Time to get back into the Spirit of things. Ahem. So, while a last alt album of Randy California and his Spirit bandmates is laying in the vaults, I decided to do this first, the successor to the Free Spirit Of The 70s compilation that tried to put the increasingly incoherent output of pirit into a more coherent and enjoyable whole. This album tries to do the same for te following decade, where the output from Spirit and/or California became even more erratic as well as more spaced out in terms of recorded output. California & Co. toured relatively tirelessly though. As with that 70's set volume I envisioned to make something eminently listenable out of the, uh, rather uneven music from the band throughout the decade that generally speaking wasn't kind to this type of 60's rock band. And, dare I say it, In think I suceeded. When assembled this flowed better than I imagined it would.
When last we quit Spirit, California and bandmates were gearing up to put the shelved Potatoland mayterial into shape for a release, after fans had badgered them about hearing it. They reworked and rerecorded songs, as well as overdubbing some of the 1973 material. Five tracks from the 1973 configuration already figured on Free Spirit Of The Seventies, and a version of the rerecorded "We've Got A Lot To Learn on Radio Aqua Blue, this compilation adds the Potatoland '81 versions of "Fish Fry Road", "Morning Light", "Turn To The Right" , "Open Up Your Heat" and "My Friend", edited to go without the gibberish 'concept album' dialogue and other nooks and crannies that stopped these tracks from flowing correctly. "My Friend", with its Byrds-ian jingle jangle opening is a clear One Buck Guy favorite.
I said a little earlier that the Eighties were generally not too kind on late 60's era bands, but they did reignite interest in them nonetheless, as fans in the music industry wondered aloud what would happen to these classic bands in modern sound. And Spirit were one of the first to profit from, uh, that kind of spirit, reuniting the original band for The Thirteenth Dream (Spirit of '84 in the U.S.) in 1982, way before Jefferson Starship or Poco got their 80s reunion/makeover. But it wasn't a particularly successful reunion, creatively, capturing the original five-piece live in the studio remaking their classics and attempting only three new songs. Of those, I didn't like Jay Ferguson's songs much, so I only kept Randy's "All Over The World", plus four of the remakes of old Spirit classics, which maybe aren't a patch on the originals, but a welcome reminder of how good these songs are.
What holds maybe most interest for fans of the band are the at-the-time unreleased songs. Two similar-sounding atmospheric synth-and-guitar ballads ("20 Years", "Who Are You") form the album's bookends, setting the deliberately calm pace. There are some very Californian noodles like "Storm In The Night" and spirited rockers like "The Prophecy", while the Vietnam war tale "Son Of America" is proof that California could write and fully produce story-songs if concentrated. The line-up is completed by a couple of acoustic tunes played in concert ("In A Young Man's Eyes/Life Has Just Begun", "Darlin' If" and "Logical Answers") and an early version of a track later released on California's 1986 solo album Restless ("Childhood's End").
So, is Spirit Of The Eighties a rival for the bands work from the 60s or 70s? No, it isn't, but in this compilation I'd say it's better than what a lot of folks would think of a band that was starting to tour the oldies circuit in several band packages and didn't have much juice as far as studio albums are concerned. But some of the best of the juice that they did have is here on Spirit Of The Eighties, so go on, take a sip or two...
Get Into The Spirit Of The 80s...
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/ZGmLrsVbRVS
Agreed that " the Eighties were generally not too kind on late 60's era bands." As I was looking for songs for my "Do Ya Think I'm New Wave" compilation, I listened to The Thirteenth Dream. I didn't find anything embarrassing, which speaks well for Spirit (especially compared to some of their contemporaries).
ReplyDeleteTwo other surprisingly good albums were Cross Talk by The Pretty Things (1980), and Ark by The Animals (1983). But I did grab "Suzi Found A Weapon" from your pal Randy Vanwarmer!