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Spirit

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Nature's Way
by Spirit
It's nature's way of telling you something's wrong
It's nature's way of telling you in a song
It's nature's way of receiving you
It's nature's way of retrieving you
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong

It's nature's way of telling you, summer breeze
It's nature's way of telling you, dying trees
It's nature's way of receiving you
It's nature's way of retrieving you
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong

It's nature's way, it's nature's way
It's nature's way, it's nature's way
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong

It's nature's way of telling you
In a song, oh-h
It's nature's way of receiving you
It's nature's way
It's nature's way of retrieving you
It's nature's way
It's nature's way of telling you
Something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong

Peace
LionHeart
February 2006

(Photo Above-Randy California & Spirit in Europe)

Spirit
Spirit's Website
Another Good Spirit Site

Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California. Their 1970 album, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is highly regarded for originality and uniqueness and is considered by many to be one of the best albums made by a Los Angeles group. Likewise, the other three albums that were made by the original line-up are highly regarded by hippies and other experts.

The original lineup of the group was Randy California (guitars), Jay Ferguson (vocals), Mark Andes (bass), California's stepfather, drummer Ed Cassidy, and keyboard player John Locke. The new band was originally named the Spirits Rebellious (after a book by Khalil Gibran) but was soon shortened simply to Spirit. All but Locke had been part of the band The Red Roosters in 1965. California (then still known by his birth name of Randy Wolfe) had also played with Jimi Hendrix (then known as Jimmy James) in Jimmy James and the Blue Flames for three months in 1966.
Ed Cassidy is notable as one of the most accomplished drummers in rock and was instantly recognizable by his shaven head and proclivity to wear black. He was considerably older than the rest of the group (he was born in 1923). His earlier career was primarily in jazz and included stints with Cannonball Adderley, Gerry Mulligan, Roland Kirk and Lee Konitz prior to joining Spirit, he was a founder member of Rising Sons with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.

Following a period of gigging around Los Angeles, the group attained quite a reputation. Brian Berry, the brother of Jan Berry (of Jan & Dean), heard the group and made arrangements for them to record a demo. The demo eventually made its way into the hands of Lou Adler, who was in the process of forming a new record label, Ode Records, which was distributed by Epic Records.

The group's first album, Spirit, was released in 1968. Though it didn't spawn any hit singles (the track Mechanical World was released as a single [with a humorous label on the 45 which lists the playing time as merely being "very long", despite the fact that it is prematurely faded in order to shorten its length a bit], but it missed the Top 100), it was a substantial underground hit, making it to #31 on the charts and staying on the charts for over 8 months.

Following the relative success of their first album, they capitalized on it with a single, I Got A Line On You. Released slightly before their second album, The Family That Plays Together (which came out in November of 1968), it became their biggest hit single, reaching #25 on the charts. The album matched its success, reaching #22 on the charts. They also went on tour that year, with Led Zeppelin opening for them (who were obviously listening to the headliners, as they were known to cover Fresh Garbage in concert, used the Theremin after seeing Randy use a model that he had mounted to his guitar, and would later appropriate the Spirit instrumental Taurus for their Stairway to Heaven).

Followig this success, the group was asked by French director Jacques Demy to record the soundtrack to his film Model Shop. They also made a brief appearance in the film, but it was a commercial disaster (and the only English-language film that Demy would make). The mood that the group conjured while working on the soundtrack would inform the sound of much of their next album, Clear. Released in 1969, it didn't perform as well on the charts without a hit single, only making it to #55.

They were offered the spot right before Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, but they turned it down and went on a promotional tour (and while tihs might seem like a terrible idea to most people, it should be pointed out that Woodstock wasn't considered to be a very big deal until after the fact, and many extremely popular musicians [such as The Doors] turned down slots at the show. It also needs to be pointed out that performing at Woodstock was no guarantee for greater exposure---which now was absolutely wrong. Oh well...

Randy's tragic passing, however, did not mark the end of the emergence of Spirit material. Starting in 2000, there have been five collections of previously unreleased studio and live material, four of which were two-cd sets. Randy had also prepared an anthology of material from the group's first stint with Mercury Records before he passed, entitled The Mercury Years. The two-cd set was released in early 1997, though it raised the ire of some fans who didn't care for the fact that some of the material had been re-edited or featured overdubbing that wasn't present on the original releases.

Likewise, nearly all of their original albums are currently in print in cd, thanks to the efforts of Sony (with the Epic catalog, though Collector's Choice Music was the first to reissue Feedback on cd in the states, following a brief release on disc in France in the late 90s) and Beat Goes On, a UK label (with the Mercury catalog, some of which had made it to cd prior to Beat Goes On reissuing all of their Mercury albums). Their later independent albums are available through the group's website. The one album that is unavailable at this time is Rapture In The Chambers, which hasn't been reissued since the original release, though it was released on cd at that time and can be found through second-hand retailers.
Spirit has also found its work sampled by modern artists several times. The most notable of these was the "Extra P. Remix" of the song Resurrection by Common (which samples Ice from Clear) and Feel Good Time by Pink (musician) (which samples Fresh Garbage from Spirit).

For listen samples and reviews, click on CD cover photo. In new window,
click on CD photo again and scroll down.

Spirit (1968)
The Family That Plays Together (1968)
Model Shop (Soundtrack recorded in 1968 )
Clear (1969)
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)

Feedback (1972)
The Best Of Spirit (1973)
Spirit of '76 (1975)
Son of Spirit and Farther Along (1975-1976)
Future Games (1977)

Time Circle (1968-1972 Compilation)
Chronicles, 1967-1992; Compilation)

Made in Germany (1978, live)
The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land (1981)
The Thirteenth Dream/Spirit of '84 (1984)
Rapture in the Chambers (1988)
Tent of Miracles (1990)