Released in early 1981, Paradise Theater is the tenth album from mid-Western hard rock/prog band Styx, a concept album about the fictional Paradise Theater in Chicago and its 30 year run from opening to closing. At the time of its release, the album went straight to #1 on the Billboard charts, and was their fourth consecutive multi-platinum seller, cementing their status as one of the biggest bands in the world. It also saw the trend of keyboard player/vocalist Dennis DeYoung starting to steer the band towards more pop based material, which would start to fragment the band just a few short years later. Audio Fidelity is now reissuing this much loved album in the SACD/CD format, delivering superb sound whether you have a SACD player or just the standard CD.
Paradise Theater features many memorable songs, from the hits "The Best of Times" and Tommy Shaw's quirky "Too Much Time on My Hands" to the deep album cuts "Snowblind", "Half-Penny, Two-Penny" (both fierce rockers sung by James Young), the jazzy "Lonely People" and the Broadway styled "Nothing Ever Goes as Planned". Many fans of the bands earlier albums were disappointed in the lack of progressive rock here, but Paradise Theater opened up their music to a much wider audience, something that started to happen on their previous album Cornerstone. It's ultimately a very strong set of songs with plenty of variety, and the crisp mastering for this reissue by Kevin Gray only adds more luster to what is a fine Styx album. All the original artwork and lyrics have also been preserved as well.
Track Listing
1) A.D. 1928
2) Rockin' the Paradise
3) Too Much Time on My Hands
4) Nothing Ever Goes as Planned
5) The Best of Times
6) Lonely People
7) She Cares
8) Snowblind
9) Half-Penny, Two-Penny
10) A.D. 1958
11) State Street Sadie
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