Sony’s
Setlist series isn’t a standard budget-line compilation: these discs bypass hits in favor of live tracks cut throughout the years, mixing up highlights from classic live albums with a handful of rarities, including some unreleased cuts. In the case of
REO Speedwagon’s entry, this adds eight previously unreleased cuts recorded throughout the ‘80s to highlights culled from 1977’s
Live: You Get What You Play For and the 1991 compilation
The Second Decade of Rock & Roll, making for a somewhat inconsistent compilation -- it’s too easy to hear the differences in decades -- yet it’s still an entertaining sampler, containing some solid live material from
REO.
–
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi