Future Games (Spirit album)

Last updated
Future Games
Spirit FutureGames.jpg
Studio album by
Spirit
ReleasedApril 1977
StudioStudios 70, Tampa
Genre
Length43:38
Label Mercury
Producer Dr. Sardonicus
Spirit chronology
Farther Along
(1976)		Future Games
(1977)		 ...Potato Land
(1981)
Singles from Future Games
  1. "All Along the Watchtower"
    Released: May 1977

Future Games (subtitled A Magical-Kahauna Dream) is the ninth studio album by American rock band Spirit. Released in April 1977, it was their final album for Mercury Records and the last of their four "comeback" releases of the mid-1970s. It is essentially a solo project for frontman Randy California, who recorded it with drummer Ed Cassidy, though he later expressed dissatisfaction with the recording.

Contents

An album of psychedelic, rock and pop music, Future Games features 22 short tracks and is characterised by its textural guitar work, disorientating sound, fizzy production, concise melodies, use of sound collage and dialogue samples from American television, film and radio – in particular, the science fiction series Star Trek and the episode "Turnabout Intruder". The record reflects California's interests in science fiction, Hawaii and The Urantia Book ; among its songs are two collaborations with Kim Fowley and a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", which was released as a single.

Housed in a sleeve depicting a half-naked California pulling a macho guitar pose, the album was the follow-up to the commercially unsuccessful Farther Along (1976). Future Games was similarly unsuccessful and did not chart in either