[.ca] Cornerstone

From Amazon.com:
If Styx didn't do enough to endear itself to a generation of prom-goers with its 1975 slow-dance classic "Lady," they closed the deal a few years later with Cornerstone's premiere hit, "Babe." Perhaps the prototypical I-love-you-but-I-just-gotta-go power ballad, the song was Styx's first No. 1 hit, and it propelled the album to platinum-plus status. Led by that track as well as "Why Me," another Top 40 hit, Cornerstone is Styx at their most accessible and melodic. The album experiments with some new sounds as well, with horns added to the mix on Dennis DeYoung's "Borrowed Time" and "Why Me" and mandolin on Tommy Shaw's "Boat on the River." If their album sales didn't offer the final word on the band's popularity at the close of the '70s, a 1979 Gallup poll did the trick: The group was named America's most popular rock band. It's you babe, indeed. --Daniel Durchholz

Styx's transition album 25 years later:
Styx's ninth album Cornerstone was released in September of 1979. The album is best remembered for keyboardist/vocalist Dennis DeYoung's musical love-letter to his wife called Babe. This song was Styx's first and only No. 1 hit and it helped the band get their third album in a row to Triple Platinum status and the first Top 3 charting disc for the band(wouldn't be their last). Led by that track as well as the following Top 40 single, Dennis' classic about one's worries Why Me(which should have been Nancy Kerrigan's theme song from her attack), introduced us to horns which had not ever appeared on a Styx track prior to this. The album experiments with some new sounds as well. Guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw's Boat on the River was a great folk song which showed Tommy was not just full of rock music(like he claimed on Behind the Music). Dennis and Tommy co-wrote the opening Lights which had Tommy on vocal and the hard rocking Borrowed Time which had Dennis on vocal and one of his best rock vocals ever and was the opening song on the Cornerstone tour in 1979. Dennis also contributed the ballad First Time, which would have been a hit had if Tommy not complained like a 2-year old by threatening to walk out if it was released. First Time would have been a #1. Guitarist James "JY" Young wrote the scathing rocker Eddie about Edward kennedy, the last of the Kennedy sons. Tommy also had the melodic Never Say Never and the closing epic Love in the Midnight which started as a Crystal Ball part two but turns into one of the best Styx tracks ever with a blazing JY solo. Many fans scoff at this album but I like it alot, even today and still sounds great 25 years after its release. I highly recommend Cornerstone!

Worst Styx album ever:
I don't know what their new music is like because I won't buy it without Dennis DeYoung and let me tell you I have this album on vinyl and never listen to it. "Babe" is the best song on the album and now I know why Shaw made fun of it when he was with Nugent in Yankees. The whole album was either slopped together from leftovers in the studio or slapped together quickly because it's disorganized and annoying. Only buy this album if you desire cool photos.

Fresh Variations on Power Ballads and Arena Rock:
The ore of Styx has always been very unique and at times unheard of--a mysterious body of music, swirling with innovative themes, yet still holding the magic of a rock and roll arena spectacle. "Cornerstone," the band's final record of the 1970's, displays Styx at their full glory, while still yielding many fresh variations on their pomp manifestation. Though carried to platinum status by the number-one-hit 'Babe,' there are many more values of "Cornerstone." The album possesses a mystique, combining inventive ballads of love and enigma with hard rocking yet pleasantly smooth songs. Exceptional suites like 'Lights,' 'Boat on the River,' and 'Borrowed Time,' definitely serve their purpose on the album, while some spots on "Cornerstone" such as 'Eddie' and 'Why Me' are sure to make the listener scratch their head, smile with satisfaction, or both. Just like its creative cover artwork, Styx's "Cornerstone" is fresh and original, and gave rock and roll fans something to savor as the post-punk hair band movement was lurking, just as the next two albums, "Paradise Theater" and "Kilroy Was Here" challenged the mainstream with uncomparable success; just as "Cornerstone" challenges the limits of ballads and arena art, giving the listener sheer musical joy.

Classic Styx transitional album:
Styx's ninth album Cornerstone was released in September of 1979. The album is best remembered for keyboardist/vocalist Dennis DeYoung's musical love-letter to his wife called Babe. This song was Styx's first and only No. 1 hit and it helped the band get their third album in a row to Triple Platinum status and the first Top 3 charting disc for the band(wouldn't be their last). Led by that track as well as the following Top 40 single, Dennis' classic about one's worries Why Me(which should have been Nancy Kerrigan's theme song from her attack), introduced us to horns which had not ever appeared on a Styx track prior to this. The album experiments with some new sounds as well. Guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw's Boat on the River was a great folk song which showed Tommy was not just full of rock music(like he claimed on Behind the Music). Dennis and Tommy co-wrote the opening Lights which had Tommy on vocal and the hard rocking Borrowed Time which had Dennis on vocal and one of his best rock vocals ever and was the opening song on the Cornerstone tour in 1979. Dennis also contributed the ballad First Time, which would have been a hit had if Tommy not complained like a 2-year old by threatening to walk out if it was released. First Time would have been a #1. Guitarist James "JY" Young wrote the scathing rocker Eddie about Edward kennedy, the last of the Kennedy sons. Tommy also had the melodic Never Say Never and the closing epic Love in the Midnight which started as a Crystal Ball part two but turns into one of the best Styx tracks ever with a blazing JY solo. Many fans scoff at this album but I like it alot, even today and still sounds great 25 years after its release. I highly recommend Cornerstone!

"Babe", I'm Outta Here!:
"Cornerstone" was Styx's most popular album, based mostly upon the song "Babe," the band's only number one hit and the song that was unfortuately the father (or mother?) of the "power ballad," that would dog rock radio unmercifully throughout the 1980s until Nirvana more or less deservedly put it to sleep. The song is of the kind that you either love or you hate. How you feel about it will probably affect how you feel about this whole album. Unlike the two loose "conceptual" albums ("Grand Illusion" and "Pieces of Eight") that preceeded it, "Conerstone" is instead merely a collection of songs with no real underlying theme. As such, it is truly a mixed bag, and overall is weaker that its predecessors and the superior "Paradise Theater" that camer after it. Things start out promisingly, with Tommy Shaw's decent rocker "Lights" and a less bombastic Dennis DeYoung song "Why Me." Then comes "Babe," and the album never recovers, as shown by the fact that none of the rest of the material appears on any of Styx's numerous anthology albums. Overall, this onetime smash success is now for diehard fams only.

• Lights
• Why Me
• Babe
• Never Say Never
• Boat on the River
• Borrowed Time
• First Time
• Eddie
• Love in the Midnight