Spirit-The First Four Album by album covering Spirit, The Family That Plays Together, Clear, and Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus Much great material after, but for me these are the essence of Spirit No problem with continuing the discussion of your favorite Spirit LPs & live recordings after we're explored these 4 classic works, sharing everything you've grown to love as the years go by.
Spirit 1968 Spirit is the debut album by rock band Spirit, first released on January 22, 1968 by Ode Records. The experimental album was commercially successful, spending more than six months on the Billboard album charts,[3] peaking at #31, and garnered significant airplay on FM progressive rock stations in the United States The song "Fresh Garbage" has been sampled in the Pink song "Feel Good Time", found on the soundtrack of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. "Fresh Garbage" was also used as the title (and theme music) of a rock music program on BBC Radio London in the early 1970s.[citation needed] The guitar part of "Taurus" is said to have influenced Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page in writing "Stairway to Heaven".[4] Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit on an American tour in 1968, and also borrowed from "Fresh Garbage" in live performances of the song 'As Long as I Have You'.[5] -wiki Side one No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Fresh-Garbage" Jay Ferguson 3:11 2. "Uncle Jack" Ferguson 2:44 3. "Mechanical World" Mark Andes Ferguson 5:15 4. "Taurus" Randy California 2:37 5. "Girl in Your Eye" Ferguson 3:15 6. "Straight Arrow" Ferguson 2:50 Side two No. Title Writer(s) Length 7. "Topanga Windows" Ferguson 3:36 8. "Gramophone Man" Ferguson John Locke California Andes Ed Cassidy 3:49 9. "Water Woman" Ferguson 2:11 10. "The Great Canyon Fire in General" Ferguson 2:46 11. "Elijah" Locke
I have this in stereo, a mono promo vinyl, and Steve's Audio Fidelity remastering...and the Esoteric Arts clam shell box wth both the stereo mix and the mono mix. This really does sound like a dedicated mix, quite good. Though many sources say it is a fold down, it's the best ever if so. Spirit 1968 promo vinyl--mine also has the radio play strip
spirit - such an enigma what a great band, with and without california. does anyone else believe they should have been so much bigger than they were. any ideas as to why they weren't
Randy wasn't fully developed as a songwriter yet, but his amazing guitar chops at 17 could hardly be disputed. The bonus tracks that have since surfaced from these 1968 sessions are quite fantastic .."Veruska" is a wonderful instrumental (Randy is already a full fledged guitar god), and "If I Had A Woman" foretells great things to come. If I Had A Woman is an early showcase for the guitar riffs (starting at 1:11) used for "Jewish" (The Family That Plays Together) Have a listen to compare (starting at 0:55): Jewish Spirit-Jewish.wmv
Sardonicus is an absolute classic -- kind of a semi-progressive album. Ahead of its time. It is so sad how Randy passed. From Wikipedia: "California drowned in the Pacific Ocean in 1997 at the age of 45 while rescuing his 12-year-old son Quinn from a rip current near the home of his mother, Bernice Pearl, at Molokai, Hawaii. He managed to push Quinn (who survived) toward the shore." A great father and a great musician (RIP).
What a great and talented band. While Dr. Sardonicus seems to be the overwhelming fan favorite, their first album is the definitive one to me. It's really got the spook, as Neil might say, with that freaky Topanga '68 vibe. My favorites are "Topanga Windows", "Gramophone Man" and of course "Fresh Garbage". I recall one of the Rolling Stone record guides saying "Uncle Jack" sounded like the Who, and I can kind of hear it. "Mechanical Man" was issued as the single and actually achieved decent airplay in certain markets. Such an odd choice for a leadoff single. Recently a 1967 live show from the Ash Grove was released that features some of the first album tracks in their embryonic stages. Well worth checking out. As to why the band didn't become more popular, it's hard to say. If anything, maybe they were a little ahead of their time.
