Godsmack

Good Times, Bad Times…10 Years of Godsmack

Sully Erna - Vocals
Tony Rombola - Guitar
Robbie Merrill - Bass
Shanon Larkin – Drums

            A great ten years for this popular hard rock band right? After the huge success of their debut album in 1998 four years of touring and writing for their next album nearly destroyed the band. Before they take a nice time off they decided to release the greatest so far. Good Times, Bad Times…10 years of Godsmack released December of 2007 via Universal Records is a great collection of their top singles that starts with an addition of a remade Zeppelin tune and ends with an evening with Godsmack, a show in Vegas. Disc 1 begins with the remake of Led Zeppelin’s debut track, “Good Times, Bad Times.” They really didn’t make the track their own by adding of mixing some stuff up during the track. After that is a relentless attack on your ears. While most “Greatest Hits” albums offer many but not all the classics, Godsmack serves up the ass kicking they have done in 4 full length albums in one big helping. There is also an acoustic set the band did in Vegas. The show is nicely done. When you hear about an acoustic show you think of the lead singer in front of the crowd with a guitar but not this one. The show includes a couch, a full drum set, a set of bongo drums and three stools out from. The set includes a few lesser known tracks, a few really known tracks, a jam session and a little blues. They also include a questions and answers throughout the show. Overall this is a great CD/DVD greatest hits release. I do however have 2 minor complaints. The way the album was set up. It started out good, but the singles need to be mixed up and not placed in order. It would have had the effect of a great show that way. The other is with the DVD. I did really like them taking questions the crowd, but I think the addition of some music videos, interviews, and/or “extras” would have increased the value of the DVD. All Godsmack fans will love this album, myself included. We can now place in one CD and rock out to all our favorites (give or take a few).

Rating:  9 out of 10

My favorite tracks:

Voodoo, Bad Religion, Touché and Speak

Track List:

1.      Good Times, Bad Times

2.      Whatever

3.      Keep Away

4.      Voodoo

5.      Bad Religion

6.      Awake

7.      Greed

8.      I Stand Alone

9.      Straight Out Of Line

10.  Serenity

11.  Realign

12.  Running Blind

13.  Touché

14.  Speak

15.  Shine Down

16.  The Enemy

Disc 2: House of Blues show DVD

Website (s): www.godsmack.com, www.universalrecords.com