STYX

After checking out some of the positive reviews for this album I just had to find out for myself whether Edge Of The Century was really that good of a Styx record!

It must have been tough to find a replacement for Tommy Shaw, the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter that brought Styx the mainstream attention back in the late '70s. Still, it must have been even tougher for Glen Burtnik to become that replacement once everything was settled! Burtnik has been an active performer ever since the late '70s and had a minor solo career going on by the time he's got the offer to join Styx. His role was to bring the band a new career boost which would actually prove to be quite difficult in the early '90s once grunge began to dominate the mainstream radio stations and thus leaving behind the classic rock bands of the '70s and '80s.

Burtnik did his best in order to make Styx sound fresh and exciting but I'm ultimately far from impressed by his performance. Most of his material sounds like he's really trying too hard to sound commercially viable and edgy in his performances but it all just sounds so uninspired that I would much rather just listen to a whole record filled with DeYoung's ballads than anything written and performed by Burtnik. This is pretty much why I can't enjoy Love Is The Ritual, the album's title track and glam metal inspired World Tonite.

What makes this album slightly more bearable are the tracks written by Dennis DeYoung. All of his material here consists of melodic ballads which, I guess, are meant to counter Burtnik's heavy rock sound. Still it would have been interesting to hear more of DeYoung's art rock style, which is unfortunately completely non-existent on Edge Of The Century. Yes, songs like Show Me The Way, Love At First Sight, Carrie Ann and my personal favorite Back To Chicago are all quite enjoyable but this feels like the type of material that DeYoung could pretty much write in his sleep by this point.

James Young almost seems completely missing on this record, which I find to be quite pleasant. Homewrecker is, as far as I can tell, his only vocal performance on the album plus he shares a co-writing credit for Love At First Sight. The final result of such mixed songwriting makes Edge Of The Century sound extremely uneven with '80s rock sound of Burtnik's work sounding extremely dated by todays standards. DeYoung's work manages to fare slightly better even though I would much rather listen to any of the great ballads from the past than any of this album's biggest highlights. The final verdict cannot be anything more than a poor one. This is the only album that I'd discourage even the biggest Styx fans from buying. Remember, you have been warned!

**** star songs: Show Me The Way (4:35) Love At First Sight (4:35) Carrie Ann (4:26) Back To Chicago (4:18)

*** star songs: All In A Day's Work (4:11)

** star songs: Love Is The Ritual (3:48) Edge Of The Century (4:20) Not Dead Yet (3:32) World Tonite (3:38) Homewrecker (5:12)

After two weaker Styx albums, in the shape of Cornerstone and Paradise Theater, it was obvious that the band was losing their momentum. Even though they still delivered hit songs, one somehow got the feeling that the chemistry between the members was lost and Kilroy Was Here is a perfect example of just that.

The album kicks off with a short introduction to the Don't Let It End melody before we dive into the album's biggest hit Mr. Roboto. Almost everyone should have heard this song at one point or another so there's really no point to go into details, let's just say that I happen to enjoy it a bit more than I probably should. I think that the main reason for this is Dennis DeYoung's passionate vocal delivery and that's also the case with Don't Let It End and the slightly less memorable High Time. It would have really been interesting to hear more songs from DeYoung featured on this album since his material is what carries this record, thus also explaining why only his material actually managed to make an impact on the charts.

Tommy Shaw does manage to score two nice ballads with Just Get Through This Night and Haven't We Been Here Before? while Cold War is probably one of my least favorite tracks of his. I have no idea how James Young managed to get two songs of his on this album because they are really not all that impressive. Double Life might be quite harmless and one can easily forget that it's even on this album but Heavy Metal Poisoning is where I draw the line! This is a completely disastrous track and one of the few instances that I always make sure to skip the song while listening to Kilroy Was Here.

Did I mention that this is a concept album with a short film and thematic music videos been produced to support the album? Well, I guess that it's for the better! This is as pretentious as Styx would ever get with their conceptual releases so my recommendation is to stick with the individual compositions for their songwriting and forget that there is any theme between them.

This album clearly shows the split within Styx and even though the final product is not the worst record they've released, it's only because this quintet were the professionals that they were. I can only recommend Kilroy Was Here to fans of Styx who have played all previous albums to death and feel that they need to hear a bit new material from the band.

**** star songs: Mr. Roboto (5:28) Don't Let It End (4:56) Just Get Through This Night (6:06) Haven't We Been Here Before? (4:06) Don't Let It End (Reprise) (2:22)

*** star songs: Cold War (4:27) High Time (4:33) Double Life (3:46)

* star songs: Heavy Metal Poisoning (4:57)

Paradise Theater might initially seem like a huge improvement over Cornerstone but it ultimately sums up to a lackluster and rather shallow attempt at regaining back the band's art rock audience.

