Spirit – ‘Sunrise & Salvation – The Mercury Era Anthology’ (2021)

Following the commercial disappointment of what they considered their finest album, ‘Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus’, released as it happened, on what would have been Jimi Hendrix’s twenty eighth birthday, 27 November 1970, Los Angeles based rock band Spirit splintered, with three of the band’s members, Randy California (guitar, vocals), Jay Ferguson (vocals, percussion) and Mark Andes (bass guitar) exiting, leaving only keyboard player John Locke and drummer/percussionist Ed Cassidy to carry on the band’s name.

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Joined by Texan brothers John Christian (guitar, backing vocals) and Al Staehely (lead vocals, bass guitar) they released the March 1972 LP ‘Feedback’ which sold respectably well, peaking at #65 on the Billboard charts, only two spots lower than its predecessor, but during the tour to support the new album Locke and Cassidy left the group resulting in Spirit temporarily disbanding. Three years later, however, California and Cassidy revived the band, and with bass guitarist Barry Keene completing the lineup signed with Mercury Records releasing five studio albums between 1975 and 1984. Cherry Red Records has gathered the albums supplemented by a plethora of live, demo, alternative and outtake recordings in a new eight disc boxed set comprehensively anthologizing their time at Mercury.

Disc one and the first six tracks on disc two comprise the twenty five contained on Spirit’s May 1975 double album ‘Spirit Of ‘76’. The album is dominated by Randy California who plays multiple instruments and contributes all vocals, with Cassidy handling all drum and percussion parts, while Barry Keene provides much of the bass guitar work and Benji Des Neg’Marrons is credited with the harpsichord and Moog synthesizer performances. The album opens with a medley combining unique covers of Katharine Lee Bates’ patriotic ‘America The Beautiful’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘The Times They Are A Changing’, which was also released as the b-side of the LP’s melodic third track, the California/Cassidy penned ‘Lady Of The Lake’. The long players’ real highlight however is a rocked up nine minute cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, which like the covers of Billy Roberts’ ‘Hey Joe’ and Francis Ford Key’s ‘Star Spangled Banner’ show the great influence of California’s dear friend Jimi Hendrix who had attempted to recruit the guitarist to join his band on more than one occasion, beginning when California was a fifteen year old known by his birth name of Randy Wolfe. Also of note are the melodic wah wah and Moog synthesizer driven rocker ‘Sunrise’, the breezy acoustic, country influenced ‘Joker On The Run’ and the three part blues number ‘Tampa Jam’. A final highlight is the melodic, spirited take on The Rolling Stones’ ‘Happy’, one of the biggest numbers on Jagger, Richards & Co’s 1972 double LP ‘Exile On Main Street’. Three bonus tracks, alternate edit versions, accompany the ‘Spirit Of ‘76’. Disc two is completed by 11 songs featuring the trio of California and Cassidy joined by Mark Andes, bassist/vocalist of Spirit during their halcyon days at Epic/Ode, recorded live at The Agora in Cleveland on 18 November, 1974, five of the tracks previously unreleased. The set is highlighted by performances of three Spirit classics, ‘Nature’s Way’, ‘Mr. Skin’ and ‘Fresh Garbage’, all appearing for the first time, along with an inspired seven and a half minute take on live staple ‘Hey Joe’ and an extended, melodic five and a half minute performance of ‘Happy’ spotlighting California and Andes’ vocal harmonies.

