New Monday #25
Happy Monday!
A friend asked me recently, "What's the best album ever produced?"
Without hesitation: Spirit's The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.
Here it is on Apple Music - this is the best sounding online version of it. The original album is the first 12 songs.
Here it is on Spotify. Again, first 12 songs.
Here's it on YouTube, which doesn't do its sonic quality justice. Again. The first 12 songs are the original album.
Listen to it on Apple Music or Spotify. YouTube breaks the songs with commercials and the album was designed to flow from song to song with no breaks.
Take 40 minutes out of your life and listen. Good speakers or headphones!
Sued by Led Zeppelin, Buddies with Hendrix
Some of you might know this album and band. Most of you don't. These were the guys involved in a lawsuit with Led Zeppelin a few years back. It was alleged that the opening of Stairway to Heaven was nicked from this.
Spirit was formed by guitarist Randy California, real last name "Wolfe." Jimi Hendrix gave him the nickname "California" to differentiate him from another guitar player Hendrix nicknamed Randy Texas.
It's 1967, Randy Wolfe is 15, playing with Jimi Hendrix, when Hendrix gets invited to England by Chas Chandler. Young Randy's parents won't let him go. Hendrix goes to England to become HENDRIX, Randy goes back to California.
Randy's stepdad was a West Coast jazz drummer named Ed Cassidy, who was rocking the shaved head look before anyone. They formed Spirit with jazz keyboardist John Locke, and then added bassist Mark Andes (later a member of Heart during its MTV days) and singer/multi-instrumentalist Jay Ferguson. They released their first album when Randy California was 17.
Spirit was a genre all to themselves. Psychedelic prog rock with heavy pop and environmentalist overtones, perhaps? They had a minor hit with "I Got a Line on You." They never sold a lot of records. This happens when there isn't a firm angle on genre for marketing. How do you promote albums with jazz instrumentals, pop tunes, songs sung in Hebrew, songs about pollution, etc.? The record label couldn't figure it out either.
The 12 Dream of Dr Sardonicus: How to Produce a Record
The 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus was Spirit's 4th album. It charted poorly on release in 1970.
Every individual song is great, and unlike anything else on the album, even though the songs quote moments from each other at times. The playing and singing is fantastic. The recording - done in Sunset Sound's studio 1 on a custom API console, is fantastic by the standards of the times and by the standards of today.
The production was by Randy California and David Briggs. Briggs is best known for working with Neil Young. As Briggs describes it: "When people ask 'You produce Neil Young?' I'm not ashamed to say 'Only the best albums.'"
So Much to Hear... and Steal!
Just the panning of things on Sardonicus is amazing. Parts bounce around from speaker to speaker. Voices stack and talk to each other. Even a tambourine becomes a relegation. Songs don't fade out; they slip away into reverb, moving away from the listener into another space, and then returning as a different song. I don't think anyone has yet made a record that takes such advantage of movement as Spirit.
Songs have different textures, grooves, colors and sounds from slide guitars to one of the earliest uses of a Moog synth. Vocals peak into mixes from radios or telephones, recorded backward and turned into choruses of creatures. There's string sections, horn sections, bongos, sound effects of traffic, tractors and cats, lyrics about love, nature, hippie stuff, capitalism...
It's an insane mix of elements.
And it utterly works, because every decision is in service of the song.
The running order has a narrative arc to it. It seems to be about something, but you can't put your finger on it. The title is from a 1961 horror movie. California had an initial thought the record was a sci-fi adventure, and some of the song titles come from that, but it's a concept record mostly in execution and not in theme.
Whatever. It's how you make a record.
The Aftermath
There was tremendous creative tension between Randy California and Jay Ferguson. The classic lineup of Spirit broke up after Sardonicus. There were various forms of Spirit and Randy California after that. Jay Ferguson formed an insipid pop band called Jo Jo Gunne. He became a very successful film and TV composer. He wrote television's equivalent of a platinum record, this thing here.
Randy California drowned in 1997. His son was caught in a riptide while the two were swimming in Hawaii. Randy pushed the boy to safety but couldn't manage it for himself.
Ed Cassidy outlived his stepson, dying at 89. Keyboardist John Locke played up until his death at 62. Mark Andes is semi-retired but still plays.
I've been listening to the 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus since 1982. It still blows my mind. I'm writing this while listening to it. It sorta kills me that I'll never produce a record as good as this one. But it's a good pain.
What do you think is the best album ever produced? Huge and somewhat dumb question, but I'd love to hear your answers, and hear what you're all listening to.
Have a great week. Make some music!
