Gee, What A Sap I Was ...

In a recent summit meeting of finer minds in the comments section, I loftily dismissed late Spirit albums as generic hard rock, and not worth the time. It's a standard Rock Snob reflex. Strictly speaking - and who wants sloppy speaking? - we're really talking about two albums here, Rapture In The Chambers and Tent Of Miracles, both from the ass end of the eighties. In the spirit (swidt?) of critical objectivity, I decided to re-audition these albums in th' Conversation Pit O' Sound©, to see if the wiser perspective of maturity like what I got (out th' ass) would shine a different, softer light on the music.

Rapture gets a kicking for its "over-produced sound" and synthesizers, and being from the eighties. Well, yep, all that, but ... it sounds great. It does. If we have to have eighties music, and I suppose we do, it should sound like this finely detailed Randy California production. The man knew his way around a studio. That period drum sound, usually so flatly metronomic and irritating, becomes a tribal heartbeat in Cass's capable hands. John Locke's synth isn't overplayed, and remain untouched most of the time. A few of the songs do qualify as generic hard rock, but there's some first-tier Randy California material here, thoughtful, imaginative, and atmospheric. Plus also too: great title, great cover. Their last major label release, as it didn't impress floppy-haired synth-pop fans, and such Spirit fans as were left had mostly wandered away into th' fog after the half-assed nothing-burger of The Thirteenth Dream. If you were one of them, as I was, then please do give it a spin on th' Victrola. It's a swell Spirit album, and deserves its place in the canon.

The following year's Tent Of Miracles limped out on a non-label with a toxic cover [at right - Ed.] that actively terminated any remaining chances of sales.

Unsee!

I mean - what the actual fuck? Couldn't they have found someone, anyone, who knew what a Spirit album should look like? This would shame a bootleg. Plus point - it cost them nothing. Minus point - it cost them everything. The stupid fucks. Because lurking in this shitty package is another great album. With another great title. And now, thanks to th' graphic genius available on tap at th' House O' Foam©, it's got a cover that doesn't make you blow chunks. I posted it at the top to lure in thumbnail clickers.

The sound is stripped-down after Rapture, as is the line-up. Mike Nile's playing, singing and writing is an asset, and the whole deal slips down a treat. As much as I like their last album California Blues (which is to say, not a whole bunch) it doesn't have the cohesiveness or *gulp* artistic integrity - blues covers? - of these two. I was wrong about them, and it's a great pleasure to catch up.