Clear

Limited SACD hybrid edition. Digitally remastered and expanded edition including four bonus tracks. Clear is the third Spirit album, written largely around the time of their work on the soundtrack to the 1968 film Model Shop. Clear has several moments of brilliance that prove what a revolutionary band Spirit were. Coming off of the success of The Family That Plays Together and the hit single, I Got a Line on You, the group entered the studio with Lou Adler once again in the producer's chair. The album contains many high points, like Cold Wind, So Little Time To Fly and the awesome original release closer New Dope in Town. Dark Eyed Woman opens the album with promise, and it is indeed one of Spirit's hardest-rocking studio performances. Randy California's inspired guitar solo is one of the finest performances of the period. California is indeed the rock equivalent of the cool, progressive jazzman of the '50s. Clear includes four bonus tracks: both sides of the 1984 single, the song Fuller Brush Man and a piece entitled Coral, which was on the Model Shop original movie soundtrack and is present here in an elaborately produced version. This is Spirit, at the height of their powers, with Jay Ferguson still in the fold. Their music is different from anyone else, at times a little Jazz, Rock and Roll, and a fusion of other styles. Hard to believe this was done in the '60s.