Customer Reviews

Definitive Collection

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Krokus' last greatest hits album was released in 1988 and they did a poor job of putting it together. But this new collection album is way-better. You pretty much get all the cool songs from 1980-1986 which captures Krokus' golden period. The album is 20-Bit Remastering disc full of some of the most memorable songs from the Swiss/German metal band. To me, Krokus is like a crossover of Van Halen meets AC/DC with a catchy but high-powered sound. This is great album that Arista records released from one of the best metal band from the early 1980's. This album features my favorite songs of all time like, "Heatstrokes" (1980), "Eat The Rich" (1983), "Long Stick Goes Boom" (1982) and the trademark classic from Krokus "Staying Awake All Night" (1983). Enjoy this 15 track collection from Krokus and play it loud for the 80's and headbang for life. Laterz

Many moons ago, a review was written which recommended buying The Definitive Collection CD vs. Stayed Awake All Night - The Best of Krokus. Here and now, it is complete.

Krokus is an underrated hard rock/metal band from Switzerland. They have now recorded music in four different decades and continue to rock even as of the day this review is written.

This collection includes at least one track from the follow Krokus full-length CD's: Metal Rendez-vous, Hardware, One Vice at a Time, Headhunter, The Blitz, & Change of Address. In other words, it includes their music from what the public would consider "their best days" in the studios and on tour. This CD is of great sound quality. Audio technology has come a long way since the 80's and it is actually evident here.

They made some good songs better such as Ballroom Blitz & School's Out. Both of them were made heavier by Krokus, as it should be.

Their original songs are solid offerings, and as already mentioned, this collection is the most complete studio recording compliation to date for this group.

A few songs on here that I specifically recommend (besides the obvious ones like their covers and their biggest hits) are "She's Got Everything" "Night Wolf" & "Playin' The Outlaw."

This doesn't get 5 stars because I think they made a mistake in leaving out "Tokyo Nights" from Metal Rendez-vous and I would have included "Hot Shot City" from Change of Address. I also think that this would have been a good place to include a studio recording of "Lay Me Down" which was recorded (live) on their Alive and Screamin' CD.

But overall, this is actually the best from this band. It's a good way to get a feel for them if you are new to them, and it also allows you to have songs from their earlier recordings, which are generally tough to find on CD in the USA. Go pick up a copy.

This 80's metal band came and went real quick. In the process, they left some amazing songs. This collection does a decent job of collecting important songs from the band. But, it is missing "Our Love" from the album "The Blitz." It is also missing a couple of early songs that defined their sound, "Burning Bones" and "Tokyo Nights." Besides those flaws, it is a good CD.

Krokus is a hard rock band with distinct vocals hard edge guitars. The track, "Screaming in the knight", is, in my opinion, one of the best slow rock songs of all time. They put their mark on a few classic covers.

I own all the CD releases from the 80's of this Swiss Rock Band. It's hard to believe that they are recording over 3 decades and Marc "The Voice" Storace is the best singer of all times where I'm concerned. Recently I listened more so to their 2004 release "Rock The Block" and the live double CD "Fire & Gasoline", because I preferred the great sound recording of today rather the (sound)limitations of the 80's.

Which brings me to this CD. A lot of "remastered" CD's do not sound that much different from the originals. This one is incredible!!! The sound is up to date, crisp and clear. And the material proves to have hold up over all these years and appears to be "timeless". It opens with one of their bigger hits, "Ballroom Blitz" and sets the stage. "Long stick goes boom" is still the opener for the band's live concerts. "American Woman" is not just another "cover song", they made it their own and it sounds even more powerful in the remastered version. Another good cover is Alice Cooper's "School's Out". The studio version of their greatest hit "Screaming In The Night" gives me still the chills and the remastered version is unbelievable. "Headhunter" (their best selling CD so far), "Eat the Rich", "Heatstrokes" and "Stayed Awake All Night" all still are in the live repertoire of the band and these remastered versions sound so fresh, you wanna just sing along! "Bedside Radio" was not a great hit in the USA but in Europe it was BIG and is also represented on this CD. There are 15 strong songs on this remaster and there are 15 strong reasons to order this CD and make it part of your collection of all times. And while you're at it, check out their new CD "Hellraiser" and order both!

