Pieces of Eight

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album and second concept album by Styx, released September 1, 1978.

Like the band's previous album, The Grand Illusion, it managed to achieve triple-platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles "Sing for the Day", "Blue Collar Man" and "Renegade".

The band members produced the album and recorded it (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 album to be produced at Paragon Studios.

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".

Eight of the album's ten tracks have vocals, and it features two instrumentals, the DeYoung synthesizer showcase "The Message" and Tommy Shaw's closing "Aku-Aku" (although for the latter, there was one lyric spoken, the title of the song). "The Message" serves as a prelude for "Lords of the Ring", and "Aku-Aku" is a postlude for "Pieces of Eight".

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