Disc three opens with the ten tracks comprising 1975’s ‘Son Of Spirit’, featuring the trio of California, Cassidy and bass guitarist Barry Keene. The album opens with the two tracks released as a single to promote the LP. ‘Holy Man’ is a gentle, moody number, telling of Moses leading his people to Jesus, with California’s swirling guitar and his vocal harmonies with Keene prominent. ‘Looking Into Darkness’ is another introspective, gospel inspired tune with California adding wah wah and slide guitar along with a subdued solo. ‘Circle’ is a folkish tune, with piano, mouth harp and piano supplementing California swirling lead and slide guitars and comforting lyrics “if you want my love, you can take it, and if you need my love you can take it … .the circle’s turning around once again”. ‘The Other Song’ has a heavy drum and feedback aided guitar intro. The tune features phasing and controlled feedback, every note of California’s crisp and clear, leading to a relaxed, precise solo reminiscent of the group’s Epic/Ode days. ‘Don’t Go Away’ is a mid-tempo melodic tune, guitar and piano meshing beautifully as California laments, “cause you’re going away and you’re leaving today … .you’re so beautiful”. ‘Magic Fairy Princess’ is filled with fantasy “you’re the one, you’re the girl in a million my friend, it is you fairy princess I will love till the end”. An ode to idyllic love, California adds an understated solo before concluding, “lying here all alone and I’m thinking of you, I would climb the highest mountain, slay a dragon for you … .you’re the magic fairy, magic fairy, magic fairy princess to me”. The final track ‘It’s Time Now’ offers more fantasy and references “Potatoland” that would be the topic of future recordings, offering “start singing, bells are ringing, daydreaming your life away…you know this country could be such a happy land if all the people reached out and lent a hand” as the album closes on a hopeful note from California. Next up is the 1976 ‘Farther Along’ album, with all but Jay Ferguson of the classic Spirit lineup participating. The title track is a melodic, gentle tune with acoustic guitar, piano and Cassidy using brushes on his drums. After California asks “are you still alive” Mark Andes contributes a brief bass solo with Locke’s piano adding texture, Locke adding synthesizer and Matt Andes slide guitar as California repeats the refrain “farther along, farther along, farther along….” as the tune draws to a close. ‘Atomic Boogie’ is a horn and keyboard driven number with its references to “mushroom in the sky, so much radiation you know you’re gonna fly, do the radiation boogie, do it right now”. ‘World Eat World Dog’ is a melodic, danceable tune led by Locke’s keys, Andes’ bass and Cass’s drums, with California contributing a gentle guitar outro. ‘Stoney’ is jazzy, with Locke’s keys and horns to the fore and California’s vocals heavily echoed. ‘Pineapple’ is a dreamy instrumental with Matt Andes’ slide guitar leading the way. ‘Colossus’ is another gentle, meditative tune filled with vocal harmonies. ‘Mega Star’ is also pensive, California’s guitar filled with feedback, Matt Andes adds slide guitar and Locke a piano solo, the song closing with a fiery flash from California. ‘Don’t Lock Up Your Door’ is a country, bluegrass flavored effort led by acoustic guitar and banjo, California proclaiming “don’t lock up your door, let your feelings out”. ‘Phoebe’ is an instrumental offering more dreamy space rock as California’s guitar floats with lots of sustain and hints of feedback aided by Locke’s synthesizer. ‘Diamond Spirit’ is a moody, atmospheric piece of space rock with guitars and vocals reminiscent of ‘Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus’. The album closes with an instrumental take on ‘Nature’s Way’ complete with orchestral arrangement. The disc closes with four outtakes from the ‘Farther Along’ sessions and a 1976 live take on the title track.

