Customer Reviews

Gold

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This wonderful two CD set..."Come Sail Away: The STYX Anthology" is a generous collection of their more well known material...the price is right...and even better for CDNOW Club members ! Aside from owning EVERY album...it's the PERFECT CD NOW "buy together" combo with "The Wooden Nickel Recordings" to give we STYX fans all we need for our listening pleasure ! Both pretty much make any other STYX "hits" collection obsolete ! Oh yes....for the diehard STYX fan...there are songs we'd love to have included that are missing....but that's what the individual albums are for...right ?

There's no need to comment on the set list...it's all very obvious. What else DO I want to comment on ? The sound quality....PRISTINE ! I have a pretty decent sound system in my SUV...and when I turned it up and played it loud...I got chills ! The remastering job on this collection is EXTRAORDINARY....and it makes me plead with A&M and STYX to PLEASE remaster the origional albums...this set sounds beautiful !

"Come Sail Away : The STYX Anthology " was released a year ago this May...and I don't understand why it took me so long to buy it ! If you love STYX music....do the "buy together" deal with "The Wooden Nickel Recordings" right now...and "come sail away" to the world of STYX....ENJOY !

Recently I have been trading music material with one of my uncles, who is 15 years older than me, he showed me an album (On vinyl) called Paradise Theater, of a band I wasn't familiar with, called STYX (I only recognized Mr. Tommy Shaw, I'm a big fan of the Damn Yankees), with songs almost as old as me, What I encountered here was so much diversity of EXCELLENT music, Dennis DeYoung, balladist extraordinaire has my uncle's respect, but I favor the powerful riffs of Tommy Shaw, he made me forget his excellent tenure on Damn Yankees, with even better songs, needless to say I got hooked on Styx and purchased this Antology album, only to discover even more gems, over 30 years of history with this band.
I honestly don't know why it took me so long to discover STYX, now among with my all time favorite bands, so, If you have a relative who has a pile of well taken care of vinyls, take a look, you might discover a treasure.

OK. I'm a completist who owns every single Styx album ever made. That said, this collection was worth every nickel because of the remastering. Clean, clear, fresh and "in the room" sound on every carefully chosen track. This is by far the best ever Styx compilation. Every single album is represented (except 1999's "Brave New World" -- hence only 4 stars). I could bitch about what's not here but I won't, because what's here is so good! They included all the big hits plus some excellent album tracks (i.e. Pieces of Eight, Borrowed Time, Shooz). The only "bonus" is the previously unreleased long version of the sublime "Man In The Wilderness" (which alone is worth the price of admission). "One With Everything" from 2003's "Cyclorama" is a freaking masterpiece of vintage Stygian proportions and was an excellent choice to include here. Best of all, there are no dorky "remixes," obnoxious "alternate versions," or surprise (uncredited on the outside case) live versions. ALL ORIGINAL STUDIO TRACKS ALL REMASTERED! BUY THIS NOW! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!?

I became a Styx fan about 2 years ago when I was a senoir in high school. The first time I heard the song Blue Collar Man (long Nights) I instantly fell in love with the classic lineup of Dennis DeYoung, The Panozzo Brothers, James Young, and Tommy Shaw. This was the very first Styx CD I ever bought and I loved it so much I had to go out and buy the rest of the Styx albums. I love every song on this CD from "Best Thing" all the way to "One With Everything". I do think that there are some songs missing though such as "Don't Let It End", "First Time", "Haven't We Been Here Before", "Queen Of Spades", and "Superstars", and there are no songs from BRAVE NEW WORLD which really is a great album. And I also feel that there isn't enough from the wooden nickel era. But that is the truth with every greatest hits or anthology album something is always missing to someone that is why we buy the individual albums and why artists release more than one greatest hits album.

But enough negative stuff this is a great album to start with. They start with their first Top 100 hit off their self-titled album STYX with "Best Thing". And then comes two songs off of Styx II The Top 100 hit "You Need Love" and the original "Lady" their first Top Ten hit. They then showcase "Winner Take All" off of THE SERPENT IS RISING and "Rock & Roll Feeling" from MAN OF MIRACLES. Then comes their best off of EQUINOX with their classic songs, "Loerelei", "Light Up", and the two parter "Prelude 12" and "Suite Madame Blue". Then comes the start of the Tommy Shaw era album CRYSTAL BALL with the songs "Crystal Ball", "Shooz", and the Top 40 hit "Mademoisselle". Then the THE GRAND ILLUSION with the songs "Come Sail Away", "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)", "Grand Illusion", "Miss America" and the full length version of "Man In The Wilderness".