The record is built up as a concept album about a fictional story of Chicago's Paradise Theater from its opening to prime to closing and ultimately demolition. This really does sound like an interesting idea that I doubt that many artists would be able to do justice to. Unfortunately, Styx aren't an exception to the rule and completely butcher any chances of success with this half-hearted attempt at a concept record. It's pretty obvious that both Tommy Shaw and James Young were completely disinterested with the whole idea since none of their songs actually fit into the Paradise Theater storyline. Young's co-writing credit for Half-Penny, Two-Penny does have some important plot-points buried in the song's middle section but you'll really have to listen in carefully in order to actually hear any of the dialog under the sounds of ringing bells and stomping bass!

After completely trashing the concept and two of the three songwriters works, let's talk about why I actually enjoy this record and consider giving it an average rating; Half of this album was written by Dennis DeYoung who, once again, manages to show that he can be an excellent songwriter whenever he actually puts his mind to it. Songs like Rockin' The Paradise, The Best Of Times, Nothing Ever Goes As Planned and Lonely People depict him on top of his game and it's quite unfortunate that he wasn't able to write this entire album on his own.

Styx manages to, once again, deliver a mixed bag of an album with Paradise Theater. This time the highs don't manage to outmatch the lows which ultimately results in this average rating. DeYoung manages to deliver some of his best work while Shaw and Young assume that it's business as usual and continue to deliver some of their more forgettable material from the early '80s era.

***** star songs: A.D. 1928 (1:07) Rockin' The Paradise (3:34) The Best Of Times (4:21)

**** star songs: Too Much Time On My Hands (4:33) Nothing Ever Goes As Planned (4:47) Lonely People (5:25) Half-Penny, Two-Penny (5:58) A.D. 1958 (1:06)

*** star songs: She Cares (4:21) Snowblind (4:59) State Street Sadie (0:26)

I don't see why anyone would call this album Cornerstone... to me it sounds more like just another brick in the wall!

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)

With The Grand Illusion Styx managed to show that they could put their great songwriting skills to good use writing melodic art rock music; Pieces Of Eight was the album where they proved that they could pretty much write this material in their sleep!

The late '70s was the period where most British progressive rock bands where clutching at straws. Surprisingly, this was also the period where Styx could do no wrong and Pieces Of Eight shows this notion even more than any of its predecessors. There are a few songs that I might not enjoy as much as the rest, but this fact has been a staple of this band's career and I'm fortunate to note that the great moments manage to outnumber the dull ones here.

Unlike the draw that I could see between Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw songwriting efforts on The Grand Illusion, Pieces Of Eight was clearly Shaw's moment in the spotlight since he managed to score hits with Sing For The Day, Blue Collar Man and Renegade. But just like The Grand Illusion, where I gave Shaw some praise for his songwriting, Pieces Of Eight is where I'd like to credit DeYoung for some of his most ambitious material to date. Dennis DeYoung is generally known for his ballads and quirky keyboards-driven pop tunes but this album actually scores him quite a few points on my list for grand scale compositions like I'm O.K., highly prog inspired Lords Of The Ring and the album's title track. These are, simply put, some of my favorite compositions from DeYoung and Styx!

I've never really been a fan of James Young's songwriting, a point that I'll make sure to expand on in some of my later reviews, but this is probably the only album where I find some of his best material with the album's opening track Great White Hope and co-writing credits for I'm O.K and Queen Of Spades. All three compositions lack his, otherwise, straightforward rock 'n' roll approach that he seems to be so fond of.

Pieces Of Eight depicted Styx as kings of the U.S.-based art rock scene of the late '70s making it on par with The Grand Illusion. Their stay at the top would unfortunately not last for much longer but I'll get to that chapter it in due time. Let's just try to enjoy this moment and remember Styx as the great art rock band that they were back then.

***** star songs: I'm O.K. (5:45) Lords Of The Ring (4:35)

**** star songs: Great White Hope (4:24) Sing For The Day (5:02) The Message (1:08) Blue Collar Man (4:08) Renegade (4:18) Pieces Of Eight (4:44)

*** star songs: Queen Of Spades (5:41) Aku Aku (2:57)

Styx haven't exactly been critical darlings, but that haven't made them less successful with the mainstream audience. Unfortunately this combination is often considered lethal for progressive and/or art rock bands, meaning that most prog fans consider Styx to be somewhat of a scape goat for the stigma that the label progressive rock has received over the years. Some of it might be justifiable but I honestly can't bring myself to hating this quintet! If anything, Styx have prolonged the U.S. market's love for art rock, thus completely ignoring all the 3 chord punk bands that became a staple of the late '70s Britannia pop culture!

