Search - Styx :: Caught in the Act (Mlps) (Shm)

Awesome Live Music

DANtheSTYXfan | Kalamazoo, MI USA | 09/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Styx's only live album with all of the 5 classic members of Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw, James Young, Chuck Panozzo, and John Panozzo. It is a very well done 2-disc album. With 7 songs on each disc this is a must have for every hard-core Styx fan. This is better than Return To Paradise and all the other live albums Styx has made with Lawrence Gowan. This was when Styx was at their peak and on the edge of their hiatus from 84 to 90. So seriously buy this album. My personal favorite on this album has to be Blue Collar Man (Long Nights). That song alone is worth the price of admission I mean the price of this album. This is really good music that you won't be able to find on today's music this style of talent + creativity = great music is most definetly gone. So buy this CD because you'll never hear music like this on an album or live ever again."

The last album from Styx's classic lineup LIVE!

Terrence J. Reardon | Lake Worth (a west Palm Beach suburb), FL | 11/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Styx released their first live album, the 2-disc Caught in the Act in April of 1984.

The double live album (and its off-shoot concert video (now on DVD)) was recorded (and filmed) in April of 1983 on the band's Kilroy Was Here tour at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans, Louisiana. Most Styx fans want to compare this album to 1997's Return to Paradise. Caught in the Act slightly has the edge as the band had more energy, were younger and were still an active touring band at the time.

The album leads off with the studio track "Music Time", which was a US charting hit peaking at #40 in the Spring of 1984 yet doesn't appear on either Greatest Hits 1 or 2 or the recently released Come Sail Away Anthology, so you will have to get the track here and a great song (when I first got the album on cassette when released in 1984, I used to crank this track up and set the tone for a great live album to come).

The actual concert kicks off with "Mr. Roboto" which features singer and keyboard player Dennis DeYoung acting out and singing the song live much better than the heavily processed vocals he did on the studio version (the band used the instrumental backing track as the band's equipment was hidden thanks to the props on-stage during the track). You can hear his grunts as he struggles to remove the Roboto mask (you can see this on the Caught in the Act video which was finally released on DVD in 2007). Roboto was given new life with the VW commercial in 1999 but when taken out of context outside of the Kilroy Was Here concept it doesn't work. Within Kilroy the song has meaning which many fans don't see.

The live album has songs that are not on the video/DVD ("Babe", a spirited "Suite Madame Blue", "Miss America", "Fooling Yourself" and "Crystal Ball") and vice versa (the Kilroy film, "Heavy Metal Poisoning", "Cold War" (with extra verses and a long Tommy Shaw guitar solo), "Renegade" (complete with band getting arrested and John Panozzo drum solo), "Haven't We Been Here Before" and the "Don't Let it End (Reprise)").

Other highlights on this album are "Too Much Time on My Hands", "Snowblind", "Rockin the Paradise", "Blue Collar Man", "Don't Let it End" (which is better than the studio version), "The Best of Times" and "Come Sail Away".

The album reached the US Top 40 in 1984 but quickly fell from sight as people didn't give the live album a chance which is a shame as it is one of the best live albums ever recorded (if it had been released during the 1984 Christmas period, either that or 1983 Christmas season then the album may have done better than it did).

Styx's Caught in the Act album turned out to be the final album the classic lineup of Styx would ever release and is a great testament to the classic lineup.

Highly recommended!"