CORNERSTONE

After returning from their England tour, Styx became aware of the critique that their sound had received in the English rock press. This made them consider shifting their sound even closer to the soft rock format of the late '70s. This was of course a huge mistake since it alienated some of their art rock fans and instead introduced casual fans to Babe. It's generally not a good idea to listen to critique coming from the British press of the late '70s since UK was completely dominated by the punk sound of it time which shunned everything that was even merely art rock and/or prog related.

Styx were still able to deliver quite a few really nice tracks like the album opening Lights, Why Me and First Time. Still, to me this is another album where Tommy Shaw managed to beat Dennis DeYoung on the songwriting front by delivering this album's two biggest highlights with Boat On The River and the album closing Love In The Midnight. I might not be a big fan of his third sole songwriting credit, Never Say Never, but at least it's nowhere nearly as atrocious as the James Young-penned Eddie! The song pleads Ted Kennedy not to run for the office, but it ultimately sounds like complete bogus to my ears with terrible lyrics like - Eddie, now don't you run/You know you're a bootlegger's son/And you saw just what it's done to the others/Eddie, now don't you run/It's the end of all your fun/And you saw just what they've done to your brothers!

Having said that, I still find Cornerstone mildly amusing. It might not be anywhere near as memorable as the two preceding releases but there are just enough solid tracks to give it the average rating that it ultimately deserves.

***** star songs: Boat On The River (3:10)

**** star songs: Lights (4:38) Why Me (3:54) Babe (4:25) First Time (4:24) Love In The Midnight (5:25)

*** star songs: Never Say Never (3:08) Borrowed Time (4:58)

** star songs: Eddie (4:15)

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