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"...Dream Within A
Dream..."
Now here's something a bit
tasty. Five studio albums in Stereo including their debut in Mono for the first
time, a rare Mono Soundtrack from 1969 to Jacques Demy's film "Model
Shop" that few remember (it starred Anouk Aimee and Gary Lockwood, was
about Los Angeles and remained unreleased musically until Sundazed reissued it
in early 2005), the original Stereo Mix of the second album, all the straggler
outtakes and session pieces from the 1991 "Time Circle..." 2CD
retrospective and the Bonus Cuts from the 1996 Bob Irwin/Vic Anesini Remasters
of the albums, Single Sides and more (check out those eye-popping total playing
times on CD1 and 2). 108-Tracks across 5CDs. It shall be indeed.
And I love that Randy
California story of how he met Jimi Hendrix at the back of a Village Record
Shop in New York when he was only 15 (Manny's Music on West 48th Street) just
before the God of Guitar was about do his first gig. The two bonded on first
eye contact and Randy played with Jimi for 3 months at $7 a night whereupon as
legend would have it - it was Hendrix who famously renamed him Randy California
as there was someone else in the band called Randy Texas (young Randy
thereafter forever waving goodbye to his real surname of Wolfe). Hendrix was
then discovered by the savvy Chas Chandler, brought to England to become a star
- but Randy was too young to travel and had to stay in the USA to finish his
schooling. The band Spirit is full of such stories – great music, great ideals
but perhaps not the greatest of luck commercially. A dream within a dream - It
certainly was.
There's a mountain of detail
to wade through - so let's have at the five and seven dreams...
UK released Friday, 18 March
2018 - "It Shall Be: The Ode & Epic Recordings 1968-1972" by
SPIRIT on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 52619 (Barcode 5013929471948) is a 5CD 108-Track Clamshell Box Set of New Remasters that plays out as follows:
Disc 1 (79:44 minutes):
1. Fresh Garbage [Side 1]
2. Uncle jack
3. Mechanical World
4. Taurus
5. Girl In Your Eye
6. Straight Arrow
7. Topanga Windows [Side 2]
8. Gramophone Man
9. Water Woman
10. The Great Canyon Fire in
General
11. Elijah
Tracks 1 to 11 are their
debut album "Spirit" in 'STEREO' - released January 1968 in the USA
on Ode Records Z12 44004 and June 1968 in the UK on CBS Records S 63278.
Produced by LOU ADLER - it peaked at No. 31 in the US LP charts (didn't chart
UK). NOTE: the previously unreleased on CD 'MONO' mix of the album (Ode Records
Z12 44003 and CBS Records 63278) is presented on CD4 for the first time - along
with other outtakes from the 1967 sessions that appeared on Spirit
compilations.
12. I Got A Line On You
[Side 1]
13. It Shall Be
14. Poor Richard
15. Silky Sam
16. The Drunkard
17. Darlin' If
18. It's All The Same [Side
2]
19. Jewish
20. Dream Within A Dream
21. She Smiled
22. Aren't You Glad
Tracks 12 to 22 are their
2nd studio album "The Family That Plays Together" - released December
1968 in the USA on Ode Records Z12 44014 in Stereo (only) and June 1969 in the
UK on CBS Records M 63523 in Mono and CBS Records S 63523 in Stereo - the
ORIGINAL STEREO Mix is used here (outtakes from the album sessions appear on
CD5). Produced by LOU ADLER - it peaked at No. 22 in the US LP charts (didn't
chart UK).
Disc 2 (83:19 minutes):
1. The Moving Van
2. Mellow fellow
3. Now Or Anywhere
4. Fog
5. Green Gorilla
6. Model Shop I
7. Model Shop II
8. The Rehearsal Theme
9. Song For Lola
10. Eventide
11. Coral
12. Aren't You Glad
Tracks 1 to 12 were recorded
in 1968 in-between the second and third album (in Mono) and used in the 1969
Jacques Remy film soundtrack to "Model Shop". The music including
unreleased material (Tracks 2, 4 to 6 and 10 to 12) was finally issued February
2005 on Sundazed/Sony Music SC 6095 (Barcode 090771619723) as the 12-tracks presented
above.
