'60's psychedelia with a big difference, and probably one of the most underrated names in the history of rock. The story of Spirit is really the story of two bands. Originally a five-piece band, consisting of Randy California (guitar and vocals), Ed Cassidy (drums), Jay Ferguson (vocals), Mark Andes (bass) and John Locke (keyboards) the group seized to exist in 1971, having many reincarnations after in the shape of various line-ups build around core-members Cassidy and California. There are big differences in the musical styles of both groups, the first line-up profiting from the songwriting talents of both Ferguson and California, with some substantial contributions from Andes and Locke, the latter providing some jazz influences that the later bands lacked, while the second period of Spirit's existence was in many ways Randy California's solo-career, resulting in usually much simpler and more accessible music.

Still, many fans have remained faithful to both periods in the bands history, and so do I. If you want to know how I first encountered the band and why it had such an impact on me click here. Or if you prefer it short; I hadn't heard anything like this until I heard Spirit.

Spirit: Spirit (1968)

Fresh-garbage / Uncle Jack / Mechanical world / Taurus / Girl in your eye / Straight arrow / Topanga windows / Gramophone man / Water woman / The great canyon fire in general / Elijah. CD bonus tracks: Veruska / Free spirit / If I had a woman / Elijah (alternate take)

A strange but fascinating mix of jazz, blues and psychedelia. Jay Ferguson was very much the leading man of the group,  most of the songs being written and sung by him, although others make some great contributions. John Locke's compositions are close to pure jazz, like in Elijah and several instrumental parts of other songs. Randy California is responsible for some of the finest guitar playing I've ever heard. His instrumental Taurus obviously inspired Led Zeppelin's Stairway to heaven.
Other highlights for me are Mechanical world, which has been one of my favorite Spirit songs, ever since that night in 1988, and Gramophone man.
 

 
Spirit: The family that plays together (1969)

I got a line on you / It shall be / Poor Richard / Silky Sam / The drunkard / Darlin' if / It's all the same / Jewish / Dream within a dream / She smiles / Aren't you glad. CD-bonus tracks: Fog / So little to say / Mellow fellow / Now or anywhere / Space chile

A year after the debut, the second album was released. On this album, Randy California was allowed to take a bigger role as a songwriter, being (co-)responsible for 4 of the 11 songs, the rest being written by Jay. As a whole, this is much more of a rock album compared to its more jazz-like predecessor. It's also more varied. There are no bad songs on the album, but I particularly like the early hard rock of It's all the same and ballads like Darlin' if and The drunkard.

 
In the meantime, Spirit was involved in the score of Jacques Demy's film The Model Shop. The soundtrack was never released separately, but three tracks can be heard on the compilation double-cd Time circle (1968-1972), while some others were included on the third album.
 
 

Spirit: Clear (1969)

Dark eyed woman / Apple orchard / So little time to fly / Ground hog / Cold wind / Policeman's ball / Ice / Give a life, take a life / I'm trucking / Clear / Caught / New dope in town. CD bonus tracks: 1984 / Sweet Stella baby / Fuller brush man / Coral

Of the four original albums, this one is probably the least coherent, but in those dark days of 1988, it was the only thing I could cling to. I was a bit disappointed at first listen though. Many songs sounded little like the band I just had discovered, and until I recognized the wonderful Cold wind I didn't like much of what I heard. Except for this song and New dope in town all of the tracks were new to me, and it took some time for me to appreciate some of them, although I immediately liked Ice, Give a life, take a life (co-written by producer Lou Adler, sounds like The Mamas and the Papas) and Clear. Also, the CD-inlay gave me such invaluable information like the surnames and some pictures of the band members. Which name belonged to which face was still a mystery.
I replaced my Edsel 268 a few years ago with the 1996 re-release. It's still in my collection, though, for sentimental reasons: not only is this my first Spirit-album, it's also the very first CD I ever bought.
 
 
 
Spirit: Texas International Pop Festival (199X)

Fresh garbage (= Trancas fog-out + I'm Truckin  + Fresh garbage) / Elijah  (= Poor Richard) / Improvisation (= Caught) / Ground hog  / Gramophone man (= Policeman's ball)  / Dream within a dream (= drum solo + Mechanical world) / I got a line on you / Aren't you glad

The original line-up never recorded an official live album, but on a record fair I was lucky to find a bootleg-CD with recordings of Spirit's performance on the Texas International Pop Festival, which apparently was on September 1st 1969, about two months after the release of Clear. Sound quality is good for a bootleg, and the performance itself is little short from excellent. The only fault I can find is that the people behind it managed to get almost all of the titles wrong. However, the titles mentioned are not always those of the songs that are on the CD. Anyway, a very welcome addition to any fan's collection.
 

 
Spirit: Twelve dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)

Prelude-Nothing to hide / Nature's way / Animal zoo / Love has found a way / Why can't I be free / Mr. Skin / Space child / When I touch you / Street worm / Life has just begun / Morning will come / Soldier. CD bonus tracks: Rougher road / Animal zoo (mono single version) / Morning will come (alternate mono mix) / Red light roll on

After Clear it would take more than a year for another Spirit-album to be released, the last one in the original line-up. In my early days as a Spirit fan, I soon found out that this was the ultimate Spirit-album, and so decided I had to have it. At one time, I even offered a reward of 100 guilders for the first person who could provide me with a copy of reasonable quality. Thankfully,  I never had to pay the money as sooner as I expected a CD-release was announced which I immediately ordered. I was appalled by the ugly artwork on the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab release, but the music more than made up for it. There's a slight difference between the two CD-releases, as the later release has a short organ-intro for Mr. Skin that the MFSL version doesn't have. The MFSL version however is the original. There are no weak songs on this album, and if I were to mention my favorites I would have to name most of the songs. It's still a mystery to me that, with an album as great as this, Spirit never made it big. This is absolutely one of the classic psychedelic rock albums, and everyone who is into this kind of music should hear it. I think it's much better than Forever changes, Piper at the gates of dawn, Sgt. Pepper or anything The Doors ever did, although I admit that this last comparison tells more about my opinion about that particular band than about the quality of Sardonicus. But Sardonicus also sounds much less dated. However, it didn't get the warm reception it deserved. After 12 dreams the band toured for a while to promote the album, but in 1971 the end came. Sardonicus had been made under difficult circumstances. Relations between the band members worsened, especially Randy at times proved to be a difficult person to work with. Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes were the first to quit the group to form Jo Jo Gunne. The end of a great band had come, and although there were to be numerous line-ups under the name of Spirit since, the unique sound and experiment never returned in this form.

All four albums have been released on CD, but it's worthwhile to look for their 1996 rereleases that all have bonus-tracks, most of which were unavailable on CD before and some of which are very good indeed. Other previously unavailable tracks have been released on Chronicles 1967-1992 and Time circle 1968-1972, both of which were released in 1991. The latter is the best of several compilation albums regarding the original band.

 
Spirit: The best of (compilation rel. 1973)

Morning will come / Mechanical world / Nature's way / Animal zoo / Fresh garbage / I got a line on you / Prelude-Nothing to hide / Uncle Jack / 1984 / Dark eyed woman / Mr. Skin

This compilation was first released in 1973 and can still be found on CD. I bought it in those days to get the songs from the first album and Dr. Sardonicus, which I couldn't find anywhere at that time. Besides that, it was the only way to get 1984. It's a good selection of songs, although I feel Clear doesn't get the attention it deserves, being represented by Dark eyed woman only. Where are Cold wind and New dope in town? The CD has enough space for so much more. As it is, there is nowadays hardly a good reason to buy this one, unless you really don't want all the four albums in their entirety.
 
 
 
Spirit: Time circle 1968-1972 (compilation rel. 1991)

Disk one: Fresh garbage / Uncle Jack / Mechanical world / Taurus / Girl in your eye / Straight arrow / Topanga windows / Gramophone man / The great canyon fire in general / I got a line on you / It shall be / Poor Richard / Silky Sam / Sherozode / All the same / Dream within a dream / Aren't you glad / Eventide / Model shoppe theme (the moving van) / Green gorilla / Rehearsal theme

Disk two: Fog / Now or anywhere / Dark eyed woman / So little time to fly / Ground hog / Ice / I'm truckin' / New dope in town / 1984 / Sweet Stella baby / Prelude-Nothing to hide / Nature's way / Animal zoo / Love has found a way / Why can't I be free / Mr. Skin / When I touch you / Street worm / Morning will come / Turn to the right

A much, much better compilation. Not only does it do more justice to all four albums, in fact it has all the songs that are on Best of, but it also includes 1984's b-side Sweet Stella baby and some unreleased tracks, including some from the Model Shop-soundtrack, and some alternate versions of released tracks. Some of these tracks are now also available as bonus tracks on the Epic 1996 cd re-releases, but even if you have these, Time circle is still worth getting if only for the full-length version of Ice, released only in this form.