Spirit (Spirit album)
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| Studio album by Spirit | ||||
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Publication |
January 22, 1968 (US) |
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admission |
November 11, 1967 - November 17, 1967 |
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| Label (s) | Ode Records (1968); Sony | |||
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Format (s) |
LP |
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Title (number) |
11 |
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Spirit is the first music album by the US rock band Spirit , which was released in January 1968 on Ode Records . It was produced by Lou Adler , who would also produce the band's next two albums. The album peaked at number 31 on the Billboard 200 .
Music style and line-up
The album is the first of four albums from 1968 to 1970 recorded by the band's original line-up of five. The musical style of the debut album is often described as Prog-Rock and is shaped by the influences of various musical styles such as rock, jazz , blues , folk and classical music , which correspond to the different musical backgrounds of the individual band members. Pianist John Locke and drummer Ed Cassidy were already seasoned jazz musicians. Cassidy, at least 20 years older than his bandmates at 44, had also played in a folk blues band called The Rising Sons with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder before becoming the stepfather of 16-year-old guitarist Randy California , who had already played in Jimi Hendrix 's band Jimi James & The Blue Flames in New York in the summer of 1966 . California had already met the singer and percussionist Jay Ferguson and the bassist Marc Andes at a folk music workshop in California in 1965 and was able to win them over to a band. However, the Red Roosters broke up when California moved its stepfather to New York for a year .
prehistory
This band of experienced musicians, who got together again in the spring of 1967, soon appeared live and in the summer of the same year, with the help of Barry Hansen , produced a demo tape in order to be able to apply for a record deal (5 pieces of this demo tape were Published 24 years later on the Chronicles anthology (1967-1992) ). They finally convinced the successful music producer Lou Adler, who after the sale of his successful label Dunhill Records had founded a new production company called Ode Records and cooperated with Epic Records for distribution purposes. After signing the contract in August 1967, the band retired to a house in Topanga Canyon to work on their debut album.
The songs
Singer Jay Ferguson contributed most of the song material. Exceptions are the almost eleven-minute jazz-like final piece Elijah with solos by all instrumentalists, which comes from the pen of keyboardist John Locke, and the instrumental title Taurus , written by Randy California. The contribution of California to the songwriting was, compared to the following albums, so still small. The song Taurus is often viewed as a possible source of inspiration for this Led Zeppelin classic due to its similarity to the introduction to the later song Stairway to Heaven . California's executor filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in 2014 . The trial opened in a California court in June 2016 . On June 23, 2016, the jury rejected the allegation of copyright infringement.
The song Mechanical World , a composition by Andes and Ferguson, was released as a single in advance and received a satisfactory response. California's incisive guitar playing shapes this song, which was written by Marc Andes when he was seriously ill with the flu and was inspired by this experience.
Track list
The original version from 1968 only contained tracks 1-11, the new edition on CD, which was released by Sony , contains four additional tracks (tracks 12-15):
- Fresh-Garbage (J. Ferguson) (3:11)
- Uncle Jack (J. Ferguson) (2:43)
- Mechanical World (M. Andes / J. Ferguson) (5:15)
- Taurus (R. California) (2:37)
- Girl In Your Eye (J. Ferguson) (3:15)
- Straight Arrow (J. Ferguson) (2:51)
- Topanga Windows (J. Ferguson) (3:36)
- Gramophone Man (J. Ferguson, R. California, J. Locke, M. Andes, E. Cassidy) (3:49)
- Water Woman (J. Ferguson) (2:11)
- The Great Canyon Fire In General (J. Ferguson) (2:47)
- Elijah (J. Locke) (10:49)
- Veruska (M. Andes, R. California, E. Cassidy) (2:51)
- Free Spirit (J. Locke) (4:28)
- If I Had A Woman (R. California) (3:12)
- Elijah (J. Locke) - Alternate Version (9:42)
reception
Spirit joined the Billboard 200 in April 1968 and stayed there for over 6 months. The album reached its highest ranking with number 31 in September 1968. It was one of the most successful albums of the band, only surpassed by the follow-up album The Family That Plays Together with number 22 the following year. Richie Unterberger from the All Music Guide benevolently rated the album with 4.5 out of 5 stars and emphasized the musical versatility of the band members and found some “interesting” songs, but saw weaknesses in the songwriting .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Record review by Richie Unterberger for Allmusic .
- ↑ a b c Band biography in the All Music Guide
- ↑ Randy Lewis, Guitarist's estate says Led Zeppelin lifted 'Stairway to Heaven' part (May 21, 2014), from: latimes.com, accessed June 20, 2016.
- ↑ Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin in court (June 15, 2016), from: tagesspiegel.de, accessed on June 20, 2016.
- ↑ Led Zeppelin wins plagiarism case (June 23, 2016), on: faz.net, accessed on June 23, 2016.
- ↑ Eriq Gardner & Ashley Cullins Led Zeppelin Wins 'Stairway to Heaven' Jury Trial (June 23, 2016), from: hollywoodreporter.com, accessed on June 23, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Steve Robey, Through The Times With Randy California And Spirit - A Historical Discography (April 9, 2001) in the Prog Rock magazine Exposé No. 13, p. 28, on: gnosis2000.net, accessed on June 23, 2016 ( English).
- ↑ Spirit at Allmusic (English)