The Grand Illusion, Styx’s 7th album released on 7-7-77, has always been a personal favorite of mine. It’s grand and ambitious, each song seemingly designed to echo in the wings of stadiums of any size. And yet the songs have an underlying sensitivity to them that keeps you coming back even when your amphitheater is limited to the size of your own head.
This album announces itself as a powerhouse from song 1. ‘The Grand Illusion’ grabs you with its pompous introduction, like you just walked into a circus and Dennis DeYoung is the host. Then “Fooling Yourself” seems to take us from the circus to the church with its iconic organ opening.
This is one of those albums that went mega platinum on the strength of its hero tracks; to me it’s kind of the big 3 and then the rest is entertainer-themed filler, albeit extremely strong filler. But when you have “Come Sail Away” as your hero song, do you really need anything else?
Come Sail Away is probably a formative song for a lot of people. I’m one of them. I heard this song for the first time as a teenager in the early 2000’s, and it opened me up to the theatrical, classical music-tinged blend of arena rock that is Styx. It also was the first song I can recall making me want to learn the piano. Plus, come on, it’s really about aliens and that’s just the best twist ever.
I put my own spin on it as a solo fingerstyle guitar arrangement — you can watch the cover and grab the tab here, free on my Patreon.
This one is a Jamwise essential.
