Cyclorama is an unexpectedly appealing comeback. Sure, there’s still no shortage of excessively filigreed keyboard and guitar passages, anthemic choruses that make Queen sound laid back, and at least one song (the nearly seven-minute "These Are the Times") that threatens to summon the spirit of Stonehenge-era Spinal Tap. Yet, somehow, all that is forgiven once Styx sneaks up on you with the killer hooks of the Tenacious D-assisted "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye," a power-pop gem with the verve of classic Cheap Trick. It’s these and other small pleasures--Brian Wilson’s sumptuous vocal arrangement on a reprise of "Fooling Yourself (Palm of Your Hands)," Billy Bob Thornton’s guttural yowling on "Bourgeois Pig," and of course an appearance by John Waite (without whom no classic-rock party is complete)--that weaken your resistance to even the maudlin sentiments of "Yes I Can" (which, sorry to say, has nothing to do with the Sammy Davis Jr. autobiography whose title it shares). Will Cyclorama inspire a revisionist respect for the band at its commercial peak? Probably not. But it does prove that Styx have more than enough musical vitality to transcend their peers on the casino and county fair circuit. --Bill Forman

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