ARCH ALLIES - LIVE AT RIVERPORT

In 2000, Styx got together with their long term journey-mates REO Speedwagon for a US tour. This was billed as a sort of battle of the bands, as the two had seen themselves as vying for position as top band in the same field over many years. In true democratic fashion, the bands took it in turn to play first and second on the bill. That democracy is taken to rather silly extremes here, when two songs the bands jam together on are included on both the Styx disc and the REO Speedwagon disc.

By all accounts, any suggestion of a battle can be quickly dispelled, the two acts enjoying the experience enormously.

This double album set was recorded in St Louis, hence the pun with the "Arch" title, in front of a naturally partisan audience. What the set shows is how similar the two bands are, and consequently how far removed Styx have become from the aspects of their music which led to their inclusion under the prog related banner on this site.

The Styx line up does not of course feature Tommy Shaw, but original bassist Glen Burtnik does return to the fold. The band's latest album at the time was "Brave New world", and while tracks from that release are included, the set list is a mixture of old and new. "Blue collar man" from "Pieces of eight" appears twice (well three times actually as one of the versions is the "jam" version), while "Lady" and "Grand illusion" from the early years are also dusted down.

With the plethora of live albums available by Styx (their tracks on this one have also appeared as "At the River's Edge; live in St Louis"), it is extremely doubtful that the world needs yet another one. Fans of latter day Styx will find this up to standard, but even they will probably consider it superfluous.

By the way, the REO Speedwagon tracks are reasonably enjoyable, effectively being a greatest hits package. "Take it on the run", "Can't fight this feeling", "Keep on loving you" etc., you get the picture.