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I was always a huge Spirit fan based on the original quintet's four studio albums. I admit I lost track of the Randy California/Ed Cassidy latter-day band for a couple of decades - my loss. Thank God, however, that these performances were recorded and thank God they have been issued as part of a larger "from the Spirit vault" project. This is over 150 minutes of live recordings on two CDs. According to the allmusic.com website, the recordings date from 1987 through 1996, mainly featuring the so-called "Tent Of Miracles Band" version of Spirit: California, Cassidy, Mike Nile on bass and either Scott Monahan or George Valuck on keyboards.
The performances (and the recording) are outstanding. If anyone ever doubted the musicianship of Randy California and Ed Cassidy, these recordings put that to rest (not to slight the rest of the band, which is also excellent). I hate to use that overworked term "eclectic," but these recordings really are. You have screaming guitar numbers, jazzy Jeff Beck-ish jamming, some quiet acoustic moments, and a number of the classic "original Spirit" songs. NONE of it is boring. You get your money's worth on this double CD.
It appears, viewing commentary elsewhere on the internet, that this CD may have been issued on a couple of different labels both in 2004 and in 2006. My copy (bought on Amazon.com) states that it is issued on the Evangeline Records label with a 2006 copyright date. The liner with this version contains a track listing and that is ALL: no credits for artists, recording, engineering, producer or information on when/where the tracks were recorded. It mystifies and annoys me that they would put out a CD with no such information. Nonetheless, the performances and recording/mastering quality rate five stars.
