Circling From Above isn’t a concept album, despite initial reports of an avian theme. Styx sticks with that about as long as the Beatles did with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Instead, this is a love letter to classic rock, as seen through the prism of Styx.
They played their role in that story, so this album fittingly includes a handful of songs that recall Styx’s career-making late-’70s records. These principally belong to stalwarts Tommy Shaw (“Michigan,” from a song idea dating back to 2011, “Only You Can Decide”), Chuck Panozzo (“Ease Your Mind,” with a turn on bass that’s somehow both airy and firm) and James “J.Y.” Young (“King of Love,” featuring both his signature baritone and a typically bonkers solo). But longtime keyboardist Lawrence Gowan and newer addition Will Evankovich helped widen the LP’s scope.
Evankovich’s pop-rock love letter, “She Knows,” delves deeper into the swirling Beatles influences, culminating in a playful first-take clarinet solo by Jeff Coffin of the Dave Matthews Band. “The Things You Said,” written by Shaw and Evankovich, takes dead aim at the passive-aggressive with a chorus of layered Tommy Shaws straight out of the Electric Light Orchestra’s Eldorado era. “We Lost the Wheel Again,” with lyrics and music by Evankovich, turns into a Who-style goof, complete with a crowing Roger Daltrey-ish approach at the mic and some wild-eyed Keith Moon-isms from drummer Todd Sucherman.
Sometimes, Circling From Above doesn’t feel much like Styx; “It’s Clear” is a solid block of MOR rock with co-writers Gowan on the verses, Shaw on the chorus and Evankovich on the answering bridge. The story song “Blue-Eyed Raven” certainly sounds like Shaw, but when he’s making a rootsy solo turn like 2011’s The Great Divide. Evankovich and Gowan’s “Forgive” is as delicately gorgeous as it is impossible to picture on any previous Styx project. But that works, too, as long as the LP’s premise is accepted — no, not the bird thing. Circling From Above isn’t just a Styx album; it’s a fizzy, impossible-to-resist exploration of their influences.
