ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 315 SPIRIT - SPIRIT (1968)

[RJhog (Admin)]

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

Hello folks.  Hope you've enjoyed our guest poster in the Album of the Week forum.  Sorry I've been away, but I want to extend a sincere thank you to Scott for keeping the forum running in my absence.  For my first week back, I thought we'd dabble in current events.  As you are most likely aware, Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were recently subjected to a lawsuit by Spirit bassist Mark Andes for copyright infringement due to the similarities between the intro to Stairway To Heaven and the Spirit song Taurus (track four below).  The acting judge decided there was cause for a jury trial, but Page and Plant ultimately triumphed.  Question is, what do you think?  If you haven't heard the song, here's your chance.

Also, another interesting note regarding Spirit is that Jay Ferguson was the lead vocalist and keyboardist on this album.  Ferguson had a couple of really cool solo hits with his late 70's songs Thunder Island (a song I truly love) and Shakedown Cruise.  

This album topped out at #31 on the Billboard 200 album chart in 1968 and it cracked the top 200 again in 1973 with a #191 place showing.  Mechanical World was the lone single, reaching #123 in the U.S. The album (with bonus tracks) is readily available for $5.07 on Amazon.

 

Tracks:

1. Fresh-Garbage

2. Uncle Jack

3. Mechanical World

4. Taurus 

5. Girl In Your Eye

6. Straight Arrow

7. Topanga Windows

8. Gramaphone Man

9. Water Woman

10. The Great Canyon Fire In General

11. Elijah

 

[Scott]

Did not know Andes and Ferguson were in this band..  Andes went onto Firefall and Heart fame as well...

[Jon]

Actually, it should be "I want to extend a sincere thank you to Scott for bogarting AOTW even though he was informed that a certain other person had an album all ready to go, an album that would have brought AOTW back to the #1 album series but they were never able to do this because of the aforementioned bogarting. Shame, Scott. SHAME!"

Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes went on to form Jo Jo Gunne as well. Andes then joined Firefall and was a member of Heart for about 10 years.

Yeah, I hear the similarity, but it is what it is I guess.

I really like this album. There's just a mix of so many styles that you can lose your mind. At one point I think of ELP, another Chicago and another "Apocalypse Now" for some reason. The last song is really cool, total jazziness and spaciness and I dig it, man.

For a few years I've been meaning to pick up some Spirit albums and have had my eye on the Original Album Series set which includes thos album along with four others. I believe four of them come with bonus tracks as well and it runs around $22 which isn't too shabby for five albums. This has pushed me towards a purchase....

-by Jon "I Don't Bogart"

[Scott]

[Scott]

Ive heard the infamous mash-up but like Jon I hear similarities but nothing that would tell me its lawsuit worthy.  My take anyway...  Though I'm sure the band would have loved to have a cut of that song!

My first thought is that this is definitely 1968, the acoustic guitar work is  100 percent of that time, you can hear the finger slide on the fret board, a definite hallmark of the 60's, followed up with more sounds of the times and that India/Hindu sitar (sp??) thing.  Didn't everyone do that in 1968?  Songs about Topanga canyon, the cliché's just keep coming...

I'm afraid that Manson and/or Altamont might have been the proverbial nail in the coffin for this type of music and I think that it was only a matter of time anyway.  The emergence of FM radio and progressive music, as well as new studio technology really made early 70's music so good!  Had they focused more on that progressive side, as evidenced by the closing track, then maybe the band had a chance to emerge.  I think as a slice in time this is interesting but I think its very much a been there done that type of listening experience, no pun intended. 

Welcome back boss, you were missed!