This two-disc reissue from
BGO combines two of
Spirit's more self-indulgent and quirky releases: 1977's
Future Games and 1984's aptly titled
The Spirit of '84. With
Future Games,
Randy California let his imagination run wild on this 22-song cycle, with erratic results. While the sound effects and production are a nice touch, the songs meander from one to another without a sense of full development. On top of that, the combination of science fiction, Hawaii, and numerous
Star Trek references meshes about as well as carpenter's nails and frogs on a slice of pizza. Translation: it just doesn't. On the flip side,
The Spirit of '84 does much better at redeeming
California, but this is one of the more misleading releases in the catalog. Essentially a reunion album with
Spirit's founding members, over half the songs are re-recordings of their back catalog's finest moments. And while the performances are noteworthy, the updated synth sounds and production values make them inferior to the originals. It's not the best work in the
Spirit catalog, but far from the worst, either. ~ Rob Theakston
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