Styx - The Grand Illusion (1977) [Friday Music 180g LP] 24-bit/96kHz & CD-format

Posted By : aksman | Date : 06 Sep 2011 06:24:56 | Comments : 15 |

“

Other than being their first platinum-selling album, The Grand Illusion led Styx steadfastly into the domain of AOR rock.

- Mike DeGagne/AMG (4/5 Stars)

”

The Grand Illusion is the seventh studio album by Styx, released in 1977. It became the band's first Triple Platinum album, and spawned the Top 10 hit "Come Sail Away" and the Top 30 hit "Fooling Yourself".

The album was the subject of an episode of the US radio show In the Studio with Redbeard featuring interviews with several band members. According to lead singer Dennis DeYoung, the album's theme was the struggle to overcome self-deluding superficiality in order to affirm one's genuine value. This theme was reflected in the lyrics of the album's title track:

DeYoung also revealed that the title of The Grand Illusion had been considered dating back to the 1975 album Equinox.

The track "Miss America" was guitarist James Young's scathing attack on the Miss America pageant. Young, in his interview on the In the Studio program, said the track came to him in the middle of the night and that its riff was inspired by the Jethro Tull song "Minstrel in the Gallery".

Track listing

Side A

Side B

Lead vocals and lead guitar: James Young

Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw

Personnel

Styx

Production

Dynamic Range

Technical Log

Ripping Note

All files are inside the folders.
High resoulution files are marked as "hr", CD-compatible files as "rb".

The files are interchangeable!!!

Hope you enjoy!!!

Check my blog for more audiophile stuff.

Links: (Filesonic) Folder

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Pass: aksman

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Posted By: Dr. Robert Date: 06 Sep 2011 06:54:53

This should sound sweet. Mastered by Kevin Gray and ripped by aksman. Thanks for sharing.

Posted By: meaningofiz Date: 06 Sep 2011 08:38:02

Does anyone else hear a nasty bit of distortion on "Miss America" at about 1:04? Sounds like it is probably in the pressing but could be just part of this rip. Otherwise the rip is excellent!

Posted By: Dr. Robert Date: 06 Sep 2011 10:20:30

@ meaningofiz

Yes those nasty noises in the left channel are a typical pressing defect of virtually every Friday Music release I have. I was able to clean it up in addition to two other spots and I uploaded a fixed B1 track. I also made a new cover scan that can be used for this rip.

http://www.filesonic.com/folder/11138401

Please use aksman's usual password

Posted By: Zedy Date: 06 Sep 2011 10:28:14

I didn't notice any distortion.

Posted By: aksman Date: 06 Sep 2011 11:40:28

@ meaningofiz

Damn, I overseen that. But big thx to the good Doctor for fixing it...

Posted By: meaningofiz Date: 06 Sep 2011 12:56:56

Interesting to hear that this is common on Friday Music releases. This isn't supposed to happen. The purpose of test pressings is to prevent bad cuts like this from going into production. Since a new cut is required it can be time consuming and expensive. Sounds like very poor quality control on the part of the manufacturer. If I were buying these things I would complain very LOUDLY. Thanks!

Posted By: aksman Date: 06 Sep 2011 13:07:14

@ meaningofiz

Normally I would return such records. The only way consumers can complain about products... In this case it is possible you can overseen (hear) such mistakes. Especially iif they are happens one or two times on a record.
Unlike Dr. Robert my experiences with Friday Music isn't that bad. Had to return maybe one or two records so far.

Posted By: Dr. Robert Date: 06 Sep 2011 13:59:23

@ meaningofiz

I discussed these problems with Friday Music pressings early this year with the head of customer service at Acoustic Sounds. Unfortunately it seems that Friday Music and their pressing plant don't seem to care to fix these problems. These pressing glitches are not random. I have returned many FRM albums only to find the same glitches in the same places. In almost all cases one side is near perfect the other side full of crackles. These noises are the same as I find on some Capitol US pressings. Many Friday Music releases are stamped MASTERED BY CAPITOL in the deadwax. When I see that I know I am in for trouble.

Perhaps these poor pressings is what made Acoustic Sounds open their own pressing plant for their own Analogue Productions label.

Posted By: SuperFuzz Date: 06 Sep 2011 16:34:55

where are these pressed? RTI ? the problem is most likely in the plating or pressing process.

Posted By: Dr. Robert Date: 06 Sep 2011 19:00:51

@ SuperFuzz

I tend to think not, as I don't hear the same noises in known RTI pressings. My theory is it is either in the plating or one side of the press is not giving proper vinyl fill to the grooves.

Posted By: Laserman59 Date: 06 Sep 2011 19:18:38

Thank you Aksman for this great share. :-)

Posted By: meaningofiz Date: 07 Sep 2011 00:52:42

Thanks to Dr Robert for the info. This kind of buzzing noise is common when the sound on tape is cut into the master lacquer disc. It is not in the master tape or the plating or pressing. Capitol would be the one to fix this, but you can't really blame Capitol either even though they have never had a good reputation for mastering. Usually, a bad cut will only go into production if the client (Friday Music) allows it or doesn't hear it in the test press.

Once you know of all the potential quality control issues with record manufacturing it makes you realize that vinyl will always be a long way from the perfect medium that some like to think it is. I love great vinyl but this sort of thing almost makes me glad that it is a dying art. :)

Posted By: jpics Date: 07 Sep 2011 10:01:35

Thanks aksman

Posted By: humyaimakmak Date: 07 Sep 2011 18:01:56

Many thanks for this Styx LP, aksman.

Posted By: vaultman110 Date: 10 Sep 2011 19:04:51

Anyone had a chance to do a comparison of this one to the MFSL Dr. Rob did last year?

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