Yes,,,,
I'm giving this 4 stars for most of its material...even though this anthology has all you would expect from a KROKUS catalog..it STILL...YET AGAIN!!!(AS ALL THEIR HITS PACKAGES DO),omits one of their most classic songs, "WINNING MAN". This song is what put Krokus on the radio in the U.S.,or at least in my hometown area of Cincinnati, Ohio. It also does not include "OUR LOVE", another radio hit here in the U.S. I feel it should include those songs.
The songs "WINNING MAN" and "BURNING BONES" from the HARDWARE CD (1981), "OUR LOVE" from THE BLITZ CD (1984), & "BYE BYE BABY" from the PAY IT IN METAL CD (1978). this way you won't have to go buy those 3 CD's to get these songs on CD's that were manufactured before all the "REMASTERING" craze of today!!

this collection of fine tunes from,in my opinion,one of the most under-rated groups of the 80's.It is great from beginning to end. Some real good covers and originals.Standouts are: "Ballroom Blitz","Long Stick Goes Boom","Bad Boys-Rag Dolls","American Woman","Midnite Maniac","Headhunter","Eat The RicH", and "Screaming In The Night".Pretty much all the songs,but just wanted to narrow it down. Too bad it didn't have "Our Love",from "The Blitz".Oh well.Get it if you love the 80's rock or just good R N R!!!!!!!!!!

I wish it had a couple of more songs on it that I missed off of one of thier other albums.

As good as can be expected from Krokus - a fairly inconsequential Eurometal act several notches down the ladder from the best continental metal bands, including Scorpions and Accept. Krokus - whose pinnacle came in 1983 with "Screaming In The Night" (from "Headhunter") and a high-profile opening slot on Def Leppard's Pyromania American tour - soon fell into a Spinal Tap-esque pattern of revolving rhythm sections and spotty concert attendance. They showed their musical (and fashion) limitations on the slickly-produced "The Blitz" album the following year, and their final hurrah came in 1986 with their highest charting single, a cover of Alice Cooper's "School's Out" (no doubt inspired by Motley Crue's successful cover of Brownville Station's "Smokin' In The Boy's Room"). That said, this is a much better collection than 1989's "Stayed Awake All Night" - which contained a mere ten tracks. The music doesn't come close to packing the punch of their contemporaries - including AC/DC and Judas Priest - but at least Krokus had the sense (or did they?) to avoid the cheesiness of later lame metal bands (Poison and Warrant, et al). Bottom line - not the best (but far from the worst) mid-1980s metal - and beware of the woefully inaccurate liner notes contained within.

A sound that rings too closely to AC/DC.... yet, still some very catchy songs. Along with 2 pretty good covers ("School's Out" and "American Woman"), the highlights are easily "Screaming In The Night", "Long Stick Goes Boom", "Midnight Maniac" and "Eat The Rich". Heck, this is a great disc, but like so many 'collections', it almost misses the boat. While "Metal Rendez-Vous" and "Headhunter" are well represented with many chosen tracks on this definitive collection, there are some classic tracks (in my book) that could have made this disc even better. Songs like "Back-Seat Rock & Roll" or "Tokyo Nights" (from Metal Rendez-Vous), "Celebration" or "Mad Racket" (from Hardware), "Ready To Rock" (from "The Blitz"). Krokus had so many great albums that even their lesser played songs were still axe-driving, toe-tappingly, air-guitar-finger-lickin' good. If you want a good taste of the band, this is a great start (much better than their 1989 "Best Of" disc "Stayed Awake All Night" with the meezly 10 songs and even worse album cover art and lack there-of liner notes). If you are looking for a great studio album from Krokus, start with "Headhunter", "Metal Rendouz-Vous" or even "One Vice At A Time". Also note: These studio albums may be hard to find in your local stores - many of them are labeled as "imports"... too bad!