Styx: Crystal Ball (A&M) **
Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 4 December 1976
THIS ONE I rather like. Not so much for its musical qualities but for the strange sense of homour through which these five debonair Chicagoans approach rock 'n' roll.
Total word count of piece: 269
Best Databases: RBP is Runner-up in Best Niche category
Video: Johnny Marr talks about Rock's Backpages
RBP on Spotify: The genius of Judee Sill
RBP Album Club in Chicago, June 30th: Paul Yamada and Liam (Plush) Hayes celebrate a Curtis Mayfield classic
Essential Listening: Roy Trakin meets the Replacements in '87
Essential Reading: Andrew Smith's history of the first dotcom boom
RBP Album Club, July 11th: Nick Hornby and Nick Coleman celebrate Southside Johnny's debut
Join the Facebook group now