Then they start disc 2 with my favorite album PIECES OF EIGHT. They start out the 2nd CD with my favorite song too. "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)" they also have songs "Sing For The Day", "Renegade", and "Pieces Of Eight" from that album. Then comes the songs off of CORNERSTONE with their only #1 hit ever. "Babe" plus other songs like "Lights", "Borrowed Time", and "Boat On The River". Then comes the songs off of the album PARADISE THEATRE with "Too Much Time On My Hands", "The Best Of Times", "Snowblind", and the two-parter "A.D. 1928" and "Rockin' The Paradise". Then comes "Mr. Roboto" from their album KILROY WAS HERE. Then comes two songs from their first reunion EDGE OF THE CENTURY. Their Top Ten Hit of the 90s "Show Me The Way" and their spin on the music of that day with "Love Is The Ritual". Then comes the emotionally gripping song dedicates to their late and great drummer John Panozzo in "Dear John" off of RETURN TO PARADISE and then they finish off the anthology with "One With Everything" from CYCLORAMA which features Lawrence Gowan.

Well thats it sure its missing a few things but doesn't every greatest hits album for any band have songs that they miss. This a great album to start or end your collection. I highly suggest that you buy this album today.

There are several treasures on this album ranging the full length of Styx's career. The remastered sound, especially on the Wooden Nickel cuts are superb.
I've read some reviews that point out certain tracks, such as "Dont Let it End" that aren't included on this compliation. But I think it's important to point out that several of those tracks, including that track--are available on other Styx compliation albums.

Also in defense of the current Styx line up first of all they are not playing fairs.....don't get them confused with Journey who just got done playing after rodeos! When Steve Perry left Journey, Journey lost it's voice. Styx however had many voices! And if a band is going to be based off of it's original lineup I feel sorry for many fans out there that are missing out on some great music.

I think any Styx fan would enjoy this compliation. There's alot of rare gems on this and as stated earlier the remastered sound is excellent. Go ahead and listen to it!!

From the mid 1970's through the mid 1980's, Styx cranked out one master piece after another. This anthology has captured all of this music together. The antholgy cover every period from the earliest days to the most recent releases. The beauty is that all of the truly great works that band recorded actually made it on to the disks. The heavy emphasis is one the golden period of the classic line up of the band with Tommy Shaw and Dennis Deyoung. It is nice to see some of the early work that is not so well known except for "lady". It is also nice to see some of the most recent work included to allow a long time fan to see what the band has done recently. In my opinion, the newer material is not the same quality of the old, but it doesn't mean it is bad either. If you are a STYX fan, this is the perfect collection from the band. Highly recommended.

As a long time STYX fan and music collector I was thrilled when I heard that STYX were planning on releasing a Greatest Hits Box Set encompassing their entire career from both the Wooden Nickel/RCA & A&M Labels. While many other bands of their era have had a CD box set package released, this band has been sadly overlooked when making such a compilation. Unfortunately, this STYX ANTHOLOGY collection has only one rarity on it (the full length version of "Man in the Wilderness") and since it's only an about a minute longer, it's not really a must have. Here are what I think are the strengths and weakness of this collection.

STRENGTHS:
-- The digital remastering of this collection is outstanding! These tracks will sound better than any other STYX CD you may have including all their previous Greatest Hits compilations. Much of the hiss that is apparent on their studio albums, especially their early ones, is nearly gone.

-- Anytime a your favorite band puts out a "hits" compilation that's only a double CD there's always going to be a few complaints by some that not all of their favorite songs didn't make it. This collection succeeds because not only are the songs are in chronological order of their release, but a lot of this albums flows together from track to track. It also includes the wonderful title track from the album "Pieces of Eight" and the popular album track "Miss America". I was also pleased to see "Dear John" was also included, which is dedicated to the memory of STYX's original drummer JOHN PANOZZO. While some great hit songs like "Don't Let It End", "Love At First Sight", "Queen of Spades" and "Why Me" are not included in this compilation, all of their studio albums (except one) have at least one track represented, with their five best selling albums having at least four tracks from each album included. Another double CD compilation called "The Singles Collection" has 28 tracks including all those other great songs.

-- Unlike many other "Hits" collections, all of the 35 tracks here are in their original album form. There are no single edits or remixes on any of the tracks, and despite the relative weak looking CD cover, the enclosed booklet is well done.

WEAKNESS:
-- Despite all the great tracks here on this collection, most of us have heard them before since there's been nearly twenty STYX "hits" CD compilations released worldwide This would have been a great opportunity to release some unreleased or rare live tracks. Here are several tracks that I would have loved to been on this collection.

- "Unfinished Song" - This is the only song that been released that is still unavailable on CD. It's a great song that DeYoung wrote during their fourth album, but it was not released on it. This song was later released again in the early 80' on the reissue of their fourth album.

- "Crystal Ball" - While this song is on this collection, there's another version with an extra verse that would have been nice to see finally released. There's also a vintage live version with extended guitar solos that has been released on an obscure soundtrack. It's been unavailable on CD since it was released on a long out-of-print Japanese only compilation in the early `80s.

- "Boat on The River" - This is another song that is on this collection and several others, but I would have preferred to have the excellent, vintage live version that was only released in Europe. I usually dislike "live" versions of my favorite hits on compilations, but I think this "live" version is far superior since it has a very cool extended intro. It would have been nice to have fans hear this version released in the US since this is also been long out-of-print in any format.

- "Show Me the Way" - Since this version has been released on so many on other STYX "hits" compilations it would be cool to hear a different mix of this song. While the this song has nothing to do with the Gulf War that was going on at the time it was released, there are a couple remixed versions that a couple of radio DJs made and one of them was only released on a promo CD and heard on many radio stations around that time.

