SPIRIT "The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus", the beginning of the end?

I agree that all the seventies Spirit is still really good stuff. They reformed for a tour in late 1975, I have a show from Lansing, MI that's real cool...

 

For what it's worth, I asked Mark last nite for the 'short version' of why the original band broke up. He said that after 12 Dreams, there was a very lucrative tour of Japan offered the band. Randy didn't want to go. Mark and Jay took great offense at this and pretty promptly quit the band.

They went on to form Jo Jo Gunne, of course, and scored a bigger hit than Spirit had had recently with "Run Run Run," but after only one album, Mark quit.

Mark says now that breaking up Spirit was a really bad decision, and he regrets it. He says the original Spirit was probably his favorite of all his bands, and it could've gone on for many more years if they hadn't bailed.

 

If I'm not mistaken, Mark Andes was one of the `finalists' to
replace Berry Oakley as bassist in the Allman Brothers Band(!)

 

Thread hijack........

Regarding the Manson/Tate murders......

THE SHARON TATE HOUSE
10050 Cielo Drive (street number was later changed to 10066)

From Sunset in Beverly Hills, turn north onto Benedict Canyon. Then turn left onto Cielo Drive. The Tate house was not actually on Cielo even though it carries that address. Proceed on Cielo until you see a private street on the left (near the corner of Bella Drive). If you get to Davies Drive, you've gone too far. There are about four houses on the street and the last is on the former site of the Tate residence. Unfortunately, the house was torn down in the 1990s and replaced with a gigantic new structure. Even the original gate is long gone. You never could get too good of a view from there but you can from across the narrow canyon at the top of Bella Drive (which is a public road). The entrance to this street is right at the entrance to the private road that Sharon's house was on.

Now back to our regularly scheduled thread about Spirit.

 

Now there is a bass player that has been sucessful, but most don't know who he is. Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall and Heart. Nice career.

 

Like his work on a not so recent now Tom Ovans disc.

 

The new structure they've built on that site is still unsold, apparently.
Bad ju-ju.

 

My favorite Spirit album (even a hair above Twelve Dreams) is The Family That Plays Together...

This is one of those albums that still stones me - its so good.

 

And before Spirit, Canned Heat for a spell.

 

And a few out of control brush fires might make buyers pause...

 

Jay Ferguson has gone further in describing the Japan scenario... he says they were on the tarmac ready to board the plane for Japan, when an unnamed member of the band decided he didn't want to do it. Ferguson + Andes decided they were quitting that night.

 

I like Randy a lot and owned Kapt Kopter his solo release after the break up. But he wasn't the heart of the group Spirit like so many give him credit.
He only wrote occasionally and did about the same for vocals.
I still remember my disappointment in hearing Kapt Kopter. Randy thought he could play like Jimi or pick up where Jimi had left off. Jimi Hendrix died before the backup. Randy couldn't and that was the end of the end.

 

Well, they were asking 8 million for the new house. Maybe a bit overpriced???

 

I do believe that Randy was the heart of Spirit. While I'm sure that the late guitarist had his quirks, everyone does, he could in fact perform with a righteous Hendrix style when he wanted to (not as imitation, but out of love for the Hendrix's talent), as seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-SRv_oxgvM

Randy was apparently pretty devastated by Jimi's death and it may have contributed to his withdrawal from other members of the group.

IMO, there was nothing weak or limiting about Randy's vocals (one example, here's a live performance of 1984 on the Beat Club; not the earlier linked lip-sync version):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRNJIC_tpFo

The Kaptain Kopter period was a low point in some ways, but Randy and his step-dad Ed Cassidy started Spirit as an experimental jazz-rock fusion band and all incarnations and splinter groups that followed were in that vein; some experiments worked and others didn't. I was lucky enough to catch Randy in a power trio version of Spirit back in the early 90's; it was an awesome performance.

BTW, a little known fact that demonstrates the Randy California's diversity as a virtuoso guitarist is that he even played with Deep Purple, filling in for Ritchie Blackmore in the early 70's when the guitarist fell ill.


Cat

 

Just a quick aside as to the Hendrix connection -
It is well documented that Jimi actually taught Randy guitar. And it was also Jimi who gave him the name "California", so as to avoid confusion with another Randy.

 

Does anyone know why the "12 Dreams" LP is not available from Sundazed like their other albums?

 

Excellent comments and excellent videos. Thanks.

 

bump, anyone?

 

How's the Repertoire CD reissue of this album (2007)?

 

better than the Sony reissue IMO

 

I was very surprised to see Marty Paich doing the horn arrangements for them....how did that come about?

 

I agree with you. It's a different band but it's a great album.

 

Randy California was an even more ahead-of-his-time player than most realise; I was listening to the Time Circle comp today, and digging the wild Ollie Halsall-esque soloing in "Street Worm"; wow.

 

Now it is.

http://www.sundazed.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1101

Has anyone heard this?

 

I've long wanted 12 Dreams on SACD.