Kilroy Was Here

From the Editors

Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this album. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2009.
Album Description

Customer Response

Good album with lots of interesting musical & thematical ideas; though not their best one
That one 1-star review is just another anti-Dennis commentary ... that isn't a review, and has nothing to do with the album Kilroy Was Here. Was a mistake to take the show to Stadiums, in places like Texas, during a hot summer ... Dennis is aware of that I believe .... {And I didn't really like "Babe" either, but it made them all a hell of a lot of money}. The band has not been the same without him; has not had a strong radio hit, has not done didly-squat, other than still play concerts ... and they have to play with other bands to draw a big crowd. You don't kick the most talented person out the group because he made a bad mistake. And now he will never do another tour with them - despite Chuck Panazzo on record saying he hopes it happens once more. Onto the album ... "Roboto" was a kool pop song. Pure and simple. Who said Styx ALWAYS had to be rock? That's where I don't get how a lot of you arrogant Tommy Shaw/JY folks decide Tommy and JY should have made the rules for the band. DENNIS wrote and sang their 1st ever hit, "Lady", which in the mid-70s became their first national hit. The band would NEVER HAVE HAPPENED without Dennis, people ... Hello .. Album has some good rockers including "Cold War" and "Double Life" (a great James Young-sung tune), and a very good ballad called "Don't Let It End". "Heavy Metal Poisoning" is the tune I had to drop, which is horribly oversung by JY (notwithstanding yes he was portraying a character, Dr. Righteous, in the lyric), and the "Don't Let It End Reprise" at the end was sort of a bad idea. They should have ended it with something different ... But "Haven't We Been Here Before" is a REALLY good ballad, sung by Tommy and Dennis. Not their best record (that would be The Grand Illusion), but it deserves better than the 3/5 it's getting on here currently ... on pure ambition, if nothing else

Great songs, great concept... but not for the band STYX

KILROY WAS HERE...

The album has toiled under the weight of its results. The band, which had irreparably fractured 4 years earlier, fell apart "with one finger up in the air." Intractable as the feelings were then, the legacy has remained as staunchly overwrought. The end result is that the greatness of this album actually being less than the sum of its parts.

KILROY WAS HERE was not actually the album that destroyed the band. CORNERSTONE owns that dubious distinction for it was the first album in which the band wrote songs and arranged them as the writers deemed fit. It was the first album in which all band members did not assist in the creation and arrangement of the songs. To a large degree Cornerstone became the first in a devolving process where in STYX fell from being a band to being a collection of 5 remarkably talented musicians performing as solo artists under the bands name. KLIROY WAS HERE was the climax (or anti-climax if you wish) of that disintegration of the once incredible band STYX.

KILROY WAS HERE might have been a truly great album if Dennis DeYoung would have released it as a solo album or even under a pseudonym. There are several incredibly wonderful songs on this album, JUST GET THROUGH THIS NIGHT and HAVEN'T WE BEEN HERE BEFORE stand the test of time as being among the most beautiful and soulful of STYX songs to have ever graced a disc. COLD WAR and DON'T LET IT END could have found themselves on any STYX album and not have been out of place (albeit with some better cohesiveness among band members in the arrangements.) I would argue that the guitar work and vocals are better than on most of the tracks on PARADISE THEATRE.

A few of the songs are just silly. While the concept was valiant, the remainder of the band was not heartfelt in their support and it showed in the lack of creativity and instrumentation throughout the individual tracks. Very little of Dennis DeYoungs' or James Youngs' songs seemed unique or complex in their structuring or instrumentation (not unlike some of the tracks from CORNERSTONE.)

During STYX halcyon days, each of the bands five members contributed more than their two cents worth as they chiseled out the songs. This method was brought back during the recording of the brilliant CYCLORAMA album. However, a prolonged rhythm bridge was never introduced or a chorus from a previously penned song was never suggested, let alone melded into the final master tape which was released as KILROY WAS HERE.

STYX was known for such an ethereal harmony, played with incredible meticulousness, that was almost unmatched within the annals of rock and roll. Not even YES (while instrumentally superior) could match the soulfulness of the songwriting and vocal talents of STYX. STYX was a band of such mesmerizing sound and unity that Jack Black (who holds the band in unmatched reverence) once stated that it would be impossible for him to imagine playing with because of the sound being "too magical." But, as the band broke apart, the songs suffered.

