Editing Pieces of Eight

{{other uses}}
{{for|the coin|Spanish dollar}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Pieces of Eight
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Styx (band)|Styx]]
| cover      = Styx - Pieces of Eight.jpg
| caption    = Cover by [[Hipgnosis]]
| alt        =
| released   = September 1978
| recorded   = 1978 
| venue      =
| studio     = 
*Paragon, [[Chicago]]
*[[St. James Cathedral (Chicago)|St. James Cathedral]], Chicago
| genre      = {{hlist|[[Progressive rock]]|[[hard rock]]}}
| length     = 42:18
| label      = [[A&M Records|A&M]]
| producer   = [[Styx (band)|Styx]]
| prev_title = [[The Grand Illusion]]
| prev_year  = 1977
| next_title = [[Cornerstone (Styx album)|Cornerstone]]
| next_year  = 1979
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        = Pieces of Eight
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)]]
 | single1date = September 1978<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr00stro/page/798/mode/2up|title=Great Rock Discography|page=798}}</ref>
 | single2     = [[Sing for the Day]]
 | single2date = October 1978 (EU)
 | single3     = [[Renegade (Styx song)|Renegade]]
 | single3date = March 1979<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Styx&titel=Renegade&cat=s|title=Styx singles}}</ref>
}}
}}

'''''Pieces of Eight''''' is the eighth [[studio album]] by American [[progressive rock]] band [[Styx (band)|Styx]], released in September 1978.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/greatrockdiscogr00stro/page/798/mode/2up|title=Great Rock Discography|page=798}}</ref>

Like the band's previous album, ''[[The Grand Illusion (album)|The Grand Illusion]]'' (1977), it managed to achieve triple platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles "[[Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)]]" and "[[Renegade (Styx song)|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 (Chicago)|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 (radio show)|In the Studio with Redbeard]]'' episode that he initially hated the cover but grew to like it as he got older.

==Background==
The record is considered by some<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/styx-pieces-of-eight/|title = How Styx Kept Getting Bigger with 'Pieces of Eight'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://teamrock.com/feature/2015-12-03/styx-the-press-slaughtered-us-i-was-convinced-prog-rock-was-dead|title = Styx and Their Long Fall from Grace|date = 3 December 2015}}</ref> 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 (radio show)|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".

==Reception==
{{Album ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="allmusic">{{AllMusic | class=album | id=pieces-of-eight-mw0000651469 | title=''Styx: Pieces of Eight'' | first=Mike | last=DeGagne | access-date=April 29, 2020}}</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
|rev2Score = C−<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: S|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=S&bk=70|access-date=March 13, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
|rev4 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
|rev4score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Brackett |first=Nathan |author2=Christian Hoard |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2004 |location=New York City, New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/789 789] |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac|url-access=registration |quote=rolling stone styx album guide. }}</ref>
}}
''[[Rolling Stone]]'' reviewer [[Lester Bangs]] was critical of the album, writing that "what's really interesting is not that such [[narcissistic]] slop should get recorded, but what must be going on in the minds of the people who support it in such amazing numbers. Gall, nerve and ego have never been far from great rock & roll. Yet there's a thin but crucial line between those qualities and what it takes to fill arenas today: sheer self-aggrandizement on the most puerile level. If these are the champions, gimme the cripples."<ref name="RS">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/pieces-of-eight-19781228 |title=Styx - ''Pieces of Eight'' (1978) album review |last=Bangs |first=Lester |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |publisher=[[Wenner Media]] |date=December 28, 1978 |access-date=June 23, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710184803/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/pieces-of-eight-19781228 |archive-date=July 10, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' noted that "when Styx strays too far from its rock and roll foundations ... as on the Gothic-pretentious numbers by Dennis De Young like 'Lords of the Ring', it starts getting less credible."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gilday |first1=Katherine |title=Styx |work=The Globe and Mail |date=25 Oct 1978 |page=F9}}</ref>

Mike DeGagne of [[AllMusic]] has retrospectively praised the album, saying that the songs on the album "rekindle some of Styx's early progressive rock sound, only cleaner."<ref name="allmusic" />

