Styx – Pieces Of Eight(1978)

Biography
Styx is an American rock band from Chicago that formed in 1972 and became famous for its albums released in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for melding the style of pop rock and hard rock with the power of a hard-rock guitar balanced with acoustic guitar, synthesizers mixed with acoustic piano, upbeat tracks with power ballads, and incorporating elements of international musical theatre. Styx is best known for the hit songs “Lady”, “Come Sail Away”, “Babe”, “The Best of Times”, “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “Mr. Roboto”. Other major hits include “Show Me the Way”, “Don’t Let It End”, and “Renegade”. Styx has had 4 consecutive albums certified multi-platinum by the RIAA as well as 16 top 40 singles in the US, 8 of which hit the top 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styx_(band)

Album & Cover

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album by Styx, released on September 1, 1978. Like the band’s previous album, The Grand Illusion (1977), it managed to achieve triple platinum certification,Pieces of Eight found the group moving in a more straight-ahead hard-rock direction and spawned three Shaw sung hit singles “Renegade” (#16 in the US) and “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” (#21 in the US), plus a minor hit “Sing for the Day” that stopped just short of the Top Forty at #41.The album peaked at #6 on the Billboard album chart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieces_of_Eight 

The women for this cover were photographed in the studio and then collaged onto a stock photograph of Easter Island. The gatefold inner is a collage of the band. Richard manning explains the process: These are ‘R’ Type prints from transparency. There is actually another woman on the left of the image but I left her off. The base print of the background was mounted onto double weight mount board. The prints of the women were half cut through with a razor blade and the back peeled away and then sanded to make the edge as thin as possible. The woman in the blue top was stuck in position first, the woman in the white top was taped loosely in position . With a razor blade I carefully cut the blue top woman to the shape of the white top woman and discarded the pieces. The woman in the white top was glued with Columbia Cement in position. The woman in the black top was then taped in position and the woman in the white top was cut to the shape of the woman in the black top. Then the black top woman glued in position. General spotting of the prints overall and the white of the eye brightened and cleaned.
http://www.richardmanning.co.uk/hipgnosis-album-cover-art/styx-pieces-of-eight–1978/28

Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London.
Who Did What: Art Direction, Design – Hipgnosis. Photography: A. Powell
Label: A&M SP-4724(US), AMHL 64724(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Bass Guitar – Chuck Panozzo
Drums – John Panozzo
Engineer – Rob Kingsland
Engineer [Assistant] – Gary Geppert, Harry Andronis
Guitar – James Young (3) (tracks: A1 to A2, A4 to B5), Tommy Shaw
Management, Directed By – Derek Sutton, Stardust Enterprises
Mastered By – TJ
Producer – Styx
Producer [Assistant], Engineer – Barry Mraz
Synthesizer [Programming] – Dennis DeYoung, Ed Walsh