Styx

Styx – Pieces Of Eight (1978) [Audio Fidelity 2017]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:48 minutes | Scans included | 1,72 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 906 MB
Mastered by Kevin Gray | Audio Fidelity # AFZ-265 | Genre: Rock

Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album by Styx. Like the band’s previous album, it managed to achieve triple platinum certification, thanks to the hit singles “Sing for the Day”, “Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” and “Renegade”.

(more…)

Styx – Paradise Theater (1981) [Japanese SHM-SACD 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:39 minutes | Scans included | 1,65 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 804 MB

One album before Styx cut loose with an honest-to-goodness concept album, Kilroy Was Here, they flirted with the idea on Paradise Theater. The concept here has something to do with the decline of America in the ’70s, based on the condemnation and destruction of the Paradise Theater, a famous showplace in the band’s hometown of Chicago. Truth be told, the concept hasn’t held together that well, though the individual songs have, led by the optimistic ballad “The Best of Times,” and the rockers “Too Much Time on My Hands” and “Snowblind.” Dennis DeYoung gives some of his most theatrical performances throughout, presaging his overly ambitious Kilroy concept, but also his successful run performing in the legitimate theater, as Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar. Paradise, meanwhile, was about as good as it got for Styx. –Daniel Durchholz

(more…)

Styx – Paradise Theater (1981) [Audio Fidelity 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:43 minutes | Scans included | 1,64 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 796 MB
Mastered by Kevin Gray | Audio Fidelity # AFZ-174

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.

(more…)