Pieces Of Eight And Akuaku Styx

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album by American progressive rock band Styx, released in September 1978.

Like the band's previous album, The Grand Illusion (1977), it managed to achieve triple platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade".

The band members produced and recorded the album (like their previous three efforts) at Paragon Studios in Chicago with recording engineer Barry Mraz and mixing engineer Rob Kingsland. "I'm O.K." was recorded at Paragon and St. James Cathedral. This would be the last Styx album to be produced at Paragon Studios.

The album's cover was done by Hipgnosis. Dennis DeYoung stated in the 1991 interview with Redbeard on the In the Studio with Redbeard episode that he initially hated the cover but grew to like it as he got older.

Styx commissioned Hipgnosis, the high priests of album art, to provide a cover for their 1978 album Pieces Of Eight. They ended up being bamboozled by artspeak

Styx made history by being the first band to have four successive albums that each sold three million copies in the US. Pieces Of Eight was the second of them. It has arguably the most surreal cover artwork of any of the band’s many records: three mature women, all wearing earrings shaped like the famous enigmatic statues that stand on Easter Island.

Former Styx frontman Dennis De Young once said of his initial reaction to the artwork: “I hated it. ‘Why do you have these old women on our album cover?’ was the first thought that came to my mind.”

Guitarist James Young, with the hindsight now of decades, says: “It’s a cover that, at the time, we’d like to have changed, given the opportunity. But we had gone to the high priests of album artwork, and they delivered the finished thing so close to our deadline that there was no time to do anything.

“It was Jeff Ayeroff, who had done the design for the previous album [Grand Illusion, also released in ’78] who suggested we go to Hipgnosis.

Hipgnosis came up with a number of ideas, so why did Styx go for this image?

"Let me first of all explain how Hipgnosis work,” James Young continues. “They gave us a lot of choices, which was very impressive. But a lot of the ones we rejected I ended up seeing on other covers. So, clearly they come up with a constant stream of ideas independently of any specific commissions. But, hey, that’s cool.

“We went for the one that seemed to best reflect the concept behind the record: the idea that you shouldn’t sell out your art for gold – for pieces of eight, if you want. The women on the cover have cashed in their principles for the Easter Island set to be trendy. Besides, Hipgnosis bamboozled us with artspeak. I’m a graduate in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and didn’t understand a word.

“We all thought the women on the cover would be a lot younger than they ended up. It was strange for guys in their mid-20s to be looking at their album cover featuring women in their late 40s. But, with a tour booked, we had to get the album out. We did make some suggestions for changes, but it was too late.”

Young has, though, come to more than just be able to live with the design: “I now feel it’s the best cover we’ve ever had. Although it took me an age to come to that conclusion. I also feel that in the era of vinyl, the detail really worked. If we’d had that sleeve specifically for a CD it would have lost a lot of the impact.”

The record is considered by some to be Styx's most obvious concept album, as well as the last Styx album with significant progressive rock leanings. The theme of the album, as Dennis DeYoung explained on In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to Pieces of Eight, was about "not giving up your dreams just for the pursuit of money and material possessions".

Dennis DeYoung – vocals, keyboards
James "JY" Young – vocals, electric guitars
Tommy Shaw – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, autoharp
Chuck Panozzo – bass guitar
John Panozzo – drums, percussion

Producer: Styx
Engineers: Rob Kingsland, Barry Mraz
Assistant engineer: Harry Andronis
Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC
Cover by Hipgnosis

Pieces Of Eight
Styx
Written by: Dennis De Young
Album: Pieces Of Eight
Released: 1978

It's six o'clock
Good morning sounds are everywhere
The warmth of spring, a gentle breeze blows through my hair

I hurry through my life never stopping to see
How beautiful it was meant to be

I'm just a prisoner in a king's disguise
Broken dreams as we shuffle by

It's six o'clock it's quitting time I'm done for the day
Out on the streets I overheard a lady say
We now have everything or so people say
But now this emptiness haunts me every day
We seek the lion's share never knowing why
Come alive spread your wings and fly

Pieces of eight
The search for the money tree
Don't cash your freedoms in for gold
Pieces of eight
Can't buy you everything
Don't let it turn your heart to stone