Paradise Theatre

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Paradise Theatre

Studio album by Styx
Released	January 1981
Recorded	1980 at Pumpkin Studios, Oak Lawn, IL
Genre	Rock
Length	40:37
Label	A&M
Producer(s)	Styx
All Music Guide link
Styx chronology
Cornerstone (1979)	Paradise Theatre (1981)	Kilroy Was Here (1983)

Paradise Theatre is a concept album released by the rock band Styx in January 1981 (see 1981 in music).

The album, a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theater from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), is used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s.

The signature song, "The Best Of Times" (written by group leader Dennis DeYoung), was a Top Ten hit.

The song "Snowblind" (written by DeYoung and James Young and Tommy Shaw) was an attack on drug addiction. The track would come under fire for supposedly having backward messages and be branded by reactionary fundamentalists and Tipper Gore's PMRC as "Satanistic". JY and DeYoung refuted this on the Paradise Theatre episode of In the Studio with Redbeard.

The track "Half Penny Two Penny" was an attack on the financial problems the US had in the late 1970s. In the song was the lyric "Yes Mrs. Cleaver your son's home to stay" which was referring to Eldridge Cleaver (this was confirmed by James Young on In the Studio with Redbeard).

Paradise Theatre became Styx's first, and to date only US #1 album, as well the band's fourth consecutive Triple Platinum album.

1 Structural differences in the album's pressings
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 Production
5 Charts

[edit] Structural differences in the album's pressings

Initial pressings of the vinyl record had a laser-etched design over the whole surface, showing the theater logo from the sleeve as a rainbow effect.
Initial pressings of the CD had the musical segue between "Half-Penny, Two Penny" and "A.D. 1958" indexed as the intro to "A.D. 1958". Subsequent pressings of the CD had the segue indexed as the fade to "Half-Penny, Two Penny" instead.

[edit] Track listing

"A.D. 1928" (DeYoung) – 1:07
- Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung
"Rockin' the Paradise" (DeYoung, Shaw, Young) – 3:35
- Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
"Too Much Time on My Hands" (Shaw) – 4:31
- Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
"Nothing Ever Goes as Planned" (DeYoung) – 4:46
- Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw, sax solo: Steve Eisen
"The Best of Times" (DeYoung) – 4:17
- Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: Tommy Shaw
"Lonely People" (DeYoung) – 5:22
- Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung, lead guitar: James Young
"She Cares" (Shaw) – 4:18
- Lead vocals and lead guitar: Tommy Shaw, saxophone solo: Steve Eisen
"Snowblind" (DeYoung, Young, Shaw (uncredited)) – 4:48
- Co-Lead vocals and lead guitar: James Young, co-lead vocals: Tommy Shaw
"Half-Penny, Two-Penny" (Brandle, Young) – 4:34 (initial CD pressing), – 5:59 (subsequent CD pressing, see previous section for details)
- Lead vocals and lead guitar: James Young, saxophone solos: Steve Eisen
"A.D. 1958" (DeYoung) – 2:31 (initial CD pressing), – 1:06 (subsequent CD pressing, see previous section for details)
- Lead vocals: Dennis DeYoung
"State Street Sadie" (DeYoung) – 0:27
- Instrumental

[edit] Personnel

Styx

Additional personnel

Dan Barber - horn
Steve Eisen - saxophone
Mike Halpin - horn
John Haynor - horn
Mark Ohlson - horn
Billy Simpson - horn

[edit] Production

Producer: Styx
Engineers: Rob Kingsland, Gary Loizzo
Arranger: Styx

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1981	Pop Albums	1

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1981	"Nothing Ever Goes As Planned"	Pop Singles	54
1981	"Rockin' The Paradise"	Mainstream Rock	8
1981	"Snowblind"	Mainstream Rock	22
1981	"Too Much Time On My Hands"	Mainstream Rock	2
1981	"Too Much Time On My Hands"	Pop Singles	9
1981	"The Best Of Times"	Mainstream Rock	16
1981	"The Best Of Times"	Pop Singles	3