Styx Album: “Return to Paradise”

Return to Paradise was my first live Styx album, and it introduced me to Styx music completely. "On My Way" gets you moving right from the start, followed by the powerful song, "Paradise". These are two of the three new tracks featured on this '97 release. From there, we are taken back to the "hits", with the ever-familiar show opener "Rockin' the Paradise". Live, these guys can ROCK! No doubt, all through disc 1, and on to disc 2, it's new, but familiar. The song "Show Me The Way" is very emotional. Personally, this song is much better than the original. "Renegade" rocks like never before, and at the end of disc 2, we find the last new song, "Dear John". Written by Tommy Shaw, it is a very powerful tribute to the late drummer. This is a must get for any fan.

Live recordings of some of the best bands in the world rarely, if ever, truly capture the essence of the live performance. Now meet the exception. Although Gary Loizzo is behind the mixing of this album, it is still truly one of the best produced recordings of Styx' career. I mention the above only because I thought that Styx' production values dropped considerably after Pieces of Eight, when they replaced Barry Mraz with Loizzo for Cornerstone and future albums, including the horrible Caught in the Act live album of '84. All of those albums sounded cheap and tinny with a production sound made for adult contemporary radio rather then rock. You can blame Dennis' songwriting from 79-83 for that as well.

But here on Return to Paradise, Styx is in the finest form of their career. Dennis and Tommy's vocals and instrumentals are spectacular. Chuck's bass lines are thundering, JY's guitar playing could set fire to a lake, and newcomer Todd Sucherman is a drum god! The highlight of this album is Suite Madame Blue. You can scrap the original recording and go with this version in a heartbeat.

I don't miss Dennis' egotistically overblown ballads, and the current Dennis-less lineup is a total joke. But for one magical night in 1997, Styx recaptured the magic and put on the best show of their career! And how lucky we are that they captured it on CD and DVD.

I do have to note one rather odd observation: I saw them on 3 different nights for this tour, and can tell you that every song intro and/or comment made between songs was rehearsed and repeated word-for-word at every show. You would think that a band who has been in the business for 30 years would be creative enough to ad-lib just a little bit.

This album is a must have for anyone in their 40s who was a fan of 1970s Styx. Listening to the live recording, it's hard to believe that these guys are about 30 years older than when they recorded some of these earlier songs and that it was about 25 years ago when I saw the original Paradise Theater tour.

The music and vocals are just exactly as I remember them - maybe even better. It is great to have Dennis DeYoung back and I am thrilled to add another Styx+Dennis recording to my library.

This is a better cd than their last live one, CAUGHT IN THE ACT. RETURN TO PARADISE, features three new studio recordings, plus two classic songs, that were not on CAUGHT..., Renegade, and Lady.

For the most part, the songs are equal to, or better than their original studio versions, and better than their last live versions. The only song that comes up short on this outing, when compared to its last live recording, is Miss America. It's a good recording on this disk, but on CAUGHT, it is awesome.

Grand Illusion, is the big winner on this disk, the way they have reworked the song is great, it was a rocker before, but now it blows the orginal one away. Snowblind, and Too Much Time on My Hands, which were good last time, still rock. Dennis also does better on this cd, his song Babe, which was stale last time, comes across fresh. Crystal Ball which last time, was uninspired, now seems to be robust. Suite Madame Blue, Lady, Regenade, Rocking the Paradise, Blue Collar Man, Fooling Yourself, Come Sail Away, all rock, equal too or better than the orginal. Lorelli even comes on stronger. Show Me the Way, Best of Times, and Boat on the River, are good but are the weakest of the set, but still good.

The new songs are good, but don't rank up there with the STYX classics. Paradise, is another Dennis ballad. Tommy's On My Way, is a rocker that could easily been on Cornerstone, or one of their cds from that time. Dear John, is a moving tribute to their drummer John Panozzo, who died a year earlier.

RETURN TO PARADISE, is better than CAUGHT IN THE ACT, and the following live cds relaesed up to 2001. So start here, for a great live cd. GRADE A-

The "Return" 2-CD box set, as well as the live concert video, make the "Caught In the Act" nonsense exactly that. These guys had a blast making this thing and it's simply outstanding. Great job!