Disc four opens with the 1977 album ‘Future Games’, an eccentric release that received a divided reception from Spirit fans. The album is a mix of melodic tunes and musical snippets, interspersed with interludes of CB talk, radio broadcasts and unstructured musical interludes. Released in 1977, it appears on the set in two versions, the twenty two track, forty three minute variation on this disc and in an early twenty three track demo version found on the eighth and final disc of this boxed set. The official version opens with a forty four second snippet of “CB Talk”, offering exactly what it implies. The album is also known as ‘A Magical Kahauna Dream’ derived from the album’s third track which blends a radio broadcast simulation with a tasty guitar outro, a somewhat puzzling mixture and an example of what divides opinion of this release. The five minute take on ‘All Along The Watchtower’ mixes a spoken word intro with a structured section faithful to Hendrix’s cover of the song, a long time part of the Spirit’s live repertoire with intermittent bits of radio banter, at once pleasing and perplexing. ‘Buried In My Brain’ is a melodic mix of California guitar and vocals while ‘Bionic Unit’ is California and Cassidy, with the former offering a tasteful lead line and feedback filled solo. ‘Would You Believe’ features heavily echoed guitar and vocals with California soloing over the top. ‘Star Trek Dreaming’ finds California’s solo roaring over Cassidy’s’ drums. ‘China Doll’ is a short take with a heavy guitar riff and lead line. ‘Gorn Attack’ has Cass’s drums driving California’s guitar, synthesizer and bass, with lots of reverb on the guitar. ‘Detroit City’ is a gentle, melodic tune which shifts mid-tune from mid-tempo to dead ahead rock. ‘Journey Of The Nomad’ is a rocker, with Randy’s guitar and keys soaring over Cass’s drums. ‘Ending’ lacks conventional structure with California’s guitar and vocals rendering a rather jumbled sound. Disc four closes with eleven studio session tracks, undated but assumed to be from 1976 and 1977. Many of these are alternate edit and demo versions of ‘Future Games’ songs, but there are some otherwise unreleased tracks that are of great interest to Spirit fans such as ‘Chairman Mao’, ‘Hollywood Dreams’, ‘Love Changed’ and ‘Same Old Naturally’.

Disc five begins with ‘The Thirteenth Dream’ aka ‘Spirit Of ‘84’ album tracks, the first title an obvious reference to the band’s 1970 magnum opus ‘Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus” LP, while the second is misleading since the album was actually recorded in 1982. It did, however, represent a reunion of the band’s classic lineup, with California, Ferguson, Locke, Andes and Cassidy together in the studio for the first time in more than a decade. The album is a mix of vintage Spirit tunes and new material. The 1982 LP consisted of seven re-recordings and three new songs, while the version found here has eight re-recordings and a total of five new tunes, two finding their first release here. The opener ‘Black Satin Nights’ is a hard rocker with a synthesizer intro, heavy guitar and driving beat. The lyrics “white lies and black satin nights, too late to talk about it, too tired to fight” lead to a soaring California solo. ‘Mr. Skin’, ‘Mechanical World’, ‘1984’, ‘Uncle Jack’, ‘Fresh Garbage’, and ‘Nature’s Way’ are loyal to the original recordings, while ‘Elijah’ is considerably shorter, running seven minutes compared to the eleven of the version found on the band’s 1968 debut LP. The biggest change is found on ‘I Got A Line On You’ which is stretched to over eight minutes compared to the two and a half minute duration of the single and the album version on ‘The Family That Plays Together’ with California extending his solo, and Locke and Cassidy taking solos as well. This is the standout track without question. Of the remaining new tracks ‘Pick It Up’ is the most exceptional, with California’s guitar fiery from the intro on and Locke’s pounding piano a la Jerry Lee Lewis an unexpected extra. ‘All Over The World’ is a throwback with lyrics such as “the kids in the sixties were screaming for peace and freedom for all” and with the band’s reunion it was time for “starting all over again”. The music, however, is good, but not exceptional, the same is true for ‘Rasta Girl In A Safari’ and ‘Give Me Your Number’ , the album’s other new material. The disc is filled out with six previously unreleased live recordings from a Detroit gig in 1985. The band, with California and Ferguson on guitar and vocals and Cassidy on drums, joined by bass guitarist Herman James and keyboard player Michael Lewis give spirited runs through familiar band originals ‘Animal Zoo’ and ‘Dark Eyed Woman’ along with a relatively rare but rocking take on ‘Prelude: Nothing To Hide’, and a smoking version of band constant ‘All Along The Watchtower’, adding a nice cover of J.D. Loudermilk’s ‘Tobacco Road’ to the set.

Disc six begins with twenty one previously unreleased studio recordings by the band from 1974-1975, titled ‘Spirit Of Salvation’ for this release. Included are demos of several ‘Son Of Spirit’ tracks, including ‘Holy Man’, ‘Looking Into Darkness’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘Circle’, ‘Magic Fairy Princess’ and ‘The Other Song’ along with interesting demos of Bob Dylan’s ‘Positively Main Street’ and The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ as well as two Cassidy showcases simply labeled ‘Cass Drums’. The disc is completed by eight Randy California solo demos.

