Paradise Theater | 
 enlarge | Artist: Styx
Label: A&M
Category: Music
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $2.99
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New (50) Used (37) Collectible (6) from $2.99
Rating:  56 reviews
Sales Rank: 2252
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 3240
UPC: 075021324022
EAN: 0075021324022
ASIN: B000002GBW
Release Date: October 25, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
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| Tracks:
| • | Rockin' the Paradise | | • | Too Much Time on My Hands - Styx, Shaw, Tommy | | • | Nothing Ever Goes as Planned | | • | The Best of Times | | • | Lonely People | | • | She Cares - Styx, Shaw, Tommy | | • | Snowblind - Styx, Young, James [Styx] | | • | A.D. 1958 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
One album before Styx cut loose with an honest-to-goodness concept album, Kilroy Was Here, they flirted with the idea on Paradise Theater. The concept here has something to do with the decline of America in the '70s, based on the condemnation and destruction of the Paradise Theater, a famous showplace in the band's hometown of Chicago. Truth be told, the concept hasn't held together that well, though the individual songs have, led by the optimistic ballad "The Best of Times," and the rockers "Too Much Time on My Hands" and "Snowblind." Dennis DeYoung gives some of his most theatrical performances throughout, presaging his overly ambitious Kilroy concept, but also his successful run performing in the legitimate theater, as Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar. Paradise, meanwhile, was about as good as it got for Styx. --Daniel Durchholz
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| Customer Reviews: Read 51 more reviews...
 Styx - Requiem Of An Old Chicago Theater April 23, 2008
Steven Sly (Kalamazoo, MI United States)
Styx was one of my favorite bands back in the day. They were never as progressive as most of the bands that I liked, but they were able to meld a mix of pop, rock and progressive rock like no other band. I have most of their albums on vinyl, but have only replaced this one on CD. "Paradise Theater" was Styx at the top of their game. The album is conceptual in nature with the theme of the birth and death of an old vaudeville theater in Chicago. I pretty much like every song on this disc. The weakest song was one of the biggest hits from the album Dennis Deyoung's ballad "Best Of Times" and even it is not bad. Each of the three main songwriters in Styx got to strut their stuff on this album and still remain within the concept. There were several big hits from this disc, but it is the album tracks that make it special. Songs like "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned", "Lonely People", "She Cares" and one of James Young's best rockers "Half Penny Two Penny" are all great. Of course the big hits "Snowblind", "Rocking The Paradise", and "Too Much Time On My Hands" are what most people know from this album. `Paradise Theater" is one of Styx's best and a must own for fans.
The Pinnacle of Styx - 5 and 1/2 stars December 3, 2007
Chris Cormier (canada)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is about as good as Styx ever was, as far as I am concerned. All the elements are there, the songwriting is excellent, vocals are great, the production is immaculate, it sounds like they are having a good time (even if they were probably partying themselves right into rehab centres to keep from killing each other at this point :) Using one of the album's centerpieces (The Best Of Times) to bracket the start and close adds a nice unity to the album, it's been done before and since, but it works very nicely here. It doesn't sound like they just threw it all together (see : end song on Brave New World), they made some inspired choices in their arrangements, from the pseudo-reggae jazz of Nothing Ever Goes As Planned, headphone psychedelia in Snowblind, a bit of prog rock in Half-Penny Two Penny.
The album starts out with the familiar "Tonights the night we'll make history" bit of music, which acts as an intro to 'Rocking The Paradise'. This is just on the verge, musically and lyrically, of getting Dennis-cheesy, but compared to future debacles (High Time, Hiphop-cracy) it is still just Styx rocking out. Acceptable rocker, good solos and riffing.
The next song, Too Much Time On My Hands, is prototypical 80s rocker, starts out with ye olde standard crazy synthesiser sweeps and clears up into a good rocking beat. Excellent chorus, this is one of the strongest songs Shaw ever wrote. And the solo (!) Absolutely an excellent hard rock guitar solo, doesn't fall into the trap of finger tapping and too many notes, he makes good use of the wah wah pedal for a very intense musical flight. This song has a slight influence of Pink Floyd, from the spacey intro that turns into a driving beat, the emotional blues guitar solo. Harmonies are out of this world.
"Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" is not exactly a pop song, but a very original arrangement and melody, very nice groove. Check out the bassline at the start. Typical wry Dennis lyrics and song, but above average delivery and energy.
"The Best Of Times" ye gods, what a good song! Starts out as an above average Dennis ballad (I'm not a big fan of his ballads in general) and turns into a real stomper of a chorus, with excellent vocals by James Young, nice vocoder work and of course guitar work by Shaw, superb understated rhythm section. These are the best - OF TIMES!
Side 2 is just a bit stepped down from Side 1, but sometimes after hearing the hits on side 1 being so overplayed, it's a relief to hear something different. "Lonely People" starts it off with another decent DeYoung groove, albeit probably a bit weaker than his side 1 showings. Nice horn shots and simple keyboard break redeems it. "She Cares" is a teeny bit cheesy (it makes Babe sound like Crazy Train), probably a bit of a weak song, but very nicely played, nice harmonies.
