The Grand Wazoo
16-04-2012, 23:37
Album Club 17.04.12: Spirit - 'Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus' (1970)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nUFa4V%2BEL._SS500_.jpg
Spotify:
spotify:album:0NWXyLhHhaeAmu4eovC8Ks
Wikipedia:
Album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Dreams_of_Dr._Sardonicus)
Band (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Dreams_of_Dr._Sardonicus)
This is the fourth Spirit album - it was a bit of a slow burner because it had the lowest chart position of all of their albums released up to that point, but after five years, it eventually went platinum & it remains their best seller. It was way ahead of its time in many ways, not least because of the way the studio manufactured pseudo-psychedelia effects seemed somehow much more than the apparently randomly selected array of noises that had appeared on previous releases by other bands up to that time.
Spirit were formed in 1967 and evolved out of a band called The Red Roosters. Needing a drummer, guitarist Randy California teamed up with his uncle, Ed Cassidy, who'd already had a career in bands with some of the giants of jazz: Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Roland Kirk & Gerry Mulligan for starters. He had also been instrumental in starting a band called Rising Sons with two likely looking lads called Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.
California had already played in a little band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames and had been strongly influenced by the band leader, his friend and fellow guitarist who later became known as Jimi something or other.
Spirit's first three albums sold well and were quite influential - take a listen to the track called 'Taurus' from their first album & then listen to 'Stairway to Heaven'.
The album took almost a year to make, partly because California had a horse riding accident, but also because of building personal tensions within the band, which caused a split soon after its release. Neil Young's favourite producer, David Briggs, got the job of sitting at the desk.
There wasn't really anything else like this record at the time of it's release, it's kind of loosely conceptual; the tracks are portrayed as dreams and they are exquisitely sequenced - an art that as been almost lost in the age of the iPod. Doctor Sardonicus was the studio mixing desk! It has a wee bit of Moog synth in it ('Love Has Found a Way' & 'Space Child'), the songs are pretty thoughtful and there are moments of true beauty captured in the grooves.
I got into it around the same time as I discovered Love's 'Forever Changes' and I consider it to be just as monumental a statement as that album. High spots for me are the best known track, 'Nature's Way', 'Animal Zoo' and 'Why Can't I Be Free'. I love the meaty brass section in 'Morning Will Come', the big kettle drum sound in 'Natures Way' and the harmonies in 'Nothing to Hide' but it's really one of those albums that should be listened to in the round - one of the reasons for AoS's Album Club.
Like all the albums I've championed so far in Album Club, I think it's been greatly overlooked as time has gone on.
I commend this record to the house.
Note - If you're listening to the album on Spotify, then be aware that the original release had 12 tracks (the 12 dreams) so the rest are slightly out of context
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nUFa4V%2BEL._SS500_.jpg
Spotify:
spotify:album:0NWXyLhHhaeAmu4eovC8Ks
Wikipedia:
Album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Dreams_of_Dr._Sardonicus)
Band (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Dreams_of_Dr._Sardonicus)
This is the fourth Spirit album - it was a bit of a slow burner because it had the lowest chart position of all of their albums released up to that point, but after five years, it eventually went platinum & it remains their best seller. It was way ahead of its time in many ways, not least because of the way the studio manufactured pseudo-psychedelia effects seemed somehow much more than the apparently randomly selected array of noises that had appeared on previous releases by other bands up to that time.
Spirit were formed in 1967 and evolved out of a band called The Red Roosters. Needing a drummer, guitarist Randy California teamed up with his uncle, Ed Cassidy, who'd already had a career in bands with some of the giants of jazz: Thelonious Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Roland Kirk & Gerry Mulligan for starters. He had also been instrumental in starting a band called Rising Sons with two likely looking lads called Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.
California had already played in a little band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames and had been strongly influenced by the band leader, his friend and fellow guitarist who later became known as Jimi something or other.
Spirit's first three albums sold well and were quite influential - take a listen to the track called 'Taurus' from their first album & then listen to 'Stairway to Heaven'.
The album took almost a year to make, partly because California had a horse riding accident, but also because of building personal tensions within the band, which caused a split soon after its release. Neil Young's favourite producer, David Briggs, got the job of sitting at the desk.
There wasn't really anything else like this record at the time of it's release, it's kind of loosely conceptual; the tracks are portrayed as dreams and they are exquisitely sequenced - an art that as been almost lost in the age of the iPod. Doctor Sardonicus was the studio mixing desk! It has a wee bit of Moog synth in it ('Love Has Found a Way' & 'Space Child'), the songs are pretty thoughtful and there are moments of true beauty captured in the grooves.
I got into it around the same time as I discovered Love's 'Forever Changes' and I consider it to be just as monumental a statement as that album. High spots for me are the best known track, 'Nature's Way', 'Animal Zoo' and 'Why Can't I Be Free'. I love the meaty brass section in 'Morning Will Come', the big kettle drum sound in 'Natures Way' and the harmonies in 'Nothing to Hide' but it's really one of those albums that should be listened to in the round - one of the reasons for AoS's Album Club.
Like all the albums I've championed so far in Album Club, I think it's been greatly overlooked as time has gone on.
I commend this record to the house.
Note - If you're listening to the album on Spotify, then be aware that the original release had 12 tracks (the 12 dreams) so the rest are slightly out of context