- "While There's Still Time" - This track didn't make it on this collection. It was originally going to be released by A&M on yet another "hits" collection in 1996; however, it was pulled off that compilation before it was released, but not before it was released on a promo only CD sampler. A new version of this song was later released years later on the "Brave New World" album. While both songs are pretty similar, I prefer the original version.


-- Despite all the good tracks here my only minor quibble would add the track "Born For Adventure" or even "Put Me On" to the first disc. Both songs are great album tracks that capture's that classic STYX sound that most everyone remembers.

If you're only interested in the "hits" of STYX this anthology collection is probably the best compilation that has been released so far. It has 35 songs that capture over 30 years of music from their very first single up to their latest single and a bunch of good album tracks in-between. It's a double CD collection for the same price of many single CDs, so there's no way you should feel like your getting rip-off. Besides with the money you saved getting this title, you'll want get their music video collection on DVD. Until Amazon gets it together, you can find this DVD by entering this ASIN number: B0001XARSG into the search box. The only regret you'll have after getting this collection is that you'll have to buy their individual albums too, because there are so many more great songs that didn't make it here.

Styx is one of those groups that many people seem to hate, and yet has always done well both in concert and on tour. One likely explanation is that Styx has sung songs that often almost "gimmicky" or too cute for some fans. One example is "Mr. Roboto." Furthermore, their commercial success may turn some critics away because some people have the opinion that commercial success means little or no artistry. Regardless of why the opinions are what they are, Styx had a long successful career and though they had many pop hits they began life with a progressive and harder edge.

As Styx's popularity waned they tried to experiment with their music, which is always dangerous for a long-established group since their existing fans may feel betrayed and the genre they are trying to break into either reviles their music or doesn't recognize what they are trying to do. "Kilroy Was Here," from which "Mr. Roboto" was taken, was such an experiment. "Kilroy Was Here" was a concept album. I think that had Styx been a new group the album may have worked. However, many longtime Styx fans felt betrayed by an album that appeared to diverge from Styx's traditional music. This album marked the end or the beginning of the end for a monster group that had churned out many top 40 songs.

Styx continues to release albums, with two albums released in the 1990's and two released after the beginning of the new millennium. This album covers up to the 2003 release "Cyclorama."

This CD is a significant improvement over "Styx - Greatest Hits." As with the previous release, I'm not sure that all of the songs on the CD are "greatest hits," but certainly they are representative of Styx from the beginning of their career to the end. This CD is much like "Styx - Greatest Hits" in that it makes a great sampler of Styx. However, serious fans will want to move beyond this collection and acquire Styx albums.

Styx has been classified many ways. Some critics call their music prog-lite. Some critics call them arena rockers and glam rockers. I guess I do not understand what any of these definitions mean when applied to Styx. I think many of these songs still have an edge to them. As an example, "Miss America" is a rocking song. "Crystal Ball" and "Renegade" are also rockers on this CD. There are other fast-paced songs, but they are more pop, such as "Fooling Yourself" and "Lorelei."

Ignore the criticism of Styx if you are a fan of Styx. They created their own style of music, which added, not subtracted, from rock music. They did not try to be like anyone else. I think most groups, including Styx, would rather be thought of as creating their own genre rather than fitting into an existing genre. I think in many ways they did exactly that. In the process they created detractors. Oh well. There will always be someone who wants to denigrate a successful artist. If you like what you've heard of Styx's music and are looking for a good overview of their career, this is the CD. If you are looking for early Styx that had yet to be a pop success, try "The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings."

Enjoy!

Come sail away is a brilliant box set from arguably one of the greatest rock bands ever.This excellent box set contains classics like BABE,LADY and more.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Styx was one of the most successful bands of the late 1970s' and early 1980s'. Their music was a dominant force of that era, and they had several huge hit singles that still receive tons of airplay today.

Like any great band, their are many Styx compilations on the market. In 2004, after many tries, the definitive Styx collection was released. "Come Sail Away: The Styx Antology" that includes 35 of their biggest hits and classic album tracks. How does it hold up? Read on for the positives and negatives.

Positives:
-If you want only one collection of Styx songs, than this is THE one. Nearly all the big hits are here, including "Lady", "Lorelei", "Come Sail Away" (still a fully enjoyable song even after being played to death on classic rock radio), "Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)", "Renegade", "Mr. Roboto" and "Show Me The Way".
-Many underrated album tracks and minor single have been included as well, such as "Best Thing", "Preulde 12", "Suite Madame Blue", "Crystal Ball", "The Grand Illusion", "Miss America", "Sing For The Day" and "Love Is The Ritual".
-Excellent sound quality.
-Good liner notes.
-Nice packaging.

Negatives:
-"Don't Let It End" is not included. As that song was a big hit (# 6 on the Hot 100), its omission is quite startling.
-High price, which is expected with a two disc set. That being said, this collection is worth every penny.

Overall, this is an a,azing Styx collection. If you only want one Styx album in your collection, make it this one.