Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California. The original lineup of the group evolved from an earlier Los Angeles band, The Red Roosters, which included Randy California (guitars, vocals), Mark Andes (bass) and Jay Ferguson (vocals, percussion). With the addition of Ed Cassidy (drums) 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. Randy California had also played with Jimi Hendrix (then known as Jimmy James) in Jimmy James and the Blue Flames in 1966. 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. While the mindset required to produce Spirit was ubiquitous, the endeavour itself was far from clichéd. 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 masses, 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.
01 - Fresh-Garbage 02 - Uncle Jack 03 - Mechanical World 04 - Taurus 05 - Girl In Your Eye 06 - Straight Arrow 07 - Topanga Windows 08 - Gramophone Man 09 - Water Woman 10 - The Great Canyon Fire In General 11 - Elijah 12 - Veruska [Bonus] 13 - Free Spirit [Bonus] 14 - If I Had A Woman [Bonus] 15 - Elijah [Alternate Take - Bonus]
