Spirit
33 articles
Audio interviews
Spirit's Randy California (1981)
Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1981
Spirit's guitarist and guiding light discusses the belatedly-released Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land: about re-recording parts for the album why it wasn't originally released; about the album's concept and its influence on Devo. Randy also talks about meeting Jimi Hendrix and playing with him in NYC in 1966.
File format: mp3 File size: 14.6mb Interview length: 15' 14"; Sound quality: *****
List of articles in the library
Spirit, the Youngbloods, West, Blue Morning: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 29 April 1969
SPIRIT, THE Youngbloods, West and Blue Morning appeared in rock concerts at the Pasadena Rose Palace Friday and Saturday nights. ...
Spirit: Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 16 March 1968
FIVE COMPATIBLE first-rate musicians do not necessarily make a first-rate group, nor does excellent music always make excellent entertainment. ...
School of Rock: Monterey to Altamont
Guide by Barney Hoskyns, iTunes, 2008
BETWEEN 1966 and 1970, there was a seismic change in British and American pop. Within a few short years "pop" became "rock", and teenagers who'd ...
Live Review by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 7 April 1973
SPIRIT'S TOUR here has not been over-publicised, so it's all to their credit that they're managing to pull large crowds and have had no less ...
Profile and Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 7 April 1973
RANDY CALIFORNIA isn't the state of the nation — it's the name of Spirit's lead guitarist. He's one of the two original members left from ...
Review and Interview by Paul Lester, Uncut, March 2004
1975 double concept LP from Randy California's hippie-era West Coast legends — available for the first time on CD with original vinyl's full gatefold artwork. ...
California Dreaming: The Wild and Tragic Story of Spirit
Retrospective by Max Bell, Classic Rock, 18 June 2014
Led by mercurial guitarist Randy California, Spirit were buddies of Jimi Hendrix and praised by Led Zeppelin. But their promise would collapse in blur of ...
Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 17 April 1969
Spirit, Procol Play Concerts ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
Mark Andes, b. 19 February 1948, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (replaced by Al Staehely, b. Texas); Randy California, b. Randolph Craig Woolfe, 20 February 1951, Los ...
Spirit: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
DO YOU BELIEVE in magic? Me, I'm still dreaming, lost in the welter of sensory impressions that seeped into the Rainbow the minute Spirit dripped ...
Interview by Mark Williams, International Times, 12 February 1970
CTA, CANNED HEAT, Love & Flock are some of the more interesting American contemporary bands we've seen, or will be seeing, in Britain during the ...
Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, February 2004
Just turned 22, Spirit guitarist and figurehead Randy California stands on Chelsea Bridge, staring down into the grey waters of the River Thames. It's April 1973, ...
Spirit: From The Time Coast — Randy California Interviewed
Interview by Steve Burgess, Dark Star, June 1978
ONE OF THE problems that your average culture hero doesn't suffer from is trying to sleep nights, it's the days that get slept through 'cause ...
Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin et al: Album Reviews
Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 26 April 1969
Both sides of the great Elvis Presley, orchestral pop from the Brothers Ryan ...
Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 7 February 1970
SPIRIT IS one of those fine American groups which came to light following the Indian summer of 1967, and which have never really gained the ...
Spirit: Future Games — A Magical Kahauna Dream (Mercury Import)
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977
THE RETURN of Tab, Hunk and Dr. Sardonicus — more outrageously smooth than ever before. A new Spirit album is not only becoming a frequent ...
Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 July 1978
Goodbye To Rock And All That (For Another Year At Least) ...
Spirit: 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Review by Nick Tosches, Rolling Stone, 4 March 1971
ANY ILLUSIONS that might still be clung to along the order of Spirit's being an Epic house organ anthropomorphization-of-eclecticism shuck, complete with baldpated, cerebral – ...
Spirit: The Family That Plays Together (Ode)
Review by Miles, International Times, 14 February 1969
From The Ergot Fields ...
Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 31 July 1976
How Kapt. Kopter kept coming back California, a bona fide genius guitar hero. Who says so? Max Bell says so. ...
Interview by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 7 April 1973
ATTENTION PLEASE. For the next few weeks, Britain will have the chance of witnessing 'live' one of rock's most creative and significant guitarists. ...
Profile and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 18 September 1976
RANDY CALIFORNIA: re-formed Spirit after picking pineapples and advice from a fortune teller ...
Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 26 July 1975
Drummer Ed Cassidy talks about the new-look Spirit and explains why a band of '67 is still hunting the big-time ...
Spirit: If You Value Your Life, On No Account Read This Headline...
Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 30 October 1976
...because if you do you'll have to read the feature which is about RANDY CALIFORNIA of SPIRIT. He's a very far-out person. He says so. ...
America: The Titanic Might Be Sinking, But There Are Plenty Of Lifeboats Left
Essay by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 3 July 1976
BACK IN this very spot, Mick Farren pulled out his critical cudgels and delivered a sorely needed attack on the current state of rock'n'roll. ...
An Appreciation Of The Career Of Randy California, Who Died On January 2nd, 1997
Obituary by Phil McMullen, Ptolemaic Terrascope, March 1997
SO, HE'S GONE THEN. If Nick hadn't metaphorically picked me up by the scruff of the neck and encouraged me to start writing the interviews ...
Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 14 August 1975
FROM ITS CONCEPTION to its sonics, Spirit of '76 is this year's eccentric's eccentric record, and Randy California (last heard from as "Kapt. Kopter" on ...
Spirit: The Whisky, Los Angeles
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Phonograph Record, April 1972
THERE'S NOT MUCH Spirit left. That doesn't refer only to the departure of Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes and the retirement of Randy California. The ...
Obituary by Max Bell, MOJO, March 1997
RANDY CALIFORNIA, THE GUITARIST AND songwriter of West Coast group Spirit, drowned after swimming off the Hawaiian island of Molokai on January 2. ...
Interview by uncredited writer, World Countdown News, 1967
PLAY MUSIC with Love. Different backgrounds create new flavors. New ideas are always welcome. ...
Sleeve notes by John Tobler, Sony Records sleevnote, 2000
THE TRAGIC AND unexpected death (from drowning) on the second day of 1997 of guitarist and vocalist Randy California effectively silenced Spirit, described by Billboard ...
see also Randy California
see also Jo Jo Gunne
see also Red Roosters, The
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