This album is notable for being one of the first commercially successful records to utilize advanced laser technology to cut a 3D holographic design directly on to the vinyl playing surface of the disc which, when viewed near a light source, produces a dazzling visual rainbow effect of the graphic text design.

Gatefold Cover is VG+ (shelf wear)
Laser Etched Record is VG+++ (looks practically untouched)
Labels are very clean

Visually Graded

Tracklist

Side 1
1     A.D. 1928     1:07
2     Rockin' The Paradise     3:54
3     Too Much Time On My Hands     4:31
4     Nothing Ever Goes As Planned     4:46
5     The Best Of Times     4:17

Side 2
1     Lonely People     4:38
2     She Cares     4:18
3     Snowblind     4:58
4     Half-Penny, Two-Penny     4:34
5     A.D. 1958     2:31
6     State Street Sadie     0:27

Note: Side 2 - play area laser-etched, "STYX" logo, solid black label / no print.
   

A concept album, the album is a fictional account of Chicago's Paradise Theatre from its opening to closing (and eventual abandonment), used as a metaphor for America's changing times from the late 1970s into the 1980s. (Dennis DeYoung confirmed this in an episode of In the Studio with Redbeard which devoted an entire episode to the making of the album.)

Four singles from the album charted. "The Best of Times", written by Dennis DeYoung, went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Too Much Time on My Hands", written by Tommy Shaw, went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, Shaw's only top 10 hit for Styx. "Nothing Ever Goes as Planned", written by DeYoung, went to #54 on the US Pop Chart. "Rockin' the Paradise" — written by DeYoung, Shaw and James Young — went to #8 on the Top Rock Track Chart.

The song "Snowblind" (lyrics by Young, music by Young and DeYoung) was an attack on drug addiction. The track would come under fire for alleged backward messages and was branded by Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center as "Satanistic".[citation needed] James Young and DeYoung denied this on the In the Studio episode devoted to the making of Paradise Theatre.[citation needed]

Paradise Theatre became Styx's only US #1 album. It was the band's fourth consecutive triple-platinum album, and (as of 2016) the last multi-platinum album by the band.