The eighth studio album by Styx, 1978's Pieces of Eight peaked at #6 on the Billboard album chart. The album managed to achieve triple-platinum certification, thanks to the three hit singles "Sing for the Day", "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" and "Renegade". The band members, Dennis DeYoung (keyboards, vocals), Tommy Shaw (guitar, mandolin, vocals), James "JY" Young (guitar, vocals), Chuck Panozzo (bass) and John Panozzo (drums), produced and recorded the album. Many critics consider Pieces of Eight a concept album as well as the last Styx album with the significant progressive rock leanings that characterized their previous albums. The theme of the album was about "not giving up your dreams just for the pursuit of money and material possessions" according to Dennis DeYoung. Pieces of Eight features the width of Styx talents and maintains its quality while exploring a lot of different musical styles, all wrapped up in a prog rock veneer with impressive instrumental prowess, outstanding harmonies, and catchy songwriting. Two of the album's ten tracks are instrumentals: the DeYoung synthesizer showcase "The Message" and Tommy Shaw's closing "Aku-Aku." The album's cover was done by Hipgnosis.
