before I purchased my first Styx album (The Grand Illusion, 1977). I enjoyed that album so much that I started right at the beginning with the Wooden Nickel albums and worked my way up through Pieces of Eight (1978). This 1975 release was the band's first major label release following the final Wooden Nickel album Man of Miracles (1974) and shows the band beginning to develop the signature sound that was brought to it's fullest expression on albums like The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight. In general, Equinoxe presents a good example of American hard rock with aspects of English Progressive rock mixed in that makes for a very enjoyable listening experience.

The lineup at this point included John Curulewski (electric and acoustic guitars, synthesizers, vocals); Dennis DeYoung (acoustic piano, synthesizers, Hammond organ, vocals); Chuck Panozzo (bass guitar and vocals); John Panozzo (drums, percussion, and vocals); and James Young (electric and acoustic guitars, vocals). All of the guys are solid players and there is some good ensemble work. The flourishes on the synthesizers (mini moog I think) are reminiscent of some English progressive rock and add a lot to the overall sound. All of the vocalists are great and there are some excellent vocal harmonies throughout the entire album. Equinoxe would be John Curulewski's last album with the band and he was replaced by Tommy Shaw on the follow up Crystal Ball (1976).

The eight tracks on the album range in length from 3'19 to the 7'52" Prelude 12/Suite Madame Blue suite. In large part, the music on Equinoxe is fairly sophisticated hard rock with some progressive touches here and there. All in all, this makes for a pretty good combination in my book. There are nice dynamic contrasts between the spacier sections dominated by acoustic guitars/synthesizers and the harder rocking tunes dominated by heavily distorted guitars, a "heavy metal" vocal style, and a thunderous rhythm section, e.g. Midnight Ride, Born for Adventure. Melodies are also used a lot on Equinoxe and leaven the heavier aspects of the music nicely. I have to say that as a hard core prog fan, my favorite moments on the album include the rich sounding 12 string acoustic guitars on Prelude 12; the spacey synthesizers on Suite Madame Blue, and the tracks Light Up and Lorelei, although all of the tracks are pretty enjoyable.

This album is recommended to those folks that like well arranged and well played hard rock, with touches of prog here and there along with The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight. Other stylistically similar albums that might be enjoyable include two by Kansas (Song for America, 1975; Leftoverture, 1976) and two by Rush (Farewell to Kings, 1977; and Hemispheres, 1978).

Styx's 'Equinox' is one of their most progressive oriented records. Their last record with original guitarist John Curulewski, who left later in 1975, and would be replaced by Tommy Shaw, who would make his debut with the band on 1976's 'Crystal Ball' album.

But boy is 'Equinox' good! Every song on here is worth 5 stars. Dennis DeYoung sings on most songs, but also take note of James Young's vocal appearance on 'Midnight Ride' and Curulewski's on 'Mother Dear.'

My favorite song on the album is probably 'Mother Dear.' It features some awesome slide guitar and some awesome keyboards from Dennis. John's vocals are surprisingly good; he could have easily sang lead for another band.

'Lorelei,' obviously, was the hit on the record. It is a superb song, and probably my second favorite on the album. Dennis' vocals are at their very best, and this song is definitely worth listening to.

'Suite Madame Blue,' 'Prelude 12,' 'Midnight Ride' and 'Light Up' are the other highlights here. And that's pretty much the whole record. Everything on this record is great.

Overall, 1975's 'Equinox' is one of Styx's best. Highly recommended for any Styx fan. This record is a masterpiece, plain and simple. Highly recommended. ENJOY!!!

AWESOME seller! pristine condition and FAST delivery! Hope to do business with you again REAL soon! THANK you so much for your attention to these details!

The last John Curulewski album with Styx as we all know he left before the tour due to family issues and was replaced by Tommy Shaw and Styx went on to greatness.

Anyway this was Styx's first album under the major label A&M and it truly shows. There is a completely different sound here than the wooden nickel albums and it is probably Styx's hardest rock album. You can honestly hear Styx taking a big step towards superstardom.

Here Is My Song By Song Review:

1. Light Up (15/10) A Styx classic and a great song to start the album out with the keyboard work by DeYoung is just devine.

2. Lorelei (25/10) Another Styx classic and in my opinion the best song on this album. It was the first Styx song that featured a synthesizer. John does a great job on the drums and Curulewski does his trademark background guitar work.

3. Mother Dear (8/10) A Hard Rocker a good song but not their best.

4. Lonely Child (7/10) A ballad but they've definetely had better probably the worst song on this album.

5. Midnight Ride (9/10) Another Hard Rocker sung by JY a good song overall.

6. Born For Adventure (10/10) Another Hard Rocker this one sung by DeYoung. A great song. What can expect from Styx.

7. Prelude 12 wriiten by JC instrumental and intro to SMB.

8. Suite Madame Blue (20/10) A spectacular song starts out slow speeds up with the drums then slows down again with a keyboard solo. Then picks up again with some more great guitar and drum work than the every member sings. And they finish it up with some drum pounding.

If you're a starting out Styx fan this is a good album to start out with. A truly greay album very well done by the greatest band of all-time.

This CD has some great tunes that didn't see the light of day on the radio but really any of them could have. "Light Up", "Lorelei" and "Suite Madame Blue" get airplay on "Classic Rock" radio but "Born For Adventure" has always been a favorite Styx tune especially from this era. The whole thing takes me right back to my college days when this ALBUM came out. At the time, they were splitting time between headlining small venues and being an opening act in the larger ones. I saw them on this tour in Lincoln, NE openning for ZZ Top, and they blew them out of the water that night!! At any rate a great reissue and if your not so familiar with the pre-Tommy Shaw sound of Styx this is the CD to own.

This was Styx's transitional album from the regional Wooden Nickel days to the mega-stardom days of the Grand Illusion and Paradise Theater albums. Styx was able to blend bubblegum pop with light progressive suites better than most acts of the 70's and this album showcases just how they did that.

The album starts off on the lighter side with the appropriately titled Light Up and continues with the light fair with Lorelie. Both songs harken back to the Wooden Nickel days, tight, fast compositions. It segues to Mother Dear, which is Curelewski's Coda to the band - as he was replaced by Tommy Shaw on the next album. Shaw's brand of pop rock cemented Styx's broadbased appeal, but Curelewski's progressive roots for the band would be sorely missed.

Lonely Child is a typical DeYoung composition of the era that could have been penned either during the wooden nickel days or the A&M years. Side two opens with Midnight Ride, which is just as typical of a JY song as Lonely Child was of a DeYoung tune. I always get it mixed up with Shooz, which appeared on this album's follow-up, Crystal Ball.

The album finishes off with a dynamite DeYoung 3-punch, Born for Adventure, Prelude 12, and Suite Madame Blue ride the crest of progressive rock very well. They are exquisitely produced, powerful and well delivered. The best of the album, and among the best of the band's impressive catalog.

On the whole, the album is a bit uneven compared to their later works that were always so well produced (in some cases, too well produced). But there are nuggets to cherish here that are sublime 70's excess.

Questions email me...