Formed as early as in 1961(!) by twin brothers Chuck and John Panozzo and their neighbor Dennis DeYoung, the band really took off in 1970 when guitarists John Curulewski and James "J.Y." Young finally completed the lineup. The Curulewski era (or at least that's the label I've decided to assign to the period of up until 1975) depicted a struggling hardworking band with an ambition to create and develop the American brand of progressive rock, not that far off from what Kansas were doing with their '70s material.

Unfortunately their ambitions where doomed from the get-go since Styx lacked the songwriting and virtuosity to be the adventurous prog band that they were so eagerly trying to achieve. Luckily they did manage to score a few minor hits back in their early days, where Lady was probably the biggest one of the bunch, which eventually got them to lighten up their sound and dip into art rock territory. The departure of John Curulewski, in 1975, and addition of Tommy Shaw, in 1976, sparked a creative spark within the band that would eventually lead them to becoming the well known band that they are today.

Even though my journey with Styx have so far only been merely 6 month short, I can definitely say that the post 1975 Styx have been all about the creative rivalry between Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw. With Grand Illusion (1977) and Pieces Of Eight (1978) being the height of this competitive rivalry where both DeYoung and Shaw were struggling to outdo each other both in the songwriting and their live performances. Both were putting their skills to good use and Grand Illusion is, in my opinion, the album where we definitely could see a draw between the two.

Dennis DeYoung penned title track, Castle Walls and especially the mega hit Come Sail Away are some of the band's most recognized compositions. Tommy Shaw penned Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) and Man In The Wilderness might not be as noteworthy in the commercial sense, but I happen to love them just as much as anything DeYoung had prepared for Grand Illusion! Shaw was clearly inspired by Kansas when he wrote Man In The Wilderness, which some might consider a ripoff but I can clearly hear that this is composition that could have never been written by Kerry Livgren due to it's complete lack of the traditional folk/country-inspired sound that Livgren featured in most of his suites.

There's really no reason for me to go further in my discussion of this album since most of the readers have probably already formed their opinion of these eight compositions in one way or another. All I can say is that I enjoy this album and consider it an important part of the U.S.-based prog scene of its time.

***** star songs: Come Sail Away (6:07) Man In The Wilderness (5:51)

**** star songs: The Grand Illusion (4:37) Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (5:32) Superstars (3:55) Castle Walls (5:59)

*** star songs: Miss America (5:02) The Grand Finale (1:58)

"Pieces of Eight" along with "Equinox", "The Grand Illusion", "Cristal Ball" and "Paradise Theather", certainly is one of the best albuns from STYX ... and are fairly superior to their next album "Cornerstone". Bring in his set list some classic tunes from the band, as for instance: "The Great White Hope", "Lords of the Ring", "Renegade" and the great radio hit "Blue Collar Man" ( probably the most famous track from STYX after "Babe" from "Cornerstone" but totaly different (Babe is a very beautiful ballad and "Blue Collar Man" is a realy hard-prog).. However, the album reserves another great instrumental moments like in track 2 "I'm OK" with Tommy Shaw's great guitar solo (very expressive and full of feeling) , on the track 3 "Sing for the Day" where keyboards stand out and the midlle section in "Piieces of Eight" (starting at 2:31 until 3:05 min) before the first guitar solo. My rate is 4 stars !!! :

Album number six, which was issued in '76 during the sixth year of Styx's professional career, 'Crystal Ball' continues the upward curve witnessed on the previous years 'Equinox', though quite what the number six has to do with this American prog-rock outfit is anybody's guess. After the crude-yet-enjoyable machinations of their ambitious, Copland-inspired debut and the refined class of follow-up Styx II, the Chicago-based outfit hit something of a duff patch before the belated single success of 'Lady' catapulted the five-piece into the national American eye. But first the duff patch; personified by two poorly-received albums, both 'The Serpent Is Rising' and 'Man Of Miracles' managed to severely over-egg the sonic pudding with far too much sub-prog-rock excess, and not enough pomp-pop colour. However, for 'Crystal Ball', the balance was re-aligned. A catchy, hard-rockin', colourful and rather adventurous set, 'Crystal Ball' finds Styx laying the groundwork for the series of excellent and career-defining albums that were to come, the likes of 'Cornerstone', 'The Grand Illusion' and 'Pieces Of Eight', whilst also proving a damn fine album itself. Tracks such as the bluesy rocker 'Shooz', the yearning, fast-paced balladry of 'Jennifer' and the seven-and-a-half-minute closer 'Clair De Lune / Ballerine' ooze hard-rock finesse, the group's synthesized rock sound bursting forth thanks to an impressive and vibrant production. Those who enjoy the classic Styx albums should find much to enjoy here then, with 'Crystal Ball' proving one of the higher peaks scaled by this hugely underrated 1970's outfit. It may not be progressive rock English style, yet in the end who gives a damn. Styx can rock out with the best of 'em, and 'Crystal Ball' is clear proof. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2013