KILROY WAS HERE, as an album, suffered the most. Had Dennis DeYoung wrote and recorded the album as a solo project, who knows how history might have remembered the album? Had Tommy and the band continued, who can argue that STYX would have regained its lost magic? The album became a microcosm of the band itself... immense talent, incredible potential, all lost under the weight of self-centered, egotistical and misguided totalitarianism imposed upon a rebellious minded population that surrendered to the control of the despot and ultimately imploded. We can only thank Johnathan Chance for standing up against the tyranny and fueling the opportunity for the band members to escape, with the footsteps ultimately leading down to the re-structured STYX of today.

And lest we never forget, if the songs were as bad as some would like to remember, the strong minded band members would have protested sufficiently to have insured that the songs would not have been recorded. JY, Chuck, John and even Tommy found enough to add their contributions without too much protest (let alone firing Dennis DeYoung). And STYX today does offer snippets of plaudits to the album every now and then within their concerts and even their studio recordings. [Tommy Shaw had a picture of a ROBOTO mask within the liner notes of his heralded 1998 solo album 7 DEADLY ZENS, and STYX included numerous samples from KILROY WAS HERE within the 1999 BRAVE NEW WORLD album.)

In summation, KILROY WAS HERE, albeit much maligned (and deservedly so) is still a great album filled with great songs performed by great musicians... KILROY WAS HERE, however, cannot be regarded as a great STYX album, as the band was torn asunder as far back as 1979. KILROY WAS HERE was an evolution of that disintegration... it was a paradoxical release of a band that was no more.

One of the Greats
I've been around rock and roll so long that I hated the Beatles (yuck a Girl band) when they arrived.
Great as they were they didn't last long by comparison.
I suffered with gritted teeth through stuff like Sgt.Pepper and Yoko Oh No.

Lady wasn't bad but I tired of it quick, and Lorelei left me cold - I was in that camp that viewed Styx fans as weenies. I was a hard rocker.

Then BLAM Blue Collar Man (that's Styx? You're kidding!).
Then I learned Crystal Ball was theirs too - and a few other songs I liked that I didn't even know were theirs.
Tommy Shaw was a quantum leap.

Problem was the too laid back DJ's of FM - they'd never tell who did what in a set.
Most of them weren't too swift.
Heard (and liked) Roboto a lot before learning that was Styx too.

Bottom line is I can't think of many bands that improved with time like Styx. Most of the ones I liked went rancid and died off (unfortunately not soon enough, making albums so bad they ruined whatever rep they once had).

Styx gets a bad rap and it isn't right - they earned the rep and deserve respect.
Their later stuff was better than the recent lame offerings of my once favorite band - the Rolling Stones.

Where I wish the Stones would retire before they get too painful to listen to, I wish Styx would reform before those fantastic voices start to fail.

They passed the Test of Time.
Most of the reputed "Greats" didn't.

The demise of a great rock band
First I would like to open by saying that I was a die hard Styx fan and they were once my favorite band. Growing up in my pre-teen years, "Come Sail Away" was the first Styx song I heard and I right away took interest in the band. Later exposure to the band came from the excellent "The Grand Illusion" album and then "Pieces Of Eight". By this time I took notice of Dennis DeYoung's keyboard playing and he quickly became my favorite member of the band.

Being in my pre-teen years and lacking money, the first Styx album I bought was "Cornerstone". I was a full fledged Styx fan at this point in time and I did like the pop-ballad "Babe" even though this was a departure from the norm for Styx, but it is something I grew to expect as their music was always very much varied and interesting. "Why Me" was my favorite song off the Cornerstone album.

Another thing that interested me about Styx was the beautiful album covers. The Cornerstone album in particular (I am talking the LP RECORD now), had an outer jacket that had a split fold down the middle and the inner jacket was the Cornerstone symbol. VERY nice!

But all this was about to be topped with the release of the next Styx Album: Paradise Theatre. Right away I liked the radio songs "The Best Of Times" and also "Too Much Time On My Hands". While the latter is definitely far from the rock sound I was used to with Styx, I still liked it. With those songs already out, I decided to buy the album.

