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Caught in the Act

Styx - Caught in the Act Audio CD

A fair review of the Styx "Caught in the Act" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Styx reviews here, or go back to the Styx tabs.

Band: Styx
Title: Caught in the Act
Rating:

Release Date: 1991-07-09
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Music Time 2: Mr. Roboto 3: Too Much Time on My Hands 4: Babe 5: Snowblind 6: Best of Times 7: Suite Madame Blue 8: Rockin' the Paradise 9: Blue Collar Man 10: Miss America 11: Don't Let It End 12: Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) 13: Crystal Ball 14: Come Sail Away [Live]

Caught in the act
Unfortunately the one I had became damaged. I've always loved this CD. I'm glad I was able to find a replacement, and it was cheap!.

Best of Styx - live
It contains all Styx great songs, including Suite Madame Blue, Don't Let It End, Snowblind, Crystal Ball, The Best of Times, Mr. This is a great CD, infact it's a Best of. Roboto. . . I strongly recommend to every man who loves good music to buy this CD.

The last album from Styx's classic lineup LIVE!

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

Awesome Live Music
It is a very well done 2-disc album. 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. 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.

three and one-half stars
The Styx machine really pushed the envelope of credibility with "Kilroy. In 1984 when this effort was released it seemed like the perfect album at the perfect time for the boys, but as years have gone by it's obvious to me that it was about one year too late. . . " especially after the almost perfect "Paradise Theater", a real winner that still is the benchmark for 80's pop/rock. So when "Caught in the Act . . Live" was released it could not build on the momentum the band had built because "Kilroy. . " was slowly killing it. However, the live set really is a nice package, a bit more raw sounding today than it was in the 80s, but still a nice representation of the band's live act. The setlist is very good, with a slight nod to the band's pre-Tommy Shaw period (should have been a bigger nod, but. . . )and plenty of top-notch musicianship to go around 100 garage-rock bands. One point of note is "Cold War" is absent from the CD but it was released on the accompanying video, and really makes the video release shine. Looking back JY's choice of axes at the time included a horrible sounding Ibanez that has the most over-processed sound you'll hear this side of a Mutt Lange produced album, ie: Def Lep's Hysteria LP. In the end the band delivers, as we all know they can (if you've ever seen the tandem of JY and Tommy Shaw duo live) and Dennis DeYoung's keyboards are note-perfect. The LP also contains the studio single "Music Time" which, I belive was recorded after the departure of Tommy Shaw (don't hold me to this however), and the video, if you can ever catch it on the tele, is pretty darn clever and humerous, as is the song itself. It's nice to see this side of the band which at times during their steller run of releases in the 1970s was a bit too serious. But hey, don't forget, this is Styx here, they WERE being serious, their heyday was during a time when rock and roll musicians were beginning to stretch out a bit and show that the genre WAS to be taken seriously and over the top was considered cool. So put on your parachute pants, a horrible-print, brightly colored shirt, and italian loafers and enjoy.

You can see a complete list of all Styx discography, or go back to the Styx tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.