After successfully establishing themselves as one of America's best commercial progressive rock bands of the late '70s with albums like
The Grand Illusion and
Pieces of Eight, Chicago's
Styx had taken a dubious step towards pop overkill with singer
Dennis DeYoung's ballad "Babe." The centerpiece of 1979's uneven
Cornerstone album, the number one single sowed the seeds of disaster for the group by pitching
DeYoung's increasingly mainstream ambitions against the group's more conservative songwriters,
Tommy Shaw and James "JY" Young. Hence, what had once been a healthy competitive spirit within the band quickly deteriorated into bitter co-existence during the sessions for 1980's
Paradise Theater -- and all-out warfare by the time of 1983's infamous
Kilroy Was Here. For the time being, however,
Paradise Theater seemed to represent the best of both worlds, since its loose concept about the roaring '20s heyday and eventual decline of an imaginary theater (used as a metaphor for the American experience in general, etc., etc.) seemed to satisfy both of the band's camps with its return to complex hard rock (purists
Shaw and JY) while sparing no amount of pomp and grandeur (
DeYoung). The stage is set by the first track, "A.D. 1928," which features a lonely
DeYoung on piano and vocals introducing the album's recurring musical theme before launching into "Rockin' the Paradise" -- a total team effort of wonderfully stripped down hard rock. From this point forward,
DeYoung's compositions ("Nothing Ever Goes as Planned," "The Best of Times") continue to stick close to the overall storyline, while
Shaw's ("Too Much Time on My Hands," "She Cares") try to resist thematic restrictions as best they can. Among these, "The Best of Times" -- with its deliberate, marching rhythm -- remains one of the more improbable Top Ten hits of the decade (somehow it just works), while "Too Much Time on My Hands" figures among
Shaw's finest singles ever. As for JY, the band's third songwriter (and resident peacekeeper) is only slightly more cooperative with the
Paradise Theater concept. His edgier compositions include the desolate tale of drug addiction, "Snowblind," and the rollicking opus "Half-Penny, Two-Penny," which infuses a graphic depiction of inner city decadence with a final, small glimmer of hope and redemption. The song also leads straight into the album's beautiful saxophone-led epilogue, "A.D. 1958," which once again reveals MC
DeYoung alone at his piano. A resounding success,
Paradise Theater would become
Styx's greatest commercial triumph; and in retrospect, it remains one of the best examples of the convergence between progressive rock and AOR which typified the sound of the era's top groups (
Journey,
Kansas, etc.). For
Styx, its success would spell both their temporary saving grace and ultimate doom, as the creative forces which had already been tearing at the band's core finally reached unbearable levels three years later. It is no wonder that when the band reunited after over a decade of bad blood, all the music released post-1980 was left on the cutting room floor -- further proof that
Paradise Theater was truly the best of times. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia