First Four Classic Early '70s Albums From Styx Brought Together on The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings

LOS ANGELES (Hip-O/ UMe Records) - As the Styx resurgence grows - the download success of its cover of The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus," a new studio album in 2005 and more touring - long-time fans can reminisce and new fans can discover the band's beginnings with the two-CD THE COMPLETE WOODEN NICKEL RECORDINGS (Hip-O/UMe), released February 15, 2005.

Featuring digitally remastered versions of the group's first four albums in their entirety plus the rare track "Unfinished Song," THE COMPLETE WOODEN NICKEL RECORDINGS is the musical Book of Genesis for Styx. Along with its 35 selections, spanning 1972-1974, the collection includes an informative 16-page booklet chronicling the band before it became the late '70s multiplatinum-selling prototype for arena rock.

The Chicago-bred quintet launched its career with a quartet of LPs (STYX, STYX II, THE SERPENT IS RISING and MAN OF MIRACLES) on the RCA-distributed Wooden Nickel label. Each recorded in Chicago, they reveal Styx as an ambitious outfit offering a blue-collar American answer to the British progressive-rock movement, with hints of the accessible songcraft and rock punch that would eventually make it one of the world's most popular bands.

Keyboardist/vocalist Dennis DeYoung, guitarists James "J.Y." Young and John Curulewski, and twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo (bass and drums, respectively) debuted with 1972's STYX. Their eclecticism was evident as the album embraced both the radio-friendly "Best Thing" (Styx's first charter) and the grandiose 13-minute suite "Movement For The Common Man," which spotlighted an adaptation of Aaron Copland's contemporary-classical standard "Fanfare For The Common Man," predating Emerson, Lake and Palmer's version by several years.

STYX II, released in 1973, contained the band's breakthrough, "Lady." Though a regional hit, the single would not score nationally until 1974, peaking in the Top 10 and belatedly lifting STYX II to gold and the Top 20. In the meantime, THE SERPENT IS RISING was issued in 1973 ("Unfinished Song" was recorded during that album's sessions and first issued as a 1974 b-side). MAN OF MIRACLES, released in 1974, continued to showcase both the band's guitar-driven rock side and its moody cinematic sensibility even as "Lady" shot up the charts.

In 1975, Styx signed with A&M. Within a few years, the band - with new guitarist/singer Tommy Shaw - would become an immortal name in rock history. But the first bridges it built across the river Styx can now be heard on THE COMPLETE WOODEN NICKEL RECORDINGS.