13. Dark Eyed Woman [Side 1]
14. Apple Orchard
15. So Little Time To Fly
16. Ground Hog
17. Cold Wind
18. Policeman's Ball
19. Ice [Side 2]
20. Give A Life, Take A Life
21. I'm Truckin'
22. Clear
23. Caught
24. New Dope In Town
Tracks 13 to 24 are their
3rd studio album "Clear" - released July 1969 in the USA on Ode
Records Z12 44016 in Stereo (only) and October 1969 in the UK on CBS Records S
63729 in Stereo. Produced by LOU ADDLER - it peaked at No. 55 in the US LP
charts (didn't chart UK).
Disc 3 (77:30 minutes):
1. Prelude - Nothin' To Hide
2. Nature's Way
3. Animal Zoo
4. Love Has Found A Way
5. Why Can't I Be Free
6. Mr. Skin
7. Space Child [Side 2]
8. When I Touch You
9. Street Worm
10. Life Has Just Begun
11. Morning Will Come
12. Soldier
Tracks 1 to 12 are their 4th
studio album "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" - released November
1970 in the USA on Epic E 30267 and February 1971 in the UK on Epic S EPC
64191. Produced by DAVID BRIGGS - the album peaked at No. 63 on the US LP charts
(didn't chart UK).
13. Rougher Road -
Previously Unreleased "Twelve Dreams..." session outtake that first
appeared on the November 1996 CD reissue as a Bonus
14. Chelsea Girls [Side 1]
15. Cadillac
16. Puesta Del Scam
17. Ripe And Ready
18. Darkness
19. Earth Shaker [Side 2]
20. Mellow Morning
21. Right On Time
22. Trancas Fog-Out
23. Witch
Tracks 14 to 23 are their
5th studio album "Feedback" - released March 1972 in the USA on Epic
Records KE 31175 (Gatefold Sleeve) and June 1972 in the UK on Epic Records EPC
64507. Produced by DAVID BRIGGS - it peaked at No. 63 in the US LP charts
(didn't chart UK)
Disc 4 (76:01 minutes):
1. Fresh Garbage [Side 1]
2. Uncle jack
3. Mechanical World
4. Taurus
5. Girl In Your Eye
6. Straight Arrow
7. Topanga Windows [Side 2]
8. Gramophone Man
9. Water Woman
10. The Great Canyon Fire in
General
11. Elijah
Tracks 1 to 11 are their
debut album "Spirit" in 'MONO' - released January 1968 in the USA on
Ode Records Z12 44003 and June 1968 in the UK on CBS Records 63278. Produced by
LOU ADLER - it peaked at No. 31 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). NOTE:
the STEREO mix of the album is presented on CD1 - the mono mix here for the
first time.
12. Veruska
13. Free Spirit
14. If I Had A Woman
15. Elijah (Alternate Take)
Tracks 12 to 15 were first
released as Bonus Tracks in 1996 on the CD Remaster/Reissue of
"Spirit" - Epic/Legacy 485175 2 (Barcode 5099748517524)
16. I Got A Line On You
("Time Circle" Mix)
17. It Shall Be ("Time
Circle" Mix)
18. Poor Richard ("Time
Circle" Mix)
19. Silky Sam ("Time
Circle" Mix)
Tracks 16 to 19 first
appeared on the 1991 2CD retrospective "Time Circle (1968-1972)" on
Epic/Legacy 471268 2 (Barcode 5099747126826)
Disc 5 (70:19 minutes):
1. Scherozode ("Time
Circle" Mix)
2. All The Same ("Time
Circle" Mix)
3. A Dream With A Dream
("Time Circle" Mix)
4. Aren't You Glad
("Time Circle" Mix)
5. Eventide ("Time
Circle" Mix)
6. Model Shop Theme
("Time Circle" Mix)
7. Green Gorilla ("Time
Circle" Mix)
8. Rehearsal Theme
("Time Circle" Mix)
Tracks 1 to 8 from the 1991
"Time Circle (1968-1972)" 2CD Retrospective
9. Fog
10. So Little To Say
11. Mellow Fellow
12. Now Or Anywhere
13. Space Chile
Tracks 9 to 13 recorded for
"The Family That Plays Together" Sessions in 1968 - released as Bonus
Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of that album on Ode/Epic/Legacy 485174 2
(Barcode 5099748517425)
14. Fuller Brush Man
15. Coral
Tracks 14 and 15 recorded
for "Clear" Sessions in 1969 - released as 2 of the 4 Bonus Tracks on
the 1996 reissue CD of that album on Ode/Epic/Legacy 484416 2 (Barcode
5099748441621)
16. 1984
17. Sweet Stella Baby
Tracks 16 and 17 were the
A&B-sides of a non-album US 7"single released December 1969 on Ode
Records ZS7 128. Also released 2 of the 4 Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD
of that album on Ode/Epic/Legacy 484416 2 (Barcode 5099748441621)
18. Animal Zoo (Mono Single
Version)
19. Red Light Roll On (Mono
Single Version)
Tracks 18 and 19 are the
A&B-sides of a non-album US 7" single released July 1970 on Epic Records
5-10648. Also released as two of the four Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD
of "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" on Epic/Legacy 485173 2 (Barcode
5099748517326)
20. Morning Will Come
(Alternate Mono Mix)
Track 20 released as one of
the four Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of "Twelve Dreams Of Dr.
Sardonicus" on Epic/Legacy 485173 2 (Barcode 5099748517326). NOTE: the
fourth Bonus track from the "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" CD
reissue was "Rougher Road" and is Track 13 on Disc 3.
SPIRIT was (all albums
except "Feedback"):
RANDY CALIFORNIA - Guitars
JOHN LOCKE - Keyboards
MARK ANDES - Bass &
Vocals
JAY FERGUSON - Vocals &
Percussion
ED CASSIDY - Drums and
Percussion
"Feedback" album
only:
JOHN LOCKE - Keyboards
ED CASSIDY - Drums & Percussion
AL STAEHELY - Lead Vocals
and Bass
J. CHRISTIAN STAEHLEY -
Guitar & Vocals
While the 20-page booklet is
pretty enough and has MALCOLM DOME liner notes - period photos and so forth
(the "Model Shop" film poster, sleeve repros etc) - it actually feels
rather slight somehow given that there's six albums worth of material here. The
LPs are discussed but none of the extras - the five singular card sleeves might
have served the set better if they used the five studio albums as artwork so we
don't find ourselves missing the mighty "Twelve Dreams..." or
"Feedback" in their Gatefold Sleeves. On the rear of each card there
are band photos, the CDs are picture discs too and the booklet's last page uses
the rear sleeve of the "Clear" LP as its artwork.
But that aside - I'm digging
the new BEN WISEMAN Remasters - tapes licensed from Sony Products. I had the
Vic Anesini/Bob Irwin versions from 1996 - two Audio Engineers I love - and I'd
have to say that here even though the difference is slight - I'm noticing it in
the bottom end. Those Marty Paich arranged strings on the instrumental
"Taurus" on the debut are wonderful
(hello Jimmy - got an acoustic guitar opener sequence you need) and the
ah-ha-ha opening of "Mr. Skin" on "Twelve Dreams..." as
well as the fade-out echoed brass is as good as the Mobile Fidelity CD I had
decades ago. I'd still prefer the Stereo Mix to the Mono when it comes to the
treated Sitars on the debut's wicked and cool "The Girl In Your Eye".
And the whole recorded shebang is here too. Let's get to the space children...
Famously "Fresh
Garbage" from the wonderfully confident self-titled debut was on the early
playlists of the newly formed Led Zeppelin while the Acoustic guitar notes in
the instrumental "Taurus" bear an uncanny resemblance to the opening
acoustic-guitar passage in "Stairway To Heaven". And given their
Houses of the Unholy penchant for nicking other people's tunes on all of the
first four albums - this similarity landed them in court in 2004 over copyright
infringement (Zep won - much to Randy's decades-long chagrin). There's a
wonderful rolling Byrds feel to "Straight Arrow" while Randy gets to
stretch out Bloomfield-style on "Topanga Windows". Tracks like
"Gramophone Man" and "Water Woman" would have enamoured
them to Jefferson Airplane fans and you have to love those counterpoint vocals.
Both "The Great Canyon" and "Elijah" show experimentation
and how good a songwriter Jay Ferguson was - the latter being one of those cool
so-60ts instrumentals that's part Rock, part Jazz-Fusion and very 'Spirit' in
its eleven-minute's long 'we don't care if it isn't commercial' structure.
Great audio too...
Sexily Hitsville and cool
into the bargain - "I Got A Line" opened the second album and their
singles account proper. Feeling like Spirit had suddenly arrived - Randy
California's Motown-Rock-Soul song hit No. 25 in the States on Ode ZS7 115 (the
album's "She Smiled" was the flipside – a pretty flowers-in-her-hair
ballad over on Side 2). The record just gets better with "It Shall
Be" a co-write between Randy and Keyboardist John Locke - one of my
favourites of their early tracks (Marty Paich arranged the Horns but we still
don't know whose playing the flute). Jay Ferguson's "Poor Richard"
runs into his "Silky Sam" - a talkative nutter and a travelling
salesman immortalised in each song. I love the string arrangements on "The
Drunkard" (a drunk missing his daughter's message) while the Randy
California penned "Darlin' If" has more to do with Buffalo
Springfield than Spirit. Things go to grungy boogie with Randy and Ed Cassidy's
"All The Same" while the weirdly wonderful "Jewish" is a
Psalm put to Space Rock (dig those twinned guitars). But my fave-crave is
"Dream Within A Dream" - a Jay Ferguson song – slipping off his
mortal coil for trippy Californian Rock and enjoying the process of both.
"The Family That Plays Together" ends with Ferguson's equally
ambitious "Aren't You Glad" - five and half minutes of slow piano and
guitar rock - the kind of tune that has an epic feel as those strings come
floating in and Randy let’s rip on that 48th Street guitar.
The Mono Audio gives the
short but hugely interesting instrumentals on "Model Body" a very
focused urgency. "The Moving Van" and "Mellow Fellow" feel like
Spirit have merged with The Doors and gone off on an early Santana experimental
guitar trip - whilst the guitar chug of "Green Gorilla" (one of the
few tunes with some singing) is way cooler than it had any right to be. The
near six-minutes of "Song For Lola" is a blast - a mixture of echoed
Bass lines, shimmering vibes, empty spaces and plaintive-gumshoe piano notes -
like its Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd searching for a tune. Hell even the five and
a half-minute demo of "Aren't You Glad" is truly excellent as a Bonus
- tremendous guitar soloing over a slinky keyboard refrain. Many people rate
1969's rocking "Clear" as placement number two behind "Twelve
Dreams..." (I think they’re equal) and on hearing tracks like the superb "Dark
Eyed Woman" and the sexy "So Little Time To Fly" – both show how
much the guitar prowess had come on. "Ground Hog" sounds amazing as
it opens – those flicked Bass notes to the left and the layered vocals to the
right. Ferguson could surprise with the tender and lonesome-lovers vibe to "Cold
Wind" – the same with the hugely evocative instrumentals "Clear"
followed by Locke’s piano-lounge-room-sexy "Caught" both feeling like
something off of a particularly effective John Barry soundtrack. "Give A
Life, Take A Life" is fantastic 60ts Rock-Pop – a rare co-write between
Producer Lou Adler and Randy California.
For me "Twelve Dreams
Of Dr. Sardonicus" has always been their zenith. "Prelude - Nothin'
To Hide" is a wickedly good opener showcasing the Bluesy slide guitar of
Randy California arising out of an Acoustic beginning. Its 3:43 minutes is full
of clever chords, vocal layering and that unexpected slide break (funky) - it's
lyrics about being "married to the same bride" sounding racy without
knowing why. The acoustic balladry of "Nature's Way" comes as a
melodic calmer after all the preceding speaker-to-speaker riffage.
"Nature's Way" is a short but gorgeous song and one I return to again
and again. It's followed by the album's lead off single "Animal Zoo"
- the 7" Mono Single Mix of which is a Bonus Track. You can hear why Epic
picked it's upbeat rhythms as an album taster - that hooky beat, the Bass break
and Keyboard interlude making it more musically interesting that most anything
else on the scene at the time. And as they sing "...much too fat...and a
little too long..." during the sound-effect fade out in their best Todd
Rundgren mad hatter voices - it had a 'Spirit' sound.
"Love Has Found A
Way" floats in with speeded up guitar sounds floating over clever melodic
vocal lines - sort of Frank Zappa with a melody at its vibe core. The
one-minute and acoustic "Why Can't I Be Free" feels like a beautiful
plea for peace of mind as it swirls around in a haze of marijuana. But then we
get Side 1's other masterpiece - the brill "Mr. Skin" - it's
fantastic choppy beat benefitting from Brass Arrangements done by David
Blumberg. Epic in Britain gave it a belated 7" single release in February
1973 with "Nature's Way" on the B-side (Epic S EPC 7082).
Side 2 opens with probably
my fave instrumental by them – the trippy brilliance of “Space Child” – a piano
floater with superb sound scapes and ideas. We then get wickedly good
speaker-to-speaker guitar in the driving "When I Touch You" - a Jay Ferguson
song that already has Jo Jo Gunne in it - the band he would form after Spirit
with Mark Andes and his brother Matthew. "Street Worm" could easily
be "Stand Up" or "Benefit" Jethro Tull - a very catchy
Guitar/Piano duo back up Ferguson's wailing about 'not making any deal' with
the man. Things go seriously melodic with the beautifully produced "Life
Has Just Begun" - an acoustic builder where all their voices are featured
to great effect (wonderful remaster). The album goes into its only Rock 'n' Roll
boogie in the shape of "Morning Will Come" (lyrics from it title this
review) cleverly offset by the faded-in Elton John-type piano of
"Soldier" - a serious song giving huge power by the pipe organ
Producer David Briggs recorded for the finisher. It rounds off an album that
just grows and grows with each listen...
I had expected the Bonus
Tracks to be throwaway - but if anything the Previously Unreleased
Byrds-sounding "Rougher Road" is a bit of a gem. The single mix of
"Animal Zoo" has a visceral punch in Mono - not so sure about the
Alternate Mono Mix of "Morning Will Come" which I think loses its
power compared to the finished Stereo LP cut. The 'tapes rolling - this is Take
No. 1' dialogue at the beginning of the non-album B-side "Red Light Roll
On" only adds to its excellence (shame there appears to be no Stereo
variant of this wicked groover). The extras elsewhere are all good too.
Ok you could argue that the
weak "Feedback" album lets the side down (four stars for that alone) and
others have moaned about the card sleeve presentation (I think they are fine).
But whatever way you look at it – Esoteric Recordings have stumped up yet
another goody here. And if ever a band deserved reappraisal – there surely
SPIRIT shall be that band...
