Josiah Reynolds's Album Reviews
With a distinct jazz influence largely absent from their rock band compadres; Spirit kick things off beautifully with their self-titled debut. The exuberant opener 'Fresh-Garbage' remains one of my favourite songs by the band, with its killer melody and feel, and tight musicianship. 'Mechanical World' has a suitable industrial feel with its dynamic melody, mechanical beat, and distant, wavering vocals, and is a particularly good display of the cleverness of this band.
'Taurus' is a somber and sweet orchestral piece (ignore the petty lawsuit by the band) that fairly quickly makes way for the sitar backed, hazy 'Girl in Your Eye'. 'Straight Arrow' is a bit by the numbers and is less impressive, but is still a bit of fun. Everything from here on is consistently great even if they don't make as big of an impression as the two aforementioned highlights 'Fresh Garbage' and 'Mechanical World', but that's not to say they're generic or unspectacular, as they're all terrific with a sound unique to their own.
Even when the band more closely echoes their most dated contemporaries with slightly uneasy and dreamy but largely jovial and innocent pop-psych melodies and lyrics, Spirit put their own spin on it, transforming and elevating the song into something with more spectacle and originality.
Unfortunately 'Elijah' is tacked onto the end. It's well recorded and has a good drum solo, as well as a cool riff... between that, though, it's too many minutes of meandering instrumentation that makes no impression. It's a disappointing ending to what could've been a top to bottom classic album.
Spirit are a great band and they knocked it out the park right away. They're one of those fair few bands where you can put on just about any song and recognise them almost immediately. Overall; I highly recommend this album... just don't feel bad for lifting the needle before the last track.
'Taurus' is a somber and sweet orchestral piece (ignore the petty lawsuit by the band) that fairly quickly makes way for the sitar backed, hazy 'Girl in Your Eye'. 'Straight Arrow' is a bit by the numbers and is less impressive, but is still a bit of fun. Everything from here on is consistently great even if they don't make as big of an impression as the two aforementioned highlights 'Fresh Garbage' and 'Mechanical World', but that's not to say they're generic or unspectacular, as they're all terrific with a sound unique to their own.
Even when the band more closely echoes their most dated contemporaries with slightly uneasy and dreamy but largely jovial and innocent pop-psych melodies and lyrics, Spirit put their own spin on it, transforming and elevating the song into something with more spectacle and originality.
Unfortunately 'Elijah' is tacked onto the end. It's well recorded and has a good drum solo, as well as a cool riff... between that, though, it's too many minutes of meandering instrumentation that makes no impression. It's a disappointing ending to what could've been a top to bottom classic album.
Spirit are a great band and they knocked it out the park right away. They're one of those fair few bands where you can put on just about any song and recognise them almost immediately. Overall; I highly recommend this album... just don't feel bad for lifting the needle before the last track.
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