Here's a review of 12 dreams from the website Grinning Planet Album Review: Spirit's 1970 album Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is a classic of the melodic progressive rock era, a concept album that blends thoughts about peace and love into an overall nature theme, all washed with tones of jazz, blues, and classical. The album opens gently, with Randy California playing acoustic guitar and singing softly on "Prelude" with the inspiring lyrics, "You have the world at your fingertips; no one can make it better than you..." But this quickly bursts into the full-bodied "Nothing to Hide," with fat chords, sardonic lyrics, and a driving sound that sets the tone for most of the album. The next song is "Nature's Way," a beautiful, haunting warning to humanity that Mother Nature has a way of telling Man how to correct his mistakes—if only we would listen to her warnings. "Animal Zoo," a quirky, up-tempo song with a hook that you simply can't help but sing along with once you've heard it a few times. "Mr. Skin" is another up-tempo tune that saw a fair amount of FM airtime in its day. The standout song on the album is probably the spooky and lovely "Life Has Just Begun," an aching love song if there ever was one. Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is quite excellent all the way through and is considered by many Spirit fans to be their most accessible and best work. This CD version of the album also features some bonus tracks, including the previously unissued songs "Rougher Road" and "Red Light Roll On
Tonight I am featuring both "Love Has Found a Way" and "Why Can't I Be Free as "Love" flows seamlessly into Why" These songs make a strong argument that 12 Dreams might sound best on headphones. Reverse tape loops, xylophone, pristine vocals on these two cuts. Psychedelic music at it's best!!
Both songs reviewed by AllMusic A true psychedelic nugget, "Love Has Found a Way" opens with a backwards tape orgy, which actually carries the rhythm throughout the entire song, not unlike some of the Beatles' psychedelic creations. Underneath this, however, is a gorgeous, pop-jazz melody that draws the listener in with each verse. A song of love's dignity and the hope that it brings to one's life, it has aged fairly well, amidst the psychedelic (and somewhat dated) ambience of the production. A very brief song link, "Why Can't I Be Free" is essentially a part of a mini-medley that begins with the previous song, "Love Has Found a Way" on the Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus album. After the psychedelic excess of the previous song, this folk-based mini-masterpiece provides a certain amount of comfort to the listener. A simple, downcast message of the desire to be free in an insane word is the message here, and in two simple verses, Randy California succeeds admirably.
Love Has Found a Way Spirit Waves are crashing on the sea Lennons flashing on how would she be Some are reaching for the gun Some are searching for all the sun Love has found another way I knew it would make it some how (Oh Yeah) We will find a better way for making love And love and love has found a way And love.... Children reaching for a hand Soldiers killing at every command Though I've seen this with silent tears Some will give this with violent fears Love has found another way I knew it would make it some how (Oh Yeah) We will find a better way for making love And love, love has found a way And love, love, love has found a way. Why Can't I Be Free Spirit I don't know what it is to be free And I cry when you say that you can't free me Please free me, I just can't go on Why can't I be free? Why?
Found this while doing my research. "Fresh Garbage" not from 12 but it is the original line up. Does not appeared to be lip-synced.
Folks, I am leaving for my cabin tomorrow morning where Wi-Fi is practically non existent. Sometimes I can read content but streaming videos impossible. We plan on returning Monday when I will continue the thread taking a look at the amazing "Mr. Skin" In the meantime here is a nugget off Randy's Kapt. Kopter release.
I am only so-so in liking the other albums by Spirit but The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus stands very highly in my pantheon of great albums and album favorites. A very special album
At my friends annual holiday party this past year, about a half dozen of us were gathered in a circle jamming and trading songs. One of the younger players mentioned he had just been turned on to this "old" group Spirit and began playing "Natures Way". By the end of the tune, the room was singing along in harmony and the whole party burst into spontaneous applause at the end. A highlight of the evening for sure. THAT'S the power of a great song!!
Not as good as Spirit's debut which was vital, fresh and original. "Sean Trane" (real name Huges Chatraine) and I often differed on the merits of Sardonicus as it's more of a trippy psych album than progressive but c'est la vie.
In case anybody is interested, Music on Vinyl has just announced color vinyl releases of: "Spirit"(debut album), "Family That Plays Together", and "12 Dreams".* *This message does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of these releases. I realize that MoV titles can be hit or miss. I'm just sharing information.
I sure hope Dr S gets a 24 bit release some day. I'd appreciate 24 bit of the entire original band's catalog (While I did buy the 2 SACD releases, after listening & comparing to the CBS remixes unfortunately I think the first 2 would be better served as hi-res with the remixes).
