The Spirit Lives On: Greatest Hits Live Herndon VA

The Spirit Lives On: Greatest Hits Live

The Guess Who

J-Bird, 1998

REVIEW BY: Benjamin Ray

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 06/24/2005

What a cruel joke.

I had yet to hear a live document by this Canadian band, so whenI saw the track listing I picked this one up, thinking it would bea good listen. And then I put it in.

The song selection is fine -- pretty much everything from theband's original greatest hits album. Although this band got littlecritical respect, they could write good pop/rock songs and show theoccasional flash of brilliance.

But the band playing these songs only features two of theoriginal five members, making this essentially a cover band sincethe two members are the rhythm section. Burton Cummings and RandyBachman, who wrote most of these hits, are nowhere to be found.This means we have a hack singer/guitar player named Terry Hatty,who sinks this frustrating release.