The album peaked at No. 6 on the [[Billboard charts|Billboard]] album chart, and like its predecessor would go triple platinum.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.styxworld.com/SilverStripe/concert-review-the-grand-illusion-pieces-of-eight-tour-atlanta-ga/ |title=Concert Review: The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight Tour - Atlanta, GA |last=Moseley |first=Willey |date=November 13, 2010 |access-date=December 26, 2012 |quote=Moreover, the choice of 1977's The Grand Illusion and 1978's Pieces of Eight probably didn't come as any surprise, either—those two releases were STYX's first Triple Platinum albums. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703122642/http://www.styxworld.com/SilverStripe/concert-review-the-grand-illusion-pieces-of-eight-tour-atlanta-ga/ |archive-date=July 3, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| headline = Side one 
| extra_column = Lead vocals
| title1 = Great White Hope
| writer1 = [[James Young (American musician)|James "J.Y." Young]]
| extra1 =  Young, [[Dennis DeYoung]] (spoken intro)
| length1 = 4:22
| title2 = I'm O.K.
| writer2 = DeYoung, Young
| extra2 =  DeYoung
| length2 = 5:41
| title3 = [[Sing for the Day]]
| writer3 = [[Tommy Shaw]]
| extra3 =  Shaw
| length3 = 4:57
| title4 = The Message
| writer4 = DeYoung
| extra4 = (instrumental)
| length4 = 1:08
| title5 = Lords of the Ring
| writer5 = DeYoung
| extra5 =  Young
| length5 = 4:33
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Side two
| extra_column = Lead vocals
| title6 = [[Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)]]
| writer6 = Shaw
| extra6 =  Shaw
| length6 = 4:05
| title7 = Queen of Spades
| writer7 = Young, DeYoung
| extra7 =  DeYoung
| length7 = 5:38
| title8 = [[Renegade (Styx song)|Renegade]]
| writer8 = Shaw
| extra8 =  Shaw
| length8 = 4:16
| title9 = Pieces of Eight
| writer9 = DeYoung
| extra9 =  DeYoung
| length9 = 4:44
| title10 = Aku-Aku
| writer10 = Shaw
| extra10 =  Shaw
| length10 = 2:57
}}

==Personnel==

===Styx===
* [[Dennis DeYoung]] –  vocals, keyboards
* [[James Young (American musician)|James "JY" Young]] – vocals, guitars
* [[Tommy Shaw]] – vocals, guitars, mandolin, autoharp
* [[Chuck Panozzo]] – bass
* [[John Panozzo]] – drums, percussion

===Production===
* [[Record producer|Producer]]: Styx
* [[Recording engineer|Engineers]]: Rob Kingsland, Barry Mraz
* Assistant engineer: Harry Andronis
* Mastered by [[Ted Jensen]] at Sterling Sound, NYC
* [[Album cover|Cover]] by [[Hipgnosis]]

==Charts==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Weekly charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1978)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
! scope="row"| Australia Albums ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=299}}</ref>
| 70
|-
{{album chart|Canada|3|artist=Styx|album=Pieces Of Eight|chartid=0043a|rowheader=true|access-date=January 26, 2024}}
|-
{{album chart|Netherlands|24|artist=Styx|album=Pieces Of Eight|rowheader=true|accessdate=January 26, 2024}}
|-
{{album chart|Sweden|30|artist=Styx|album=Pieces Of Eight|rowheader=true|accessdate=January 26, 2024}}
|-
{{album chart|Billboard200|6|artist=Styx|rowheader=true|accessdate=January 26, 2024}}
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1978)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row" | Canada Top Albums/CDs (''RPM'')<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0069&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.0069.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0069|title=RPM Top 100 Albums of '78|website=[[Library and Archives Canada]]|access-date=January 11, 2025}}</ref>
| 29
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1979)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
{{albumchart|Canada|94|chartid=6920|rowheader=true|access-date=January 12, 2025|refname=CA_YE}}
|-
! scope="row"| US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1979/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1979|magazine=Billboard|date=2 January 2013|accessdate=March 8, 2021}}</ref>
| 7
|}
{{col-end}}

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for ''Pieces of Eight''}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|artist=Styx|title=Pieces of Eight|award=Platinum|type=album|relyear=1978|certyear=1978|access-date=September 1, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|artist=Styx|title=Pieces of Eight|award=Platinum|number=3|type=album|relyear=1978|certyear=1984|date=November 14, 1984|access-date=September 1, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

==Singles==
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Single
!Chart
!Position
|-
|1978
|"[[Blue Collar Man|Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)]]"
|rowspan="3"|US Pop Singles
|align="center"|21
|-
|rowspan="2"|1979
|"[[Sing for the Day]]"
|align="center"|41
|-
|"[[Renegade (Styx song)|Renegade]]"
|align="center"|16
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.allmusic.com/album/pieces-of-eight-mw0000651469 Styx - ''Pieces of Eight'' (1978) album review by Mike DeGagne, credits & releases] at [[AllMusic.com]]
* [https://www.discogs.com/Styx-Pieces-Of-Eight/release/8420052 Styx - ''Pieces of Eight'' (1978) album releases & credits] at [[Discogs|Discogs.com]]
* [https://open.spotify.com/album/3IPNVB8yYZX1Vp6GryFeYn Styx - ''Pieces of Eight'' (1978) album to be listened] as stream at [[Spotify|Spotify.com]]

{{Styx}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1978 albums]]
[[Category:Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis]]
[[Category:A&M Records albums]]
[[Category:1970s concept albums]]
[[Category:Styx (band) albums]]