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Rating |
| Allmusic |
  [1] |
Spirit's self-titled debut album is one whose multifarious experimentalism owes a lot to the contemporary successes of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It marked the humble beginnings and grand aspirations of its eponymous authors. The eclecticism of Randy California's writing coupled Barrett's psychotropism with Morrison's West Coast bohemianism; and although the result proved somewhat inaccessible to the mainstream masses (at least commercially), it made the project ripe for underground FM airtime. The band would later curtail its psychedelia, focusing on a broader array of genres.
This release was published first by Ode Records in 1968. It has since been reprinted by Sony, repackaged in compact-disc form and remastered from original analogue tapes.
[edit] Track listing
All songs written by Jay Ferguson except where noted.
| Writer(s) |
| 1. |
"Fresh-Garbage" |
|
3:11 |
| 2. |
"Uncle Jack" |
|
2:44 |
| 3. |
"Mechanical World" |
Andes, Ferguson |
5:15 |
| 4. |
"Taurus" |
California |
2:37 |
| 5. |
"Girl in Your Eye" |
|
3:15 |
| 6. |
"Straight Arrow" |
|
2:50 |
| 7. |
"Topanga Windows" |
|
3:36 |
| 8. |
"Gramophone Man" |
Andes, California, Cassidy, Ferguson, Locke |
3:49 |
| 9. |
"Water Woman" |
|
2:11 |
| 10. |
"The Great Canyon Fire in General" |
|
2:46 |
| 11. |
"Elijah" |
Locke |
10:42 |
| 12. |
"Veruska †" |
California |
2:50 |
| 13. |
"Free Spirit †" |
Locke |
4:27 |
| 14. |
"If I Had a Woman †" |
California |
3:11 |
| 15. |
"Elijah (Alternate Take) †" |
Locke |
9:42 |
- † - Tracks specific to the 1996 reissue
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Spirit
[edit] Production
- Lou Adler – Producer
- Marty Paich - String & Horn Arrangements
- Eirik Wangberg, Armin Steiner & Mike Leitz - Engineers
- Corporate Head - Album Design
- Tom Wilkes – Art Direction
- Guy Webster – Cover Photo
- Jay Thompson - Back Cover Photo
- Terry Clements, Marshall Blonstein, Doug Wallace - Assistance
- Vic Anesini – Mastering, Mixing
- Nicholas Bennett – Packaging Manager
- Adam Block – Project Director, Project Coordinator
- Bob Irwin – Producer, Compilation Producer
- Jeff Smith – Package Design
- Jay Thompson – Photography, Insert Photography
[edit] Charts
Album
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1968 |
Billboard 200 |
31 |
| 1973 |
Billboard 200 |
191 |
[edit] Miscellanea
The song "Fresh-Garbage" has been sampled in the Pink song "Feel Good Time", found on the soundtrack of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. "Fresh Garbage" was also used as the title (and theme music) of a rock music program on BBC Radio London in the early 1970s.
In 1973 Epic released a two-disc LP repackage of Spirit and Clear entitled "Spirit".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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| Studio Albums |
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| Live Albums |
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| Compilations |
The Best Of Spirit (1973) • Time Circle, 1968–1972 (1991) • Chronicles, 1967–1992 (1992) • The Mercury Years (1997) • Cosmic Smile (2000) • Sea Dream (2002) • Blues From the Soul (2003) • Son of America (2005) • Original Potato Land (2006) • Salvation – the Spirit of '74 (2007) • Rock and Roll Planet...1977–1979 (2008) • California Blues Redux (2009)
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