Styx 'Man of Miracles' Rare 1974 original vinyl LP Wooden Nickel BWL1-0638

	£		21
	$		28

Styx 'Man of Miracle' rare 1974 original vinyl LP Wooden Nickel BWL1-0638.  Condition is Used. Dispatched with Royal Mail 2nd Class. Both the vinyl and the sleeve are in excellent condition.  

Man of Miracles is the fourth album by Styx, released on November 8th 1974.

This was the band's last original album on the independent Chicago-based label Wooden Nickel Records before moving to the major label A&M.

Styx is an American rock band from Chicago that formed in 1971 and became famous for its albums released in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for melding hard rock guitar balanced with acoustic guitar, synthesizers mixed with acoustic piano, upbeat tracks with power ballads, and incorporating elements of international musical theatre. The band established itself with a progressive rock sound in the 1970s, and began to incorporate pop rock and soft rock elements in the 1980s.

In August 1961, at 12 years of age, twin brothers Chuck (bass) and John Panozzo (drums) first played music together with their 14-year-old neighbor Dennis DeYoung who played accordion and sang, while living in the Roseland, Chicago area, eventually using the band name 'The Tradewinds'. Chuck left to attend seminary school for a year but returned to the group by 1964. Tom Nardin had been brought in to replace Chuck on guitar, and Chuck decided to play bass guitar when he returned to the band. John Panozzo was the drummer, while DeYoung had switched from accordion to keyboards. In 1965, the Tradewinds name was changed to TW4 (There Were 4)] after another band, the Trade Winds, achieved fame nationally. By 1966, the Panozzo brothers had joined DeYoung at Chicago State College and kept the group together by performing at high schools and fraternity parties while studying to be teachers. In 1969 they added a college friend folk guitarist, John Curulewski, after Nardin departed. Hard rocker guitarist James "J.Y." Young came aboard in 1970, making TW4 a quintet.

In 1971 the band members decided to choose a new name when they signed to Wooden Nickel Records after being spotted by a talent scout at a concert at St. John of the Cross Parish in Western Springs, Illinois (James "JY" Young's hometown). Several suggestions were made and, according to DeYoung, the name Styx was chosen because it was "the only one that none of us hated".

The band released four albums: Styx I (1971), Styx II (1973), The Serpent Is Rising (1973), and Man of Miracles (1974). These albums contained straight-ahead rockers mixed with prog rock flourish with a lot of guitars, drums, keyboards, percussion, and vocals solos. They established a fan base in the Chicago area, but were unable to break into the mainstream, though the song "Best Thing" from Styx charted on September 16, 1972, and stayed on Billboard's "Hot 100" chart for 6 weeks, peaking at #82. Then, the power ballad "Lady" (from Styx II), began to earn some radio time, first on WLS in Chicago in 1974 and then nationwide. In the spring of 1975, nearly two years after the album had been released, "Lady" hit No. 6 in the US, and Styx II went gold soon after. After the success of "Lady", "Best Thing" was re-released.

Personnel[edit]

Styx[edit]

• Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards
• James Young – vocals, electric guitars
• John Curulewski – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards
• Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar
• John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Info courtesy of Wikipaedia