Styx may have had their musical roots in the UK's burgeoning late-'60s/early-'70s prog-rock bombast, but they were true pioneers in at least one sense: The Chicago-bred quintet virtually defined the hugely successful "corp rock" boom that followed a decade after prog's original fortunes tarnished. And if that label suggests a certain sense of the formulaic, in Styx it actually denoted a band with sharp ears and a shrewder sense of rock history, attested to immediately here by the Yes-inspired harmonies of "You Need Love" and the staccato rhythms of the Beatles' "Getting Better" on "Winner Take All." This 35-track double-disc anthology charts a course from sudden fame to its sometimes stormy aftermath, spanning the band's 1972 debut and its resilient 2003 comeback contender, Cyclorama. But after working their way up from the Grand Funk-worthy, meat 'n' instant potatoes of "Rock and Roll Feeling" and bald-faced melodramatics of "Lady" and "Come Sail Away" to the gutsier edge of "Blue Collar Man" and "Too Much Time on My Hands," rising tides of punk and new wave began to erode their younger demographic. And by the time "Babe" gave way to the faux techno of '83's "Mr. Roboto," even those sympathetic to the band's hook-rich, prog-lite sensibility seemed restless. Still, their Tommy Shaw-dominate output in the '90s and beyond showcased a band that had subtly matured from their arena-rock cliche salad days.

Tracklist:
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CD1:
01. Styx - Best Thing (3:15)
02. Styx - You Need Love (3:44)
03. Styx - Lady (2:58)
04. Styx - Winner Take All (3:05)
05. Styx - Rock & Roll Feeling (3:02)
06. Styx - Light Up (4:21)
07. Styx - Lorelei (3:23)
08. Styx - Prelude 12 (1:20)
09. Styx - Suite Madame Blue (6:33)
10. Styx - Shooz (4:47)
11. Styx - Mademoiselle (4:00)
12. Styx - Crystal Ball (4:34)
13. Styx - The Grand Illusion (4:37)
14. Styx - Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man) (5:31)
15. Styx - Come Sail Away (6:05)
16. Styx - Miss America (4:58)
17. Styx - Man In The Wilderness (6:57)

CD2:
18. Styx - Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) (4:06)
19. Styx - Sing For The Day (4:57)
20. Styx - Renegade (4:13)
21. Styx - Pieces Of Eight (4:45)
22. Styx - Lights (4:38)
23. Styx - Babe (4:27)
24. Styx - Borrowed Time (4:59)
25. Styx - Boat On The River (3:12)
26. Styx - A.D. 1928 (1:07)
27. Styx - Rockin' The Paradise (3:35)
28. Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands (4:33)
29. Styx - The Best Of Times (4:19)
30. Styx - Snowblind (4:59)
31. Styx - Mr. Roboto (5:28)
32. Styx - Love Is The Ritual (3:49)
33. Styx - Show Me The Way (4:37)
34. Styx - Dear John (3:04)
35. Styx - One With Everything (5:56)

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