Disc seven contains a previously unreleased 19 June 1975 show live at Armadillo Headquarters, Austin, Texas performed by California and Cassidy with bassist/vocalist Barry Keene. The set list is quite varied and interesting. After being introduced the band gives Don Nix’s blues classic ‘Going Down’, famous due to Freddie King’s cover version, a sterling five minute run through, followed by a take on ‘So Little Time To Fly’ from Spirit’s third album, ‘Clear’. Two jams aimed to please the locals, ‘Austin Jam’ and ‘Working In Austin’ were next up, ‘Joker On The Run’ from ‘Spirit Of ‘76’ preceded a nine and a half minute take on California favorite by way of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ followed by a snappy take on another Dylan tune, a hit for The Byrds, ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. California’s arrangement of the standard, again popularized by The Byrds, ‘Old Blue’ led to a fresh take on fan favorite ‘Mr. Skin’ from ‘Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus’ and a screaming four minute version of ‘Prelude: Nothing To Hide’ from the same album. An audience treat was the trio’s cover of Mance Lipscomb’s ‘Miss The Train’ followed by an even more surprising cover of Barry Goldberg and Gerry Goffin’s ‘I’ve Got To Use My Imagination’ best known for its cover by Gladys Knight & The Pips. California and Cassidy’s ‘All The Same’ , an album track from ‘The Family That Plays Together’ was stretched out to fifteen minutes with the band strutting their stuff to the crowd’s delight. A snappy take on ‘I Got A Line On You’ set the stage for the the show stopping, closing medley of the Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson penned Canned Heat tune ‘On The Road Again’ segueing into the Hendrix influenced cover of Frances Scott Key’s ‘Star Spangled Banner’, the band returning to ‘On The Road Again’ before reprising ‘Austin Jam’ as the crowd cried out for more. A most impressive performance indeed.

The eighth and final disc of ‘Sunrise & Salvation’ opens with the twenty three track early demo version of ‘Future Games’ considered by many the “Holy Grail” of the boxed set. While this point may be debatable, it certainly makes for an interesting comparison as the two may be examined track by track, beginning with ‘CB Talk’ and ending appropriately enough with ‘Ending’, the only difference lying in the demo version having a reprise of ‘Would You Believe’ included. This version of ‘Future Games’ sees light of day for the first time, as do all other previously unreleased tracks, thanks to Spirit aficionado and “keeper of the tapes” Mick ‘Skidmore. The box set ends with eight tracks recorded live at The Agora in Cleveland, Ohio on 30 June 1975. ‘Downer’, a Randy California original, was a regular on the setlist of Spirit gigs during this period. Next up is another Dylan cover, this time a nine minute take on ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ again coming by way of Jimi Hendrix who often included it in his live set. ‘Victim Of Society’ from the then current ‘Spirit Of ‘76’ led to the rather impromptu ‘Ohio Jam’, followed by Spirit fan favorite ‘Mr. Skin’. California’s arrangement of the standard ‘Old Blue’ popularized by The Byrds was combined, in a medley, with a reprise of ‘Ohio Jam’, before the band moved into ‘All The Same’ from their sophomore album ‘The Family That Plays Together’, running seven minutes in this case. The live recordings and ‘Sunrise & Sunset’ close, appropriately enough, with a fiery three minute take on Spirit’s sole Top 40 hit and fan favorite ‘I Got A Line On You’.

The eight discs of ‘Sunrise & Salvation – The Mercury Era Anthology’ come in individual mini-LP sleeves which tuck snuggly into the tortoise shell box. The anthology includes an incredible 194 tracks, no less than 102 of them previously unreleased. The boxed set includes a 44 page full color booklet with complete track annotations and musician credits, photographs of the band, album artwork and other memorabilia, and an extensive essay by compiler Mick Skidmore. Spirit’s Mercury era recordings sound better than ever thanks to the mastering job of Ben Wiseman. The set will be of interest to Spirit fans, fans of 1970s and 1980s rock, classic rock and rock music in general and comes highly recommended.

Kevin Rathert

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