49. Styx--Paradise Theater
49: Styx--Paradise Theater (1981)
Top-Notch Tracks: Side 1 ("A.D. 1928/Rockin' the Paradise," "Too Much Time On My Hands," "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned," "The Best of Times")
Album Depth: "She Cares," "Half-Penny, Two-Penny"
Weak Links: "Snowblind"
Stand-Out Lyrics: "Well, I'm so tired of losing I've got nothing to do and all day to do it."--"Too Much Time On My Hands"
"You're so together, and you act so civilized, but every time that things go wrong you're still surprised."--"Nothing Ever Goes As Planned"
"I know you feel these are the worst of times. I do believe it's true. When people lock their doors and hide inside, rumor has it it's the end of paradise."--"The Best of Times"
"And still she treats me like a human. She says she'll still be there. I don't quite understand it, she's been too fair."--"She Cares"
"Now, I'm a jet fuel genius. I can solve the world's problems without even trying. I've got dozens of friends and the fun never ends--that is as long as I'm buying."--"Too Much Time On My Hands"
"You've been working and saving for your Jamaican dream. Paradise is waiting across the sea. But when your plane lands, Montego turns to monsoon. You've got the island blues."--"Nothing Ever Goes As Planned"
"Tonight's the night we'll make history, sure as dogs can fly."--"A.D. 1928"
Album Cover: 8 out of 10. It's a nice cover, but it's another instance where the back cover really helps the overall image, pushing it up a point or two.
Comments: Looking back now, Styx can look rather silly and be somewhat of a punch line. (See: the Paul Rudd/Jimmy Fallon remake of the Too Much Time On My Hands video.) But, between 1977 and 1981 they were rock and roll gods who could do no wrong. (At least in the eyes of the teenage boys of southeast Idaho.) They had a four-album stretch ("The Grand Illusion," "Pieces of Eight," "Cornerstone," "Paradise Theater,") that holds its own against almost any other rock group from that time. (Or course, that great run ended with 1983's "Kilroy Was Here" album, which, while fun to listen to, led to the breakup of the band due to Dennis DeYoung's literal theatrics.)
Side 1 of this album is fantastic! The fast-paced, hard-driving rock of "Rockin' the Paradise;" the pounding fun of "Too Much Time On My Hands;" the under-appreciated cleverness (and horns!) of "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned;" and the pure pop power of "The Best of Times." Unfortunately, Side 2 is pretty weak, with only Tommy Shaw's ballad "She Cares," and the opening guitar lick from James "JY" Young's "Half-Penny, Two-Penny" being worth the time it takes it flip the cassette over and push play. (As often as not, listening to this album meant playing Side 1, then hitting rewind instead of flipping it over.)
The passage of time (and his stint as Kilroy/Mr. Roboto) have made it easy to look back and laugh at Dennis DeYoung, but back when he was at his peak he was a curly-haired rock and roll master, and he rocked my little hometown paradise.
Up next: I don't know why you say, "Goodbye."
It's been a loooooooooooong time since I listened to this album all the way through, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that I still remembered a lot of the lyrics from most of the songs, and not just "Too Much Time on My Hands," which still gets regular airplay on the classic rock stations that I listen to. And after listening this album, I gave their latest album "The Mission" a listen. It's a concept album about a mission to Mars in the near future. Now, for some reason I had always thought that Tommy Shaw and the rest of the band was more interested in writing rockin' songs without all of the musical theater stuff that Dennis DeYoung seemed to revel in so much. However, I think I was mistaken for thinking that, because this concept album has plenty of theatric elements to it. I can even see if being the soundtrack to one of those Broadway shows where they write a story to go along with a bunch of rock songs so that us old farts with lots of money and fading memories of our youth can go spend hundreds of dollars to hear the music live again. So yeah, I think Tommy Shaw is still trying to write songs that might be played at the Paradise Theater.
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