From the booklet in the Esoteric box set...this says it, I think, pretty well: ..."In some respects Spirit were too inspirational and eclectic to ever become major stars, because what they were doing danced around the edges of many musical genres, but in doing so they mined a rich and exciting seam of music. " "To Claim the band had no interest in commercial success would be ridiculous, but the idea of monetary success never drove their psyche." Mark Andes: "...We were part of the thriving LA scene - we played at the Ash Grove, the Golden Bear, and The Kaleidoscope with the Byrds. We also opened for Cream. The trouble was, our reputation as an idiosyncratic psychedelic jazz group meant we were influential rather than successful." ................................................... They were tops in my collection from 1968 onward...-lk
Pretty hard to find any live clips from 1967-70 but this is sweet: Spirit-Fresh Garbage-1970 French TV...the full band live. God I love Cass' DRUM KIT, with capitol letters! Did he actually bring that kit all the from the USA?! Andes is such an underrated bassist. One of the best clips of Spirit--so sweet to see these guys all together, jamming.
He got the name Randy California from Jimi Hendrix. His original name was Wolfe. He was playing with Hendrix, and the drummer was also named Randy Z I believe it was. So he called him California (as he was from CA). He was playing with him when he got "discovered" by Chas Chandler. Also Ed Cassidy was Randy's stepdad.
Nice thread and should be a fun one! Love this first album! Being a Jazz fan, I was always impressed how they incorporated that sound into their early releases, very impressive and a head of their time. Saw them many times live and one of my fondest memories of Randy's was at one of their shows that I helped promote with K-SHE 95 at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis. Randy was in the middle of an awesome solo covering All Along The Watchtower, and looks at the crowd and says "sure would like to hear Eddie Van Halen do that" priceless. Got the first album on vinyl when it was first released and have not looked back since. Very fortunate that they are one of my wife's favorite bands as well. We still keep them in regular rotation. Looking forward to all of the posts here.
The first album certainly shows how important Jay and his songwriting were to the band. He penned several of my favorites. Fresh Garbage, Girl in Your Eye, Topanga Canyon. Here is from an interview with Jay in 1978 on their lack of success. "And we were one of the first really so called 'underground' bands, and the term then really had meaning, because there was no 'above the ground' national press, no attention focused, no air-play - our whole life depended on this new phenomenon called underground FM rock'n'roll, which was coming at the same time in the States, where you had these wild-eyed DJs who'd play anything - including the new Spirit album (laughs). That's how we broke through. But at the same time, being tagged 'underground', which was sort of a compliment because we were hipper than thou, was also a detriment, because without that national attention being paid to us, or any notice being drawn to us, we in the band had the feeling that we weren't really making contact on any big scale. Eventually that helped lead to the breakup of the band." http://www.erjobe.info/spirit/Main/JayInt1
I heard of them the first time when the 'Stairway To Heaven' plagiarism came up years ago. There might be a little spark of interest, so I'd put the albums mentioned in the OP on my wishlist.
Yeah. I so wish there was a tape of Jimi and Randy playing together in the Village in summer 1966, but sadly there isn't.
I first got into Spirit in 1973 when I did a record trade with a high school classmate who lived across the street...among about 10 45s I got a copy of "Mechanical World/Uncle Jack" from him. I played it non-stop all summer and still absolutely love it today, one of the perfect singles. Eventually I picked up all their first 4 LPs, I really dig the band. One of the most creative bands of the era, no question.
Randy met Jimi in a music shop where Jimi was jamming on a Strat. They just connected. Randy played some riffs and Jimi asked Randy to join him at his first solo gig at Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village (remember that Randy was just 15! So he must have been pretty impressive on guitar already at such a tender young age). Then Randy joined Jimi's band, they played five sets a night, and Randy was paid $7 a day. He often skipped school to play. Jimi named Randy "California" because he was from there; the bassist was named Randy Palmer from Texas: so he became Randy Texas. A few months later Jimi got his big chance to go to England and asked Randy to come too. Randy's folks said no--he was only 15 and had to finish high school. When Randy was 16 they moved back to California where Spirit was soon formed.
Bonus tracks from Spirit 1968 reissues: 1996 reissue bonus tracks 12. "Veruska" California 2:50 13. "Free Spirit" Locke 4:27 14. "If I Had a Woman" California 3:11 15. "Elijah" (Alternate Take) Locke 9:42 Great bonus material! Free Spirit (Locke)
