Being a fan of the rock group STYX, I really enjoyed their "Kilroy Was Here" album. When I first saw this video production, I was very impressed by the way the group members (who acted in the film) conveyed the "Kilroy" story. This movie accentuates the album, bringing out meaning that I had never actually heard in the music alone.
5 Reviews
... And I always thought this was a feature-length piece.
mr-roboto129 October 2007
The way I've seen and heard the album described online lead me to believe it was the soundtrack for an entire move. At least, the videos from the album had a feature film feel to them.
After seeing this short on YouTube, the album really comes together with the storyline. Each track now fits into the "bigger picture" that this video creates, and how those tracks complete the story. It's amazing how a simple 10-minute piece like this can make an entire story while some feature-length pieces totally blow the story in favor of effects, actor presence, etc. It makes me wish that Styx & Brian Gibson would have done a full-length version.
If you didn't like the album, try listening to it again *AFTER* watching this video. You may be surprised.
(BTW, yes, the song is where I got my handle from.)
After seeing this short on YouTube, the album really comes together with the storyline. Each track now fits into the "bigger picture" that this video creates, and how those tracks complete the story. It's amazing how a simple 10-minute piece like this can make an entire story while some feature-length pieces totally blow the story in favor of effects, actor presence, etc. It makes me wish that Styx & Brian Gibson would have done a full-length version.
If you didn't like the album, try listening to it again *AFTER* watching this video. You may be surprised.
(BTW, yes, the song is where I got my handle from.)
The album is better than the video
rexb-222 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
It had to be a really hard thing to do a big musical production on stage without the budget of a big Broadway play. But Styx did a pretty good job I think. I have loved the album for years. But the video quality itself stinks. Time for an upgrade. The music is just stereo. And the "acting" portion really does leave something to be desired here. Great rockers - marginal actors.
I just didn't feel there was enough of a transition from the storytelling to the concert section. The return to the "present" to finish the theatrical part was a better transition but still pretty awkward. Maybe it all seemed better live but on the video it might not have been cut correctly. Yeah, let's blame it on the editor.
Overall the music is timeless and satisfying; the video of the production won't stand the test of time but can still be kind of fun in a retro-way.
I just didn't feel there was enough of a transition from the storytelling to the concert section. The return to the "present" to finish the theatrical part was a better transition but still pretty awkward. Maybe it all seemed better live but on the video it might not have been cut correctly. Yeah, let's blame it on the editor.
Overall the music is timeless and satisfying; the video of the production won't stand the test of time but can still be kind of fun in a retro-way.
Great Little Sci-Fi Mini Epic
Ladybugking15 May 2005
The entire Styx project for Kilroy Was Here was blasted by critics. However, many fans of Styx loved the album, the concert and especially this cool, little humorous film that provided exposition for the entire concept, which, in many ways was ahead of its time. The Sci-fi look was very atmospheric, steam flowing from vents, dark interiors, principals lighted from below.
The Robotos, who stroll around the shipboard "prison", were designed by special effects wizard Stan Winston.
None of these singers could act, but I got a kick out of watching them anyway. And DeYoung and Shaw were certainly easy on the eyes.
I will always appreciate the work Brian Gibson did on this little film.
The Robotos, who stroll around the shipboard "prison", were designed by special effects wizard Stan Winston.
None of these singers could act, but I got a kick out of watching them anyway. And DeYoung and Shaw were certainly easy on the eyes.
I will always appreciate the work Brian Gibson did on this little film.
Don't Let It End!
penelopedanger5 January 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Probably one of the most singularly bizarre moments in rock, Styx's 1983 short film "Kilroy Was Here" paints a picture of a dystopian, rockless blue-neon future ruled by religious zealots and screamingly racist Japanese androids (designed by effects guru Stan Winston). The loose plot has superstar rocker Robert Orrin Charles Kilroy (played to the hilt by Styx leader Dennis DeYoung, who dreamed up this concept and wrote the film) framed and convicted of murder by the Majority for Musical Morality, led by the evil preacher Dr. Righteous (guitarist James Young, who should not quit his day job). Kilroy's downfall comes on the same night that rock and roll is outlawed forever, and he's locked away for good--that is, until five years later when Kilroy sabotages a "Mr. Roboto" and breaks out, in search of Jonathan Chance (Tommy Shaw), the rockin' rebel leader of an underground movement to bring down bible-thumping Dr. Righteous and return the youth of America to their headbanging, Camaro-driving ways.
"Kilroy Was Here"--the movie and the album that inspired it--was laughably over-the-top even for the 80s. It spawned hits like "Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let It End"--both included here--but its gut-busting excesses broke up the band, who dumped Dennis DeYoung for ruining their image as "serious rockers." Band members later dismissed the project as a huge DeYoung ego trip, and casting himself as the martyred saviour of rock and roll does strain belief beyond the breaking point. However, it's also a huge part of this film's charm. It's very much a "Spinal Tap" type project, with overblown special effects and every slick 80s music video cliché in the book--the fog budget alone must have been enormous. But it's tremendously entertaining for what it is. And though its vision of rock being banned outright seems ridiculous, Frank Zappa and Dee Snyder were testifying before Congress in rock's defense just a few years later. Who knows, maybe DeYoung's comically dark vision of the future is on its way even now.
The complete film "Kilroy Was Here" can be found at the beginning of the out-of-print VHS concert video "STYX: Caught In The Act".
"Kilroy Was Here"--the movie and the album that inspired it--was laughably over-the-top even for the 80s. It spawned hits like "Mr. Roboto" and "Don't Let It End"--both included here--but its gut-busting excesses broke up the band, who dumped Dennis DeYoung for ruining their image as "serious rockers." Band members later dismissed the project as a huge DeYoung ego trip, and casting himself as the martyred saviour of rock and roll does strain belief beyond the breaking point. However, it's also a huge part of this film's charm. It's very much a "Spinal Tap" type project, with overblown special effects and every slick 80s music video cliché in the book--the fog budget alone must have been enormous. But it's tremendously entertaining for what it is. And though its vision of rock being banned outright seems ridiculous, Frank Zappa and Dee Snyder were testifying before Congress in rock's defense just a few years later. Who knows, maybe DeYoung's comically dark vision of the future is on its way even now.
The complete film "Kilroy Was Here" can be found at the beginning of the out-of-print VHS concert video "STYX: Caught In The Act".
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