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 their how-many-grams-to-a-kilo detail and utter amorality. On 'Watch Dem Niggas', Nas cites as inspirations both the boxing coach Cus D'Amato and the murderous drug lord Pablo Escobar. What is this guy thinking?". Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" commented that he "continually shifts perspective" and called it "late-stage gangsta rap, starting to buckle under its own contradictions." "The Village Voice"s Robert Christgau gave the album a "neither" () rating, indicating "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't." The album was ranked number 41 in "NME"s critics' poll of 1996,