When I picked up this album at the library last year, I knew exactly two things about Spirit: (1) they did the song "I Got A Line On You", a song I always enjoyed hearing on the radio and (2) guitarist Randy California filled in for an ill Ritchie Blackmore during a 1972 Deep Purple American tour.
I'm hardly a Spirit expert just from listening to the album, but I learned a few other interesting facts about the band. First off, the old bald dude is Ed Cassidy, who was Randy California's stepdad and was a drummer of some reknown in various jazz circles. Cassidy was also the only member of the band to appear on every album. This album, their second, marked a turning away from their more experimental first album. They would undergo numerous changes in sound and personnel over the years. In short, it sounds like the Spirit catalog alone could provide me with a lifetime of listening. This lineup is 3/5 passed away: California drowned in 1997, Cassidy died of old age in 2012, and John Locke passed away in 2006. Interestingly, the two surviving members, Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes, did quite well for themselves as session musicians and, much to my surprise, Ferguson composed the theme song to the US version of The Office. Way to go!
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