I think AP or Mofi will release this one on SACD or LP. AF requested this album and was told another record company aquired the rights... whatever that means.
Back a day early from the mountains. Moving on to "Mr. Skin" IMHO maybe the best song penned by Jay Ferguson. Part Psych part soul and a dash of good ol' R&R. Excellent guitar and organ and oh those horns! AllMusic Review: Another one of Jay Ferguson's musical salutes to one of his favorite bands, Traffic, "Mr. Skin" provided Spirit with a huge FM radio hit. The lyrics are a colorful character sketch of Spirit drummer Ed Cassidy, who was, and still is, quite baldheaded. According to legend, Ferguson walked into Cassidy's hotel room and found the drummer in a compromising situation with a girl, and all he saw was "skin." Over this, the music is a funky jazz-rock workout, complete with a heavy and well-arranged horn section.
Mr. Skin Spirit I raise my head in a touchy situation (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) Yes, I make my bed in the heart of the nation (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I know it's a trait human love To make all the people holler Na, na, na Na, na, na Na, na, na Send them lookin' out for their woman Send them reachin' out for their dollar Na, na, na Na, na, na Na, na, na, hey, hey Oh, I'm rollin' flowin' through the whole population (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) Oh, the high and the low born are my friends and relations (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I can bring you pain I can bring you sudden pleasure Na, na, na Na, na, na Na, na, na Your life will only gain If your loves final measure Na, na, na Na, na, na Na, na, na, ooh I'm Mr., Mr. Skin (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I'm Mr., Mr. Skin (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I'm Mr., Mr. Skin (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I'm Mr., Mr. Skin (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I'm Mr., Mr. Skin (Mr. Skin you know where you've been) I'm Mr., Mr. Skin (Mr. Skin you know where you've been)
Dunno about that legend -- I just assumed that back then drums were known as skins. And being a dummer, Cassidy's pseudonym was Mr. Skin. Art Blakey had a couple records called Holiday for Skins
Nifty article from the Josh the intern blog The Spirit of Music So we’ve done a lot of forward thinking recently, and now it’s time to wind the clock hands back, to a simpler time. To a time when, I’ll admit, I was not alive, but it makes me nostalgic nonetheless. Spirit, the band, from left to right: Cassidy, Ferguson, Andes, Locke and California, off the cover of 1973's "The Best of Spirit" I’m talking about the 60’s, in particular the late 60’s. In 1967, a legend was born. In the foothills that are Los Angeles, five men came together to create one of the first jazz-fusion bands ever. Their names were Randy California, Jay Ferguson, Ed Cassidy (“Mr. Skin”), John Locke and Mark Andes. Together, they formed Spirit, a name that hardly anyone from my generation recognizes. And even for people who were alive in that era, they remain in obscurity. But they exploded onto the scene in 1968 with the release of the self-titled first album. The single off that album, “Mechanical World”, stayed at #31 in the charts for eight weeks. In 1968, a little-known band named Led Zeppelin was touring with Spirit as their opening band, and continued to hold enormous respect for them as they themselves became more famous. Listen to “Taurus”, which was released off the 1968 album to hear what Jimmy Page’s influence was for “Stairway to Heaven” two years later. And Spirit was busy – they released another album, The Family That Plays Together, later that same year – which was very successful overall, featuring the song “I Got a Line On You”. But by the mid 70s Spirit was beginning to have problems. Ferguson and Andes left the group in 1971, and subsequently Randy California split off to do some solo work. California moved to Hawaii, where he had a religious awakening of sorts – and by the time the band got back together to release the album Spirit of ’76 in, well, 1976, their sound had changed dramatically. Cover for "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus" But in that in-between period, Spirit released Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, an album that is still hailed as a landmark album in the annals of rock and roll. Nearly half of the cuts off their “Best of” album come from this record. This album covers such a wide expanse of musical styles and thematic ideas, and distills them to their purest forms. Here are some tracks off of that album One thing that sets Spirit apart from other bands from the late 60’s was their early use of green themes, as seen in their songs “Fresh Garbage” and “Nature’s Way”. The band also released the album Clear that year, which was a decent album, but had one that song rose far and above the rest (and is one of my favorites) But after their initial split, Spirit was never quite the same – even though they had reunited. The members played together on and off until 1990 when California passed away. But it’s never too late to honor these unsung legends by listening to their music – a prime example of world class rock.
