So this is pretty cool, but nowhere near as cool as the POY anniversary release. I really think adding four live tracks from the first album wastes a lot of space on here. I think the two Madrid recordings of WWSYS and FG were on a Spirit Aussie release or something, so I understand their inclusion, but the other two weren't so great that other gems that really belong in the era couldn't be included. For instance, Absence of Fear was always a crowd favorite during concerts and Jewel really got into it, so it's a shame one of those couldn't be squeezed it in instead of that 2nd WWSYS. Does Anyone Believe in Love Anymore debuted during this tour and could have also been a real treat for hardcore fans and filler fans alike.
I'm glad this was priced reasonably, though. Wandering seems like a song for the Sweet and Wild era and the Beeswax Operatta improv song to finish it up was a cute little treat. Seeing the evolution of Life Uncommon and Hands is academically interesting and both are great inclusions. I love Last Dance Rodeo, and the boombox version feels weird in the record, but I like it anyway as a novelty.
Overall, I give this 6/10 - glad I got the CD, but there's not gonna be a lot of replay on my end. The rating stays over 5/10 just because Spirit was a banger of a record back in the day, but below 7/10 because of the wasted space. A full 17% of the bonus tracks are from the last record, and that's a bit much. So much of the bonus material is from the same televised concert in Madrid, too. It just doesn't seem like there's as much heart in curating this particular collection as was put into the last one. It doesn't flow as well and the disparity in recording quality can get a little glaring. This is especially true with The Sue Lee Song. It's almost disruptive how poor the vocal recording is compared the Enter From the East that precedes it.
I sure am grateful for the Angelfood I have from this era already, I'll tell you what! I think I'll give JewelStock a spin to scratch the itch.
