In a week of Papal transitions,
a SPIRIT from the 60's has arisen!!
Last week I was doing a deep dive into one of the most underrated rock bands ever! My favorite L.A.'s SPIRIT.
I was listening to a recording of my second Spirit concert ('76 at Gusman Hall in Miami). An evening so raucous, so loud the venue stopped rock concerts for a year or two. My god, they were smoking the dreaded marijuana onstage after all! We were right down front that night, it was crazy that night.
While listening the Spirit concert I remembered Jay Ferguson (co-singer in the original band) opened this show for his old bandmates (which was great, but sadly they never shared that stage together that night). I went looking for audio of Jay's performance from that night, but no such luck. While searching though, I was reminded of an album that came out before his big solo hit "Thunder Island" in 1977. The album was called "All Alone in the Endzone" '76. Wow! What a treat. There were more than a few tracks I remembered being played in Miami back then like "Turn it Up", his cover of Traffic's "Medicated Goo" and the title track. I'm quite surprised I've not been totally familiar with this recording, as it is chock full of assistance by Joe Walsh (another favorite) and his band at the time. It is SO Miami, and other Jay's albums come to think of it!
Unabashedly quoting Lester Bangs "Nothing ever quite dies; it just comes back in a different form"... as I'm
bouncing around this new found Jay Ferguson YouTube page, I had to do a double take! There was a brand-new
Jay Ferguson album released only four days before!! His first new album since the mid 1980's! WOW!
"THE FAULTLINE" What great fun! I've been listening most days since my discovery a few weeks ago.
That does not happen much anymore for me, but I love when it does.
Jay Ferguson was born in Burbank, and was in a number of local bands prior to being the last member to join
L.A.'s Spirit, originally called "Spirits Rebellious", after a Khalil Gibran passage. The first recording he ever made
was with Spirit, the amazing "Fresh Garbage", a psychedelic-jazz takedown of waste, and gluttony in society
several years prior to the first Earth Day.
Spirit, whose two biggest hits were "I Got A Line On You", and "Nature's Way" (along with "Dark Eyed Woman"
and "1984") were also fronted by Randy California, aka Randy Wolfe. Randy was given the nickname "California" by Jimi Hendrix when another Randy (Palmer) was in his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames" (at age 15), so as to not confuse him with the other Randy in the band. Mr Wolfe then proudly took it for his new last name. During that time Randy's step-father Ed Cassidy (a known jazz drummer of the era) had formed the short-lived "Rising Sons" band with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.
By 1971, the original Spirit were splitting up. Randy California (guitars, vocals), Mark Andes (bassist), also an original Canned Heat member), Jay Ferguson (vocals, percussion), Ed Cassidy (drums), and keyboard player John Locke. Randy kept the Spirit name alive (till his death in 1997) with a number of other sidemen, but he always included Ed aka "Mr. Skin" on drums. Randy had a new project - Kapt' Kopter and the (fabulous) Twirly Birds, (also featuring his Cassidy on drums). At the same time Jay took the Andes brothers and formed the badass JoJo Gunne, whose only big hit was "Run, Run, Run". Since the 80's, Jay Ferguson has been laying low, but he has been a prolific composer of music for film and television, and a JoJo Gunne reunion in 1992.
In April 2025 Jay Ferguson released "The Faultline", his first proper LP release in decades. 11 tracks seemingly speaking to his home Los Angeles.
The opening track is an upbeat track "Love in the End Times"..."Two hearts on the road, on the run, we're gonna
find that last sunset", "get ready for that new sensation, hotter wetter, more than you planned" (global warming?).
Next, we get "Be Careful What You Wish For" - you just might get it. "He picked his color, he paid in cash, and
drove that new Ferrari right off the overpass". These openers along with "Living On The Faultline" set the scene
for this apocalyptic disc. This song also appeard on the '92 JoJo Gunne release.
Next, we get the fabulous "Art Guard" - "My knees grew weak, my heart was a wreck I moved closer, I could read
her badge It said, "Art Guard, my name is Madge". "I said, "I like the Cubists", but I'm more into Dada, She said,
"Try the Pointillists, you really ought a""! So fun, very off beat very much like that early Spirit material. Don't
know why but it makes me think of the classic Animal Zoo.
As I mentioned SPIRIT was/is one of my all-time favorite bands. All American, smart often deep music, that I
think is highly underrated all around. A mix of R&B, rock, psychedelic, with a touch of the futuristic, and Jazz influences- I've often said I'd stand 1969's "The 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus" up against The Beatles "Abbey Road" or any other 1969 (or otherwise) LP, any time.
I've seen Spirit (Randy's version) about 10 times, a few more than anyone else I've seen. Neck and neck with Alice
Cooper shows. Interestingly, the first show I was allowed to go to without parents was SPIRIT in Cocoa Beach at a
club in 1974, I was 14. The next year, my first major arena concert was Alice Cooper in 1975. As a matter of fact,
Spirit and The Alice Cooper Band started breaking the same time in the same place, the Hollywood Sunset strip.
I'd be surprised if they were never on a bill together.
In the mid 90's Randy and I became friendly; I sold their merch for them the last 2 shows I attended at The
Sebastian Beach Inn in Florida. My wife and I at the time were planning a new music venue, and we were hoping
to have Spirit perform. Randy liked the idea. Sadly, that never happened, in early 1997 Randy drowned saving his
son from a rip current off the coast of Oahu. Later on, when I got into radio, I've gotten to know Mark Andes a little.
Jay on the other hand, so far seems elusive.
Art Guard is followed by "She's the One". "She waits in the storm, She walks in the fire, Her smile is the rainbow Her voice is desire" A beautiful tune seemingly to his wife. I believe he and his wife have been together a very long time. From what I gather they are regular worshipers at their local church. Next up "Can't Stand Still" also seems like a love song, to a robot or online dating? "Some new sensation, Instant gratification, Total saturation, Digital medication, We’re a perfect match".
"It's A Jungle Out There" follows more on the apocalypse theme "I watch it all on my wide screen, I hear it all on
my best stream, Is my neighbor there looking at me? What’s he gonna hear, and what’s he gonna see? It's a jungle
out there, gotta be prepared". "The Burndown",name checks dozens of punk bands with the chorus "We didn’t
want your world; We just wanted to burn things down. We didn’t want your future; We just wanted to live it all
now". This brings us to "End Times" a sort of sequel to "Love in the End Times", with similar lyrics, but there
is a twist, we hear "do do do do do do do...run, run, run" Jay uses the refrain his other band JoJo Gunne's
"Run, Run. Run". Perfect!! How fun. But also more than a little dark.
"The Rabbit Hole" is a another fun one if not a little prescient. I've been down this rabbit hole a few weeks...I can't stop listening! "Hey everybody let's get in line. We’re gonna take a trip through space and time. Follow the leader, and follow his lines, Going down the Rabbit Hole. Six and seven and eleven make ten, You get to the bottom and you start again. There’s a red queen there, waiting for your head, At the bottom of the Rabbit Hole" Heavy man.
We rap up this disc with "Surface of The Sun" a mid-eastern psychedelic journey, actually the whole album has
an odd psychedelic vibe, not surprising considering Jay's musical heritage. The LP's final line "A million stars
will be our lights, will be our lights". After the apocalypse? Kinda puts our petty little bullshit into perspective.
-"Java" John Goldacker '25
