The 1981 Listening Post - Spirit - The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land

 Spirit - The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land

#34

1981 Housekeeping

Sprit

The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land 

Genre: Rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Fish Fry Road

The first time I ever called in to a radio station was to ask “The Kid” what he was playing. It was some spacey rock music with samples of various audio tracks from the likes of Star Trek and others. 

“Oh. It’s some Spirit record. I have to study for a test.”

He was just playing a Spirit record, reading, flipping the album and continuing his studies.

And that was the first and last time I heard anything by Spirit until this project, outside of listening to “Taurus” to see if it did indeed sound like it had been stolen for “Stairway to Heaven”. (Spoiler, it sure does).

So, here’s a jammy concept album that could give Zappa a run for his warped money if it was a)a lot more racist and b) more musically interesting. 

The music isn’t “bad”, per se. Just pedestrian space rock. 

It’s a bit confusing, too. 

The whole “Potatoland” thing doesn’t really start until halfway in, after some really middling soft rock. A shame, really. That’s a weird ass concept album that could have been something cool. 

Stick with Side Two.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-complete-potatoland/1478664381

The 1985 Listening Post - Randy California - Restless

Randy California - Restless

#244/895

June 1985

Randy California

Restless

Genre: Rock

2.75 out of 5

Highlights: 

Restless Nights

I have no real experience with Spirit. When I was in High School I used to listen to Fairleigh-Dickinson University’s radio station. I used to listen to The Kid after school on weekdays. I would call in. A lot. He invited me to come to the station and play records and then weirdly reneged when i showed up at the appointed time. 

It was a disappointment. To say the least. 

But, before that I was listening once and I heard an album with a bunch of samples from various media sources and it never ever freaking ended! I finally called in to find out what I was hearing. 

Turns out it was Spirit. The Kid had a test the next day and needed to study so he just put one hole album on and let it play for 20 minutes while he studied. 

Then he’d flip it over. 

That was my exposure to Randy California’s band. 

Later I became a fan of Randy’s solely based on the fact that he was suing Led Zeppelin for stealing his melody and appropriating it for “Stairway to Heaven”. 

But I still never listened to any of his music. 

Until now. 

It’s weird just how pedestrian 80s rock this sounds. He’s accomplished, I’ll give him that. And what we have here (all but 7 tracks) is perfectly acceptable album rock of the time. It’s enough to interest me in some of the rest of his catalog but, also, to note that he might’ve been a helluva an addition to, say, Deep Purple or Whitesnake or any of the other bands of that ilk. But it’s not great. That’s not the word I’d use for it. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBJ7ztNazTVCOeZXSn1Fa4WF6wngyUrbu