Styx – Paradise Theater (1981/2014)
Жанр: Rock, Progressive Rock
Носитель: SACD
Год издания: 1981/2014
Издатель: Audio Fidelity
Номер по каталогу: AFZ 174
Аудиокодек: DSD64 2.0
Тип рипа: image (iso)
Продолжительность: 00:40:42
Наличие сканов в содержимом раздачи: да
Образ снят с помощью: Sony PlayStation 3 и утилиты sacd-ripper version 0.2.0
Релизёр:
Треклист:
01.A.D. 1928 01:08
02.Rockin’ the Paradise 03:35
03.Too Much Time on My Hands 04:33
04.Nothing Ever Goes As Planned 04:48
05.The Best of Times 04:18
06.Lonely People 05:26
07.She Cares 04:21
08.Snowblind 05:01
09.Half-Penny, Two-Penny 04:35
10.A.D. 1958 02:32
11.State Street Sadie 00:28
SACD+Back
Paradise Theater
Paradise Theater is the tenth album by the rock band Styx, released in January 1981.
A concept album, the album is a fictional account of Chicago’s Paradise Theatre from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), used as a metaphor for America’s changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s. (Dennis DeYoung confirmed this in an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to the making of the album.)
The album consists of four charted singles. “The Best of Times”, written by Dennis DeYoung, went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Too Much Time on My Hands”, written by Tommy Shaw, went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, Shaw’s only top 10 hit for Styx. “Nothing Ever Goes as Planned”, written by DeYoung, went to #54 on the US Pop Chart. “Rockin’ the Paradise” — written by DeYoung, Shaw and James Young — went to #8 on the Top Rock Track Chart.
The song “Snowblind” (lyrics by Young, music by Young and DeYoung) was an attack on drug addiction. The track would come under fire for supposedly having backward messages and was branded by Tipper Gore’s PMRC as “Satanistic”. James Young and DeYoung denied this on the In the Studio episode devoted to the making of Paradise Theater.
Paradise Theater became Styx’s only US #1 album. It was the band’s fourth consecutive triple-platinum album.
All Music Review
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.
Musicians:
Dennis DeYoung - keyboards, lead vocals
Chuck Panozzo - basses
John Panozzo - drums, percussion
Tommy Shaw - guitars, lead vocals, vocoder
James Young - guitars, lead vocals
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Steve Eisen - solo saxophones
Dan Barber, Mike Halpin, John Haynor, Mark Ohlsen, Bill Simpson - horn
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发表于 2020-12-8 16:01:20
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