AMG Review of Best of Spirit

Richie Unterberger
All Music Guide

It's true that Spirit were a very album-oriented band, one that might best be experienced through albums rather than compilations. If a compilation's good enough for you, this is a good one to get. Granted, the band's mere handful of well-known songs are gotten out of the way right away ("1984," "Mechanical World," "Nature's Way," "Animal Zoo," "Fresh-Garbage," "I Got a Line on You"). But the rest of it's pretty solid too, including "Uncle Jack," a high point of pseudo-Beatleish psychedelia. Given the tendency of some of the albums from which these are taken to meander, this is actually a good alternative for the listener who likes Spirit's most accessible tunes, but isn't enamored of their full-length works.