Having hit their stride on their previous three studio albums, the first Styx record of the 1980's would find the Chicago outfit eschewing the pomp-prog stylings of 'The Grand Illusion' and 'Cornerstone' in favour of a sleek, radio-friendly sound. Ultimately this stylistic shift found on the group's tenth studio effort would generate much commercial success, yet it would also prove a highly-divisive release, fracturing the group's already fragile state of equilibrium and starting Styx's gradual decline from major label stars to minor cult outfit, a transformation that would be more-or-less complete by the end of the decade. A concept album that uses the history of Chicago's very own Paradise Theatre as a metaphor for America's changing fortunes at the beginning of the 1980's, 'Paradise Theatre' was the brainchild of vocalist-and- keyboardist Dennis DeYoung. As a result, the album incorporates elements of musical theatre, poppier melodies and much less of the group's trademark hard-rock power than usual. This decision to record a more streamlined album certainly caused friction, especially between DeYoung and the more rock-orientated guitarist Tommy Shaw, yet the success of 'Paradise Theatre' seemed, for a while at least, to placate the ongoing inter-band problems. Although credited to Styx, it was DeYoung who wrote the bulk of the album. This explains just why it features such a soft and gooey quality compared to previous release 'Cornerstone', the decision to incorporate new elements into Styx's trademark sound proving unfortunately rather ill-advised. Ultimately, although 'Paradise Theatre' might not in the same awful mould as follow-up 'Kilroy Was Here', in the grand scheme of all things Styx this is certainly one of their lesser albums. So, this is strictly one for the die-hards and completionists. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012

Coming after the massive success sustained by both 'Pieces Of Eight' and 'The Grand Illusion', the ninth album from American pomp-rockers Styx proved to be the group's penultimate prog-themed release, though by now the early art-rock flourishes of previous efforts had effectively been replaced by a smoother, more commercially-driven style. However, Styx were always a multi-faceted beast, never relying on a single approach to power their music and so it proves on 'Cornerstone'. Issued in 1979, 'Cornerstone' wouldn't quite hit the same heights reached by both it's predecessors, yet the album's slick blend of driving hard-rock, smooth balladry and progressive textures did manage to garner the group another sizeable commercial success. With lead single 'Babe' topping the US charts - in the process providing Styx with their biggest ever hit single - 'Cornerstone' capped off a remarkable few years, showcasing the Chicago outfit at the very zenith of their career. However, with the 1980's on the horizon it would also spell the end of an era, the British prog-rock influences that gave their sound such a unique edge all-but-erased for 1981's follow- up 'Paradise Theatre'(which, rather ironically, proved to be a concept album). Alongside the likes of Journey, Kansas and Starcastle, Styx had pioneered the American prog-rock sound of the 1970's, a sound that cleverly featured a populist streak that saw them appea to a much wider audience than many of their contemporaries. 'Cornerstone', then, is almost a perfect example of the 'classic' Styx sound, featuring a variety of styles spread across tracks that include the up-tempo keyboard-led rocker 'Lights', the jazzy art-pop anthem 'Why Me', and surging power-prog of the excellent cautionary tale 'Eddie'. However, the album's crowning note - apart from the sugary sweet strains of 'Babe' - has to be the rip-roaring closer 'Love In The Midnight'. Featuring a gutsy rock tempo and a fantastic performance from both vocalist/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung and guitarist Tommy Shaw, 'Love In The Midnight' harks back to group's grittier early material whilst also evoking the sleek AOR strains of fellow American acts Journey and Foreigner, showcasing Styx's impressive musical dexterity. It's a highly satisfying conclusion to an enjoyable album from a group whose sound managed to over the years be both commercially accessible yet highly innovative and original. They may have their (many) detractors, yet for those with the willingness to explore should find that there is much more to Styx than initially meets the ear. Although less progressive than the likes of 'Styx II' or 'Pieces Of Eight', 'Cornerstone' is still a fine album that should definitely impress those who enjoy the exploits of 1970's era Kansas and Journey. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012