Styx - Grand Illusion (LP)

Styx: Dennis DeYoung (vocals, keyboards, synthesizer); Tommy Shaw(acoustic & electric guitars, background vocals); James Young (guitar, background vocals); Chuck Panozzo (bass, background vocals); John Panozzo (drums, percussion, background vocals).Recorded at Paragon Studios, Chicago, Illinois.THE GRAND ILLUSION was the album that rocketed Styx to superstardom after all their years of hard work. That time spent in the trenches was clearly not wasted, as the group displays an unprecedented level of tightness here in their writing, arrangements, and performance. This is something of a concept album, the theme being the hypocrisy and self-deception inherent in modern American society. The songs that tackle this concept most directly are James Young's bristling rocker "Miss America," Dennis DeYoung's appropriately grandiose-sounding title tune, and "Superstars," Tommy Shaw's evisceration of the rock star life.Some of the most effective songs here are Shaw's inspirational "Fooling Your