Greatest Hits Live [Live, Original recording remastered]

GTR | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 24, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live, Original recording remastered
• Label: King Biscuit
• ASIN: B00009RDEH
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,622 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Jekyll and Hyde

2. Here I Wait

3. Prizefighters

4. Imagining

5. Hackett to Bits

6. Spectral Mornings

7. I Know What I Like

8. Sketches in the Sun

9. Pennants

10. Roundabout

11. The Hunter

12. You Can Still Get Through

13. Reach Out (Never Say No)

14. When the Heart Rules the Mind

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An alternative version of their studio album, basically, December 14, 2006

By 

R. Josef (New Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greatest Hits Live (Audio CD)

GTR was a one shot group featuring guitarists Steve Howe and Steve Hackett. This CD is a recording of a show on their tour, orignally released as "King Biscuit Flower Hour Live" and now given a dopey new title. After all, with only one studio album and one Top 40 single to their credit, how could this be a "Greatest Hits Live?"

How you feel about this album depends on how you feel about the studio album. A lot of prog fans were dismayed by the group's overeliance on standard 80's hard rock/heavy metal guitar tones (especially from Steve Ha. -- check out "Hackett to Bits"); underwritten songs with lyrics that were sketchy ("Imagining", "When the Heart Rules the Mind") or cliched ("Jekyll and Hyde", "Reach Out", "You Can Still Get Through"); and the shrill, Dennis DeYoung-esque vocals of lead singer Max Bacon.

All but one of the songs from the studio album are included here. Unfortunately, they left out one of the better ones (the nice ballad "Toe the Line") and replaced it with a previously unreleased mediocrity, "Prizefighters". The group fares much better when Howe and Hackett reach back into their pasts. Howe, surprisingly, delivers a fine, Yes-like rocker called "Pennants" (from "The Steve Howe Album"), while Hackett performs the ethereal title track from his "Spectral Mornings" album. Of course, they also give us the biggest hits from their old bands -- Yes's "Roundabout" and Genesis's "I Know What I Like." Amazingly, Bacon sounds a lot better singing these songs than he does GTR's orignals. Of the latter, the best are Howe's solo "Sketches in the Sun" (still part of his live repetoire) and their aforementioned hit single, "When The Heart Rules the Mind", with some interesting guitar interplay and a catchy melody.

The live sound quality is excellent -- very clear audio. The songs, arguably, sound better than the studio versions, without Geoff Downes's echoey, Asia-type production. Since the studio album has gone out of print again and is now sporting collector or Japanese import prices, this is a much more economical way of getting this music. But although there are a few nuggets here for Howe and Hackett fans, most folks would be better off searching for their better works with Yes, Genesis or solo rather than settle for this rather dated 80's affair.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Live Disc!, July 8, 2003

By 

D. L. Worthing "Graphic Designer" (Arundel, Maine United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greatest Hits Live (Audio CD)

The Steve Howe and Steve Hackett short-lived supergroup "GTR" released one disc and this live King Biscuit Flower Hour performance in the summer of 1986.
The former Yes and Genesis axeman perform along side lead vocalist Max Bacon, bass player Phil Spalding and drummer John Mover. The newly formed band play well together.
They cover most of the tracks from their sole studio release "GTR", including the radio hit "When the Heart Rules the Mind". Hackett and Howe each take turns playing solo tracks from their solo work; Howe doing "Pennants" and Hackett doing "Spectural Mornings".
They also cover songs from their former bands; Genesis' "I Know What I Like" and Yes' "Roundabout". Both well done as with all their guitar work on this CD.
Although briefly together they left their mark with this disc.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Hackett and Howe. What would you expect?, July 7, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Greatest Hits Live (Audio CD)

Alright, I'm a little bias. I happen to like the one and
only GTR album. This is just that, but more. Not
only is it live (a King Biscuit Flower Hour recording),
but you've got an unreleased song, and some
fine ealier material from Howe's Yes days, and
Hackett's Genesis days. I must admit that I
didn't know a whole lot of Hackett's material,
but listening to this has made me get a
little Steve Hackett want-list started.
Too bad this band couldn't stay together.
I think they only would've gotten better,
but that's par for the course as far as
"supergroups" go.

By the way, Max Bacon is an outstanding
vocalist, and the rhythm section of
Jonathan Mover and Phil Spalding is tight!
Great job on the remastered mix.