When I first saw the album cover, it almost knocked me over. The sheer beauty of the theatre building depicted on the cover left me in awe. I said to myself, "They actually built theatres like this?". After purchasing the album and listening to the songs, I realized the album was a concept and a story based on the rise and fall of the real life Paradise Theatre that once existed in Chicago. I was totally pulled into the theme that it sparked my interest in old theatres which still runs strong today.

As for the music on the album, it opens with the more traditional Styx hard hitting "Rockin' The Paradise" which I liked right away. Styx introduced a bit more instrument variety in the mix via horns and saxes. used on "Nothing Ever Goes As Planned" and "Lonely People" (which has just about one of the oddest, yet most insteresting synth patches I ever heard towards the middle of the song). Again a departure for Styx, but for some reason on this album and with the theatre theme, it worked and it had me hooked.

Clearly Paradise Theatre is my favorite Styx album. I just about liked every song on the album, but unfortunately this album was some foreshadowing of things to come. The song "She Cares" is the weakest song on the album and it has a Billy Joel - bubblegum poppish type sound. While not a total disaster in itself, it didn't fit the theme of the album and seemed like it was a throwaway song Styx just tossed into the album to fill it out. Yet, all in all it was forgiving. BUT, it was something I hoped Styx wouldn't repeat on the next album. Well...what they did to was much worse. Enter "Kilroy Was Here".

At first when it was announced that a new Styx Album was going to be released, I wanted to buy it hoping to expect the same impact as Paradise Theatre had on me. The first song released was Mr. Roboto and at first when I heard the song, I didn't even think it WAS Styx. Overall I didn't think the song was bad, at first. However, the radio bored the song into the ground by constantly playing it. I got sick of the song very fast. The following release off the album, "Don't Let It End" was a repeat offender of "She Cares" from the previous album. At this point I realized something was drastically wrong with Styx and I didn't bother buying the album.

When Styx went on tour for "Kilroy Was Here", it then came out in the news that Styx tried to put theatrics into their show in theme to the album, but it was so bad that the band was booed. Hearing this news I was in utter shock at the severe down turn that Styx took. I was like how can you put Broadway theatrics into a rock concert??? I did ask around at how the rest of the album was and I was told time and again it was an utter disaster. I was even disappointed when I saw the album cover, which was a total reverse of the previous album. Worse, I found out that the down-turn was all Dennis DeYoung's doing. Yes, my favorite member of the band.

It was only recently I was able to listen to all of the tracks on the "Kilroy Was Here" album via YouTube and other on-line sources. In the videos of the band, you can see the painful expressions on the rest of the band's faces as they 'perform' to DeYoung's wishes. It is horrible and an utter travasty to what has happened.

I can understand if Dennis DeYoung wanted to persue an interest in theatre, but he should have done so on his own accord and not dragged his entire band into doing something that they didn't want to do in the first place. In the end we ended up loosing a great band.

Thus in my opinion and in conclusion, I have to agree with the naysayers here that this album is indeed a flop and to repeat what another poster here said, this album sure was indeed the "nail in the coffin" to a once great band. Avoid this album (yes, like the plague) and do yourself a favor and buy one of the other albums I mentioned. If you like rock, get "The Grand Illusion" first. For a good mix of both pop and rock, you can't go wrong with "Paradise Theatre", my personal favorite.

Pretty Darn Cool
As a fan of cheesy 80s music, it was only a matter of time before I bought this CD. For those who don't know, Kilroy Was Here is a concept album for a musical that Styx tried and failed to create. This would not have made it as a musical without a few more songs. Individially, the songs are quite entertaining, and some of them are just awesome, like Mr Roboto, Double Life and Don't Let it End. I personally like the harmonizing in these songs. The rest are good or great, but not extroardinary.

Overall it's not the best album in the world but it's pretty darn cool and a lot of fun. I have heard that this is not Styx's best album, but I day it's a good album, a jem from the early 80s.

Others also Liked

Paradise Theatre
Cornerstone
Pieces of Eight
Grand Illusion
Crystal Ball