Spirit (Spirit album)

Spirit is the debut studio album by American rock band Spirit, released on January 22, 1968 by Ode Records. The album was commercially successful, spending more than six months on the Billboard album charts,^[4] peaking at #31. It was voted number 658 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).

Spirit
Studio album by Spirit
Released	January 22, 1968 (1968-01-22)
Recorded	August 31–November 17, 1967
Genre	Psychedelic[1] rock[1] jazz[1] blues[1] folk rock[1] psychedelic pop[1]
Length	41:55
Label	Ode
Producer	Lou Adler
Spirit chronology
Spirit (1968) The Family That Plays Together (1968)
Singles from Spirit
"Mechanical World" Released: 1968

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[2]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]

Similarity to "Stairway to Heaven"

The guitar part of "Taurus" is said to have influenced Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page in writing "Stairway to Heaven".^[5] Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit on an American tour in 1968, and also borrowed from "Fresh Garbage" in live performances of the song 'As Long as I Have You'.^[6]

Release history

In 1973, Epic released a two-disc LP repackage of Spirit and Clear simply entitled Spirit.

The album was first issued on compact disc in 1996 by Sony. The original 1968 stereo mixes were not available for this release, so the album was remixed in stereo from the original multitrack tapes. This edition also includes four previously unreleased bonus tracks.

In 2017, Audio Fidelity reissued the album as a numbered limited edition hybrid SACD. This edition was remastered from the original 1968 stereo master tapes, which had not been commercially available since the LP release was discontinued in the 1970s. The 2017 edition also includes bonus tracks in the same mixes as those on the 1996 reissue.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Fresh-Garbage"	Jay Ferguson	3:11
2.	"Uncle Jack"	Ferguson	2:44
3.	"Mechanical World"	Mark Andes Ferguson	5:15
4.	"Taurus"	Randy California	2:37
5.	"Girl in Your Eye"	Ferguson	3:15
6.	"Straight Arrow"	Ferguson	2:50

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"Topanga Windows"	Ferguson	3:36
8.	"Gramophone Man"	Ferguson John Locke California Andes Ed Cassidy	3:49
9.	"Water Woman"	Ferguson	2:11
10.	"The Great Canyon Fire in General"	Ferguson	2:46
11.	"Elijah"	Locke	10:42

1996 reissue bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
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

Personnel

Spirit

• Jay Ferguson – lead vocals, percussion
• Randy California – guitars, backing vocals, bass
• John Locke – keyboards
• Mark Andes – bass, backing vocals
• Ed Cassidy – drums, percussion

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 Wallack – 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
• Douglas Wallack – road manager

Charts

Chart (1968)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[7]	31

See also

• Stairway to Heaven lawsuit