Spirit - Future Games-Spirit Of 84 (1977-84, BGO 2005)⭐

Artist: Spirit
Title Of Album: Future Games / Spirit Of 84
Year Of Release: 2005
Label: BGO
Country: US
Genre: Classic Rock
Audio codec: FLAC (*.flac)
Rip type: tracks+.cue

This is a reissue of two albums by the seminal American Rock group Spirit. Those are the last two of the five albums released by the Mercury Records label, following the five albums the group released on Ode and Epic labels. The albums are separated by seven years of hiatus, which characterized most of the late years if the group´s career.

In between these two albums Spirit released the "The Adventures Of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy In Potato Land" album in 1981, which included material recorded in 1972 and 1973 and was partly re-recorded in 1981.

"Future Games", originally released in 1977, was practically a solo album by guitarist / composer Randy California, who wrote almost all the songs and played most of the instruments, assisted only by Ed Cassidy on drums and a few unspecified guests. It emphasized California´s superb songwriting and spectacular guitar playing, often compared to that of Jimi Hendrix, who is given a tribute by including the Bob Dylan´s "All Along The Watchtower" all time classic associated with the Godly version performed by Hendrix.

The album is a masterpiece of late Psychedelic Rock, presenting twenty-two short songs creating a fascinating Sci-Fi like story. California used novel (at the time) studio techniques and completely unprecedented use of multi-layered sound effects and other studio paraphernalia. It still sounds absolutely innovative today, well over four decades later.

"Spirit Of 84", released as "The Thirteenth Dream" outside of the US, was recorded by a reunited lineup of Spirit, which included apart from California and Cassidy also original members Jay Ferguson on vocals and guitar, John Locke on keyboards and Mark Andes on vocals and bass, as well as a bunch of guest musicians. The original lineup was reunited for the first time since the recording of the classic "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" album in 1970 (hence the title).

The material includes several remakes of old songs from the first four albums by the group as well as a few new songs, recorded "live in the studio". Although obviously opportunistic / nostalgia based, this is still some of the best American Rock even created, and these fine musician performing together are simply unbeatable.

Overall this is Classic Rock stuff that nobody makes today, hence an absolute must to any serious Rock fan and record collector!

Tracks
Disc 1 - Future Games 1977
1. CB Talk - 0:42
2. Stars Of Love - 2:29
3. Kahauna Dream - 2:44
4. Buried In My Brain (Blair Mooney, Carla Savage, Kim Fowley) - 2:55
5. Bionic Unit (Blair Mooney, Kim Fowley) - 3:00
6. So Happy Now - 0:19
7. All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan) - 4:27
8. Would You Believe - 3:13
9. Jack Bond Speaks (Burt Shonberg) - 1:17
10.Star Trek Dreaming - 2:16
11.Interlude XM - 0:26
12.China Doll (Ed Cassidy) - 2:00
13.HawaiianTimes - 0:10
14.Gorn Attack (Timothy Blanton) - 2:10
15.Interlude 2001 - 0:25
16.Detroit City (Ed Cassidy) - 3:55
17.Freakout Frog (Ed Cassidy) - 1:57
18.The Romulan Experience - 0:57
19.Monkey See Monkey Do - 1:39
20.MT. Olympus - 0:25
21.The Journey Of Nomad (Tom Hall) - 2:30
22.Ending - 3:50

Disc 2 - Spirit Of 84 1984
1. Black Satin Nights - 3:15
2. Mr. Skin - 3:34
3. Mechanical World (Mark Andes, Jay Ferguson) - 5:51
4. Pick It Up - 2:59
5. All Over The World (Randy California, David Crawford, Lisa Henke) - 3:56
6. 1984 - 3:59
7. Uncle Jack - 2:58
8. Nature's Way - 2:46
9. Fresh Garbage - 3:05
10.I Got A Line On You - 7:35
Songs 1,2,4,7,10 written by Jay Ferguson
Songs 6,8,9 written by Randy California