merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant) (05/13/84)
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Oh, I don't know. "Kilroy was Here" wasn't all that bad. It was
an amusing concept which seems to have grown out of the complaint that
the song "Snowblind", when played backwards, had satanic messages in it.
It also had some rather amusing experimentation in it. "Mister Roboto"
was an obvious departure from "typical Styx" such as "Blue Collar Man",
"Come Sail Away" and the like, and I must cheer them for that. In a
world where formula music has become a norm (Journey, etc.), it is nice to
see a well-established band try something new.
I think the newness is far more apparent in their latest single, "Music
Time", which sounds more like Devo.
My only complaint about "Kilroy was Here" is it was dynamically unsubtle.
They were telling a story which, with a little work, could have been made
into a legitimate screenplay or the like. Instead, they left everyone
involved basically two-dimensional. "Oh, here's Robert Orral Charles
Kilroy, he represents rock & roll. Here's Dr. Righteous, he represents
the evil moral righteous types." No character development and everything
is far too cardboard. They wanted to tell a simple "Hero vs. Villain"
story, which is a bit mindless. A pity, though. The concept does have
potential.
Like I said, though, before you boo Styx too loudly, you have to give them
credit for at least TRYING something new, rather then releasing album
after album of the same boring music done up in a different wrapping.
{ Don't you realise that under this amazing mind, I have a body, too! }
-- Peter Merchant