Customer Reviews

Best of Times: The Best

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you took greatest hits 1 & 2 and mashed them up together this is what you would end up with. This is a great album to buy. It has their best billboard hits that a new Styx fan would love. And then it has their not so famous songs that only a veteran Styx fan knows and would enjoy. This is something to get into. Styx is a great band to start your music collection with. This is a great CD to buy if you don't like this one buy their greatest hits or Come Sail Away: The Styx Anthology. But I'm serious this is a great CD to get I mean it buy it now.

As a previous reviewer stated, mash 'Greatest Hits' 1 and 2 together and the result is 'The Best of Times: The Best of Styx.' 16 tracks give you a great overview of Styx's A&M years.

It must be noted though that nothing from the Wooden Nickel years or nothing from 'Equinox,' 'Crystal Ball' or 'The Grand Illusion' is featured here. That's really disappointing and is a major problem and flaw for this disc. That means, no 'Come Sail Away' or 'The Grand Illusion.'

Here is the album by album review:

Tracks from Pieces of Eight (1978)
'Renegade,' 'Sing For The Day,' 'Blue Collar Man'
Review: Superb! My three favorites from this record all make appearances here. This was probably my favorite Styx record from the A&M years, and it gets great coverage here. Nice job, A&M.

Tracks from Cornerstone (1979)
'Babe,' 'Boat On The River,' 'Borrowed Time'
Review: Again, my three favorites from 'Cornerstone.' 'Babe' was Styx's first and only #1 hit, and rightfully so. A ballad to Dennis' wife Suzanne, it is one of Styx's best songs. I'm a little disappointed that they omitted 'Lights' here, but that's nothing to cry about.

Tracks from Paradise Theater (1981)
'Too Much Time On My Hands,' 'A.D. 1928,' 'Rockin The Paradise,' 'The Best Of Times'
Review: This compilation takes it's name from the song, so obviously it's here. Just a tad disappointed that 'Snowblind' doesn't make an appearance, but that's minor. A&M got the great ones from this record.

Tracks from Kilroy Was Here (1983)
'Don't Let It End,' 'Mr. Roboto'
Review: Yes, 'Kilroy' was a weird concept record. These are the two best songs here. Still, 'Heavy Metal Poisoning' was good, same for 'Haven't We Been Here Before.' But these are the two tracks that are really worth your time from 'Kilroy.'

Tracks from 'Edge of the Century' (1990)
'Show Me The Way'
Review: This record, hands down, was the worst Styx record of all-time. This song and 'Love Is The Ritual' were the only truly good ones, although I did enjoy 'Love At First Sight.' But I like this song a lot. It's one of Styx's best pop tunes.

New Tracks (1995)
'Lady 95'
Review: A remake of the 1972 accidental hit, this is version isn't quite as good as the Wooden Nickel version, but it's still great. It's one of Styx's all-time classics, and Styx did a great job remaking it.

New Tracks (1996)
'Little Suzie,' 'It Takes Love'
Review: 'Little Suzie' is one Tommy Shaw wrote especially for 'Greatest Hits Part 2.' It has become one of my all-time favorite Styx tunes over the years. Todd Sucherman is the drummer here; Styx's original and longtime drummer John Panozzo had recently passed away due to kidney failure at this point. 'It Takes Love' actually dates back to 1992, when Dennis recorded his parts, and the rest of the band recorded their parts in 1996. But it's a great love song, right up there with one of Styx's best ballads.

Overall, if you didn't buy 'Greatest Hits' part one and two yet, than this might not be a bad choice. My advice would be to get this, 'The Grand Illusion,' 'Crystal Ball' and 'Equinox' if you want their A&M years covered, or if you want to dig deeper into Styx's catalog, check out 'The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings.'

But this is a great Styx compilation. Highly recommended for any casual or new Styx fan. This is a great entry point into the legendary music of Styx.

Highly recommended.

ENJOY!!!

This is a pretty good compilation even it does include a few of their bad songs like Sing for the Day, Little Suzie, and It Takes Love, other than that there are a good number of songs on this release, but for a full Best of, on my iPod i have the following:

1. AD 1928 / Rockin' the Paradise 2. Snowblind 3. Nothing Ever Goes As Planned
4. Too Much Time On My Hands 5. Half-Penny, Two-Penny 6. Come Sail Away
7. All in a Day's Work 8. Eddie 9. The Best of Times 10. Renegade 11. Mr. Roboto 12. Boat on the River 13. Midnight Ride 14. Suite Madame Blue 15. Lights 16. Miss America 17. Babe 18. Crystal Ball 19. Love is the Ritual 20. AD 1958 21. Blue Collar Man 22. Music Time

While I was at it, I also put together a further compilation built around the Kilroy Was Here story with the following tracks which works really well:

1. Mr. Roboto 2. Cold War 3. Double Life 4. High Time 5. Love in the Midnight
6. Into the Fire 7. Why Me 8. Just Get Through This Night 9. Show Me the Way
10. City of Holy Faith 11. Haven't We Been Here Before 12. Not Dead Yet
13. Still Feel Your Love 14. Girls with Guns 15. Don't Let It End
16. Man in the Wilderness 17. Heavy Metal Poisoning 18. Castle Walls
19. Little Girl World 20. Don't Let It End - reprise 21. Back to Chicago

Most of these songs are actually ones you'd expect from a "Best of". The US "Greatest Hits" is just a little too slow for my taste, and it's counter-part just doesn't cut it. My only complaint is that Tommy and Dennis need to fallback a little bit. They've had five other lead volcalists but you'd never know it.

Received product in a timely manner. Was in excellent shape. And am enjoying the CD.