"Snowblind" is where James Young starts influencing the record, and for someone whose quality tends to vary wildly, he's in top form here. Psychedelic, creepy, moody, this would have been just another hard rock song about the dangers of drugs, without Dennis adding that keyboard sound that fades in and out, as well as lots of striking production tricks. Young and Shaw trade off vocals about being enslaved by Peruvian marching powder, excellent drumming by John Panozza here. Perfectly produced. This song was nominated "Most Likely To Corrupt Young Minds With Backward Lyrics" in 1981. Just kidding.
"Half-Penny, Two-Penny" is as good a song as "Best of Times". Here, James Young finally tops "Miss America" for a hard rocking song with lots of heavy riffs, vocal snarling, and real dynamics (you can tell the chorus apart from the verses). He rips the hopeless seeming corruption that occurs in his home country, with a lyrical particularity that's clearly personal (or at least fakes it well enough). Not quite a bridge, but a good turnaround after the second chorus, and another insane guitar solo / wah wah workout by Shaw. The song builds into a bridge back into the Best of Times music, absolutely brilliant music. When the song finally ends you KNOW it, as Dennis' voice announces the end of the album, the end of the hegemonic economy, the end of the century, the end of the world, etc. And a nice little fade-out throwaway in State St Sadie.
I was disappointed after this album, they never seemed to recapture the spark they had going here. All of the most pleasing aspects of each member is highlighted, rarely sounding forced. This is the sound of a BAND playing, not the Dennis show, not the Tommy show. If you're going to get a Styx record, this should be the first.
One of my favorites of all time November 26, 2007
S. Kosloske (Milwaukee, WI USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Of course I'm a bit biased, being a hard-core Styx fan back in the day. But I remember this as being the one that I could listen to over and over. One of the better "theme-theater" albums of it's era, at least in my opinion. One of the better albums to move to CD, so you could finally listen to the flow of the whole thing without having to flip it over. (i.e. Dark Side of the Moon).
 In my personal opinion, their 2nd best effort! November 13, 2007
Archie Mercer (Yorba Linda, CA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I wouldn't call myself a Styx fanatic. I have enjoyed their music over the years and had the pleasure of seeing them live during their first Reunion tour. But they are not a group I ran out and bought the newest album the moment it was released. I felt their music was at times over dramatic and over-blown.
However, having said that, I found this album to be extremely well-done and quite enjoyable. After The Grand Illusion this is my favorite and gets played often. A previous review said that it was "almost a concept album." Well, yeah, it is a concept album.That was the Dennis DeYoung influence. It seems he always wanted to score a broadway play so we get main themes running through most Styx albums, from the great aforementioned Grand Illusion to the horrific Kilroy Was Here.
Almost all the songs are excellent, with the exception of "She Cares" which seems so out of place here. In my opinion though, the best piece, hands down, is James Young's "Snowblind", a song about cocaine addiction. As good as the other songs are, they all pale in comparison to this one. Other favorites: Shaw's "Too Much Time On My Hands" (which still gets airplay) and DeYoung's "Rockin' The Paradise." The song that got the most airplay at the time was DeYoung's "The Best of Times" which was good as a contrast to the rest of the music but seems to have faded away, even on the "oldies" radio stations.
I would recommend this, not only to Styx fans, but to rock fans in general. This was actually their last "great" Styx album as DeYoung's desire to go deeper into concept albums & rock operas began to take it's toll on the harmony of the band.
Still the best 80s album from Styx 27 years later November 10, 2007
Terrence J. Reardon (Port Saint Lucie, FL)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Styx's tenth album Paradise Theatre, which was released in February of 1981, was the band's first of two concept albums in a row.
Singer/keyboard player/songwriter Dennis DeYoung used the old Chicago Paradise Theatre as a metaphor for the downfall and decline of America during the late 1970s for the theme to this concept album.
Dennis' keyboards and vocals dominate on this album. His contributions which he wrote and sang were nothing short of SUPERB! The opening "AD 1928", "Nothing Ever Goes as Planned", the #3 hit "The Best of Times" (a major reason why this album sold as well as it did), the excellent epic "Lonely People", the album's reprise "AD 1958" and the outro "State Street Sadie' are all SUPERB. Dennis also co-wrote the hard rocking FM rock radio hit "Rockin' the Paradise" (which he sang lead on) with singer/guitarists James "JY" Young and Tommy Shaw and "Snowblind" (with JY and Tommy on lead vocals and Tommy wrote some lyrics as well but decided not to take credit). The latter track caused controversy with its supposed backward masking and as a result led to both Liberals and Conservatives like Jerry Falwell and later future Vice First Lady Tipper Gore's PMRC branded Styx as Satanic and evil (gimme a break!).
Tommy also contributed the album's other Top 10 hit "Too Much Time on My Hands" and the melodic "She Cares".
JY also contributed the scathing rocker "Half Penny Two Penny" which had a line about Mrs Cleaver (and it was Eldridge Cleaver and not the Beaver from Leave it to Beaver as some fans think).
This album is a great Styx album and is arguably one of their best albums of the classic era. I actually liked every album they did on A&M. This album still holds up even today despite the fact that critics panned the album.
Paradise Theatre was Styx's one and only US #1 album (where it reigned for three weeks in the Spring of 1981) and was their fourth consecutive Triple Platinum selling album in a row (meaning it sold more than three million in the US alone) and the public spoke with their wallet and rock radio embraced this album.
Paradise Theatre is recommended!
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