Styx "Witch Wolf"

Styx
The Serpent Is Rising
LP
(Wooden Nickel, 1973)

Man, Cornerstone really ticked me the heck off! Sure, Styx had been going downhill since John Curulewski left (after their fifth album, Equinox), but this was beyond the pale! Not only was there the execrable Babe, there was not a single song that even slightly rocked! I sold it in absolute disgust, then sold all the rest of my Styx albums (I had the first eight). OK, I held on to Equinox for a couple more years; so sue me.

Years later (like, decades), I rebought the first five albums and was able to dig 'em once again. Guitarist James Young, aka JY, had a knack for hard hard rockers, and Witch Wolf from The Serpent Is Rising, their third album, kicks ass quite nicely. Back then, you see, they had yet to devolve from a rock'n'roll band into a crappy Broadway musical about a crappy rock'n'roll band.

So why are they here today, you demand to know? Bassist Chuck Panozzo came out several years back as gay and HIV-positive and, sadly, no longer plays with the band. Then again, Styx've been utter crap since the late '70s, so it's not like he's missing out or anything.