Genre: rock
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: Spirit
Company: Ode
Catalog: Z1244004
Year: 1968
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG
Comments: name written in ink on back cover and inner label; minor edge wear
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4161
Price: $8.00
With so much talent rolling out of the mid-1960s Southern California music scene, Spirit tends to get overlooked. That's a shame since these guys could compete with any of their better known competitors.
The band's roots can actually be traced back to 1965 when teenaged guitarist Randy California and his stepfather Ed Cassidy decided to pull together a band. Cassidy was already a well know jazz sessions player and had been a member of The Blue Flames (along with one Jimi Hendrix) and The Rising Sons (with Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal). California and Cassidy's first collaboration began in 1965 as The Red Roosters, which also featured singer/keyboard player Jay Ferguson and bassist Mark Andes. With California and Cassidy deciding their musical futures lay in New York, The Red Roosters didn't last long, however within a matter of months the pair were back in L.A. where they started working with keyboard player John Locke. Renewed their partnership with Andes and Ferguson, the quintet began working the local club scene as Spirits Rebellious (lifted from a book by Lebanese Poet, philosopher, and artist Kahlil Gibran), before shortening the name to Spirit.
The group quickly began attracting local media attention, leading Lou Adler to sign them to his newly formed Ode label. Produced by Adler, 1968's "Spirit" is unlike any other mid-1960s Los Angeles-based album you're likely to hear. While Ferguson was responsible for the majority of the eleven selections (California and Locke each penned one track), each member's musical influences were brought to bare - California's Hendrix-styled guitar moves; Cassidy's jazz background, etc. Exemplified by tracks such as "Fresh Garbage" and Locke's "Elijah", the album offered up a stew of those influences, including classical, folk-rock, jazz, pop, rock and even Indian sounds. So what were the highlights? "My Uncle Jack" was wonderful even though it sounded like the product of some heavily dosed English band (the song would have sounded great on the "Nuggets II" set). Also worth noting were California's unique, sustaining power chords. Jimmy Page and company seem to have ripped off California's "Taurus" opening riff for their own "Stairway To Heaven". Certainly not their strongest LP, but few band's have delivered as impressive a debut! Ode tapped "Mechanical World" b/w "Uncle Jack" (Ode catalog number 108) as the lead off single. Too eclectic for top-40 audiences, it managed to hit # 123 on the charts.
"Spirit"
track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Fresh Garbage (Jay Ferguson) -
2.) Uncle Jack (Jay Ferguson) -
3.) Mechanical World (Mark Andes - Jay Ferguson) -
4.) Taurus (Randy California)
5.) Girl In Your Eye (Jay Ferguson) -
6.) Straight Arrow (Jay Ferguson) -
(side 2)
1.) Topanga Windows (Jay Ferguson) -
2.) Gramophone Man (Jay Ferguson) -
3.) Water Woman (Jay Ferguson) -
4.) The Great Canyon Fire In General (Jay Ferguson) -
5.) Elijah (John Locke) -
