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The Best of Styx

Styx - The Best of Styx Audio CD

A fair review of the Styx "The Best of Styx" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Styx reviews here, or go back to the Styx tabs.

Band: Styx
Title: The Best of Styx
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: You Need Love 2: Lady 3: I'm Gonna Make You Feel It 4: What Has Come Between Us 5: Southern Woman 6: Rock & Roll Feeling 7: Winner Take All 8: Best Thing 9: Witch Wolf 10: Grove of Eglantine 11: Man of Miracles

The Wooden Nickel Years are superb! Dennis, JY at their finest!
By 1970, they had been signed to Wooden Nickel Records, which now is owned by RCA/BMG. Styx was formed in the late '60s by a keyboardist by the name of Dennis DeYoung.

In 1975, Styx switched labels, to A&M Records. This collection was released shortly afterwards. It features 11 of their best tracks from their Wooden Nickel years.

Of course, now there are so many better options. Keep in mind of the 2 CD set 'The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings. '

But if you want a quick look at their best early sides, you'll find most of them here. Read on for the positives and negatives.

Positives
-Obviously, their biggest hit on Wooden Nickel was 'Lady,' so it's nice to see it here.
-The underrated album classics that would pave the way for their A&M years are also here. 'Best Thing,' 'Winner Take All' and 'You Need Love' are all awesome songs, and it's great to see them here.
-The sound quality is great!

Negatives
-Where is one of their best Wooden Nickel songs, 'Movement for the Common Man'? That's 13+ minutes of goodness, and yet, it's nowhere to be found here.
-Why so skimpy? The length of the disc is 39:47, so they could easily find some other Wooden Nickel songs to put on here.

But overall, if you think the only part of Styx is their A&M recordings, you are dead wrong. Buy 'Best of Styx. ' You won't regret it.

Highly recommended for any Styx fan. ENJOY!!!.

The Best Of Wooden Nickel
Even though I like the later stuff better. In this album you can hear the early versions of their music it is a completely different sound then what you hear as soon as they switched over to A&M. This is still a great album Here Are M Rating by song:

1. You Need Love (15/10) Hard Rocker, A beatiful guitar solo and tons of organ AWESOME!!!!! off of the album STYX II

2. Lady (20/10) Their best song on this CD and their frst Top Ten hit. A Styx classic. off the album STYX II

3. I'm Gonna Make You Feel It (12/10) A very catchy song quick paced kinda one of those songs that gets stuck in our head but your happy that it's there. off the album STYX II

4. What Has Come Beetween Us (10/10) It's a rare Styx breakup song. off the album STYX.

5. Southern Woman (8/10) Some Southern Rock Style sung by James Young and interesting manuever by them. Off the album Man Of Miracles

6. Rock & Roll Feeling (10/10) Another song sung by James Young and a another catchy tune. off the album Man Of Miracles.

7. Winner Take All (9/10) John Curulewski sings really high in this song with Dennis DeYoung but another catch style song. off the album The Serpent Is Rising.

8. Best Thing (10/10) Their first Top 100 hit. A very well done song with a good guitar solo and lots of electric piano with acoustic guitar to back it up. Off the album STYX.

9. Witch Wolf (7/10) Kind of a theatrical song in a way good but not their best. Off the album The Serpent Is Rising.

10. The Grove Of Eglantine (9/10) A nice ballad by DeYoung. off the album The Serpent Is Rising

11. Man Of Miracles (8/10) A ballad/theatrical song pretty good but they have better. off the album Man Of Miracles.

5 stars for you need love
The title says it all, that song ROCKS!!!
nuff said.

The rough beginning of a superstar group.
It was the second Styx album I bought and looking back its a very good starter collection of songs from thier first four Wooden Nickel albums. This compilation was originally released in 1975 with a different cover as a "cash in" album when Styx changed labels to A&M. It seems a little skimpy on CD because it was originally put together for vinyl. But the original LP ran over 45 minutes, so I thought it was a great deal back then. The album was later reissued in the early 80's with a new (ugly) cover, which has been used for this CD. Most of these songs were also released as rare 45 singles, which are becoming very collectable on E-bay.

The band was just starting to forge thier own sound on these early albums so they are not quite as cohesive as thier A&M recordings. All four Wooden Nickel albums feature a very eclectic mix between JY's and the late John Curulewski's hard rockers verses Dennis' ballads and art-prog-rock peices. It wasn't until Tommy Shaw joined the band in 1976 that they found just the right songwriter to bridge those different elements together.

The mastering on the original RCA CD that came out in the mid 80's (The CD has a large modern RCA symbol in a circle in blue ink, and a scan of the album cover on the back) - its very hissy , stay away from this one!

The remastered BMG version (with the old 40's style RCA symbol on the CD and just the track and remastering information on the back) was redone in the 90's is a huge improvement and the one to get.

Still I wish BMG would put together a lengthier compilation of thier early days. Theres one available from Japan but its very expensive! (update - they did! Look for "The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings" and you will have everything on this CD in better quality).

good and getting better
This is a very good sampling of the four W. This CD is the best of Styx during their Wooden Nickel years. N. albums. After listening to it, I just had to get the four pre A&M albums hoping that I would find a few more hidden gems. Well, after hearing those four albums, I'm pretty sure that most of the good gems had been mined for The Best of Styx. It's kinda neat to hear John and JY featured so prominently through the album, and a song like Man of Miracles holds its own against Lady. Styx, Styx II, Man of Miracles, and The Serpent is Rising can be quite difficult to get ahold of, so if you really want the best of those early four, buy The Best of Styx, and, as advertised, you are getting the best of early Styx.

You can see a complete list of all Styx discography, or go back to the Styx tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.