Spirit

Let's get this out of the way first, copyright lawsuits are 90% garbage. You can't copyright a chromatic bassline, or a chord progression, or an idiomatic expression, or the use of falsetto, or any of the other nonsense record companies use to extort money from each other. Every single musician on earth "copys" what they like, what works, what they can expand on, add something to, what they care about. Taking a cool thing from another song, writing it down, and making it your own is what makes Jimmy Page a great musician. What makes Jimmy Page a dog turd (or should i say Thriller?) of a human being (apart from the kidnapping thing) is that AFTER he became an incredibly wealthy person he flipped all the people who inspired/influenced him the bird and pretended like he'd never had an unoriginal thought in his entire life. Oh yeah, by the way, Led Zeppelin also warmed up the crowd that hadn't yet arrived to see Spirit.

I'm always reluctant to name my favorite band (for many reasons), but my favorite band of all time is Spirit. There are literally thousands of bands i like just as much, but they aren't my favorite. Spirit is, and i'm not gonna fight you about it. Like, if you asked me who i'm going to vote for in 2020, my answer is Kamala Harris. We could have a 45 minute conversation about it where you call me bad names, but unless you shoot me in the face and kill me or cause debilitating brain damage i'm going to vote for or write down the name Kamala Harris, and my favorite band is Spirit. Facts.

Jimmy Hendrix gave their guitarist/leader the nickname "california" because there were two Randy's that he needed to differentiate, and this one said "my name is now Randy California because Jimmy Hendrix said so." Facts.

Every band has eras/epochs/whathaveyous. Number 5 was the end of Steve Miller Band's first era, and Spirit made it to 4 before temporarily imploding (the very first album i listened to, if you can remember that far back). I HAVE ALL FOUR. Now we binge...

... Spirit's self titled debut album is everything you'd expect from a psych-rock band and more, plus some really stellar orchestral arrangements by Marty Paich (go read HIS wikipedia page if you want to feel like a lazy, useless human being). This album also leaves no doubt that Spirit could have been any kind of band they wanted to be. They play rock, folk, blues, and jazz like they aren't in any way different from each other. There's not a single bad song on this album, and i WILL fight you about that ;) . Both sides of this album are equally good: there's no wasted energy or filler, and all 5 guys more than pull their weight.

That was February 1968. 10 months later they released The Family That Plays Together. This sophomore offering has been described as proto-prog-rock by people who didn't actually listen to the first album closely. This band could have been any type of band they wanted, and they rightly decided to be all of them. Oh hey, is that Marty Paich again as well. Call me crazy, but maybe just maybe the only limitation on their creative output in 1968 was someone willing to pay for studio time and distribution, and only 24 hours in a day. I imagine if someone fed them and paid their rent for a few months they could have written 12 albums worth of this insanely amazing stuff.

The second album is a little less fuzzy than the first (and that sets up a pun for their third album, as i am wont to do). By that i mean, it sounds more determined and solidified. They sound more comfortable in their diversity on this album, and i suspect that's as much a product of increased confidence in the band by the execs at Ode/CBS as it is another year's worth of simply being a band, and a better mix/master (sound engineers have a learning curve too, you know). Again, not one single second of fluff or mindless repetition. Nearly 40 minutes of top notch late 60s rock that flew in under the radar and still doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

And damned if 9 months later they didn't put out another one. It's clear that they were unstoppable. It's Clear. Get it? Ha.

But seriously, the band wasn't quite as happy with this album because they felt it was rushed. They wrote three albums, a film soundtrack and toured in two years. A little rushed indeed. It doesn't sound rushed it sounds muddy, and that's an engineering problem, not an "i'm feeling jetlagged" problem. It's not quite as experimental as the first two, but it still has some pretty sharp turns and tangents. Clear is also their last album with producer Lou Adler for Ode. They weren't quite about to fall apart yet, but they had started following advice from Neil Young so it was really only a matter of time. Neil Young seems like a great guy, but i wouldn't even eat at a restaurant he recommended. His official slogan should just be "your experience may vary; not responsible for lost or damaged property as a result of this experience." Nevertheless, they made an amazing fourth album before a series of unfortunate events sent various members in different directions, only to sporadically reunite with less than stellar rapport between various members. It didn't really matter though. Spirit was kind of like the Wu Tang Clan: Technically its members released solo albums that were stylistically different, but it's still recognizably the same group regardless of who's name gets the biggest letters on the cover. Should you happen to come across any of their later albums in your various travels, please don't hesitate to acquire them and send them to me for the love and adoration they so rightly deserve.

Sadly, we must bring the evening to a close with Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, but what a great album. It's got folk and funk and hard rock, the horns and quirky guitar effects and vocal playfulness are back. Clear is clearly the weakest of the four albums, and i won't criticize you too much if you want to pretend it didn't happen. The first two albums and Sardonicus are a discography any band would be rightly proud to have created, and are pure joy to my ears.

They don't have to be your favorite band (i don't feel that lonely), they might not be for everyone, but i love them. Cheers.

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