One later period (California.Cassidy) Spirit album very much worth checking out goes under a number of names: Live Spirit, Live At The Rainbow, (one of the 2 discs from) 2 Sides Of A Rainbow, Live In Germany & others. It's a hard rock 3 piece versions with Larry Samuels on bass & California on vocals. Very overdubbed, due to a bad guitar mic, but it smokes! There were slight differences in both the track listing & the mix in the original vinyl versions from the UK, USA & Germany Highly recommended. I know of 3 versions on cd, all from Europe. The original UK track listing/mix is on Live At The Rainbow which is oop but at least has dropped significantly in price since I last looked (in the UK from 80 pounds to 23 pounds!). The "exclusives" here (on the original vinyl) is a mediocre version of Wild Thing & a live version of Downer. The original USA version + board tapes, etc is on Two Sides Of A Rainbow. Also out of print & not cheap. The USA version was always my favorite,. It benefited both from the additional overdubs, the absence of Wild Thing & the addition of Rock & Roll Planet. By exclusives, I'm discussing the original vinyl; the UK cd's pretty much have all the versions of all the tracks especially if you buy all 3 of the UK sets as I did. R&RP was on the German vinyl, but not on the UK. While writing this, I discovered a 2002 cd of the original German release, "Made In Germany" which I've never seen before on cd & is the least expensive of the bunch. Made In Germany (cd version) MAY be a boot (the vinyl was official); the other 3 were official indie releases from Randy's estate. This does have "Rockpalast Jam" as the country exclusive; it's the only track from Rockpalast on this album though in my understanding. This one is also current by far the cheapest. And a couple new songs (at the time) which were studio recordings with overdubbed crowd noise are on a 3 cd set called Rock & Roll Planet along with a ton of fair quality sound board material. Also out of print & a bit pricy.
One other comment re: my post above: their was quite a bit of controversy at the time over these releases, as there were conflicting liner notes as to where which show(s) the recordings were from. My understanding is that other than 2 or 3 of the new songs actually were studio recordings & Rockpalast Jam; everything else really was from the UK Rainbow show. And again, my understanding is each version had somewhat different overdubs, with the USA release on First American said to be the most over dubbed. I also found it to be the most musical & the best sounding of the 3. It's somewhat hard rock; nothing like the original band. Cassidy is really on, & Randy handles all the lead vocals fine (on the original albums; many of the outtakes aren't quite so good).
Keyboardist John Locke Gets his one song with "Space Child" a psychedelic free flowing collage yet at the same time instrumental jazzy tune that really flows. AllMusic Review: Another excellent, moody John Locke instrumental, "Space Chile" differs from some of his other songs, in this case sounding like it could have easily had lyrics. It's interesting to speculate how some of his instrumentals could have benefited by perhaps Spirit members Randy California's or Jay Ferguson's literate lyric talents. Nonetheless, this song has several distinct sections, including a very catchy chorus section. A dissonant (but mystifying) bridge is the song's most intriguing feature, taking the listener into a quiet, spiritual orbit.
Here is a review of 12 Dreams from the Wilson & Alroy website Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus (1970) Sixties addicts like myself have a bad habit of ranting and raving about obscure psychedelic concept albums that turn out to suck. Well, this one deserves every last rant and rave - it's honestly in the same league as Forever Changes and Odessey And Oracle. Admittedly, the band's influences are only original when compared to the rest of the West Coast scene: Beatles-based rock, contemporary jazz, and just a hint of R & B. But in spite of the usual psychedelic gimmicks - panning, backwards tracks, layered overdubs, quasi-mystical lyrics ("Love Has Found A Way") - there's nothing self-indulgent or amateurish about it. Guitarist Randy California smokes on the few hard-rock numbers ("Street Worm"); it's no coincidence that he had a six-month internship with Jimi Hendrix back in 1967. Cassidy and Locke add substantial musical depth. And even though Ferguson's vocals are pedestrian, they do manage some respectable group harmonies. All of it comes together on no less than five memorable tracks: the hard-hitting, intricately harmonized "Nothin' To Hide"; the earnest acoustic anthem "Nature's Way" - probably their most enduring song; the good-natured, entertainingly gimmicky "Animal Zoo"; the extra-funky "Mr. Skin," like a grittier, more authentic Chicago; and the irresistably uplifting "Morning Will Come," with another ballsy horn arrangement. Produced by Neil Young associate David Briggs. Spirit's three earlier albums don't appear to be as impressive, but I am planning to review them. The group split immediately afterwards, with Cassidy and California leading "Spirit" through a series of commercially inconsequential records over the next three decades
This bonus cut "Space Child" off the first album The Family That Plays Together seems to sow the seeds of the "Space Child" on 12 Dreams. Available as a bonus on the CD reissue.
