It Was the Best of Times selections from Supertramp's career to that point, still eschewing their first two LPs, without really adding anything to the portrait painted by the slimmer edition." All songs written by Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, except where noted. It Was the Best of Times It Was the Best of Times is the third live album by the English rock band Supertramp, released in April 1999. The album title makes use of the opening line from "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. "It Was the Best of Times" was recorded in September 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England,
It Was Written album's sound and gave the album 3½ out of 4 stars. "Los Angeles Times" writer Cheo Coker called the album "poetic", writing that it "demonstrates a continuing lyrical maturity that makes his already potent beats and rhymes all the more compelling". "Spin" magazine preferred the "reach" of "It Was Written" to Nas's "more suavely rapped debut", praised the production, and described the songs' choruses as "grainy, pop-savvy". The album's release followed the commercial success of other mafioso-themed rap albums with similar subject matter, including Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…" (1995), Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt" (1996) and AZ's "Doe or Die"