Clear

About

Though they were easily as musically adventurous as their contemporaries in the psychedelic vanguard of the late ‘60s, the Los Angeles-based quintet Spirit disguised their adventurous musicality beneath an unassuming demeanor. At a time when other bands strove to gain attention with onstage pyrotechnics and over-generous helpings of screaming feedback, Spirit always presented their excursions into psychedelic studio effects, country rock, and jazz-fusion within the framework of skillfully written pop songs. Their third album, <i>Clear</i>, was their last with producer and L.A. scenester Lou Adler and the precise mixing, unobtrusive background harmonies, and odd instrumentation will be immediately familiar to fans of the group’s previous albums. The incredibly eclectic songwriting is really what sets this effort apart, with numbers like “Caught” and “Ice” expanding on the jazz-rock of Spirit’s first two albums, while poppier numbers like the bluesy “Groundhog” and the chiming, Hammond-led “Apple Orchard” anticipate everything from the studio-crafted power-pop of Badfinger to the playful psychedelia of Pink Floyd’s <i>Saucerful of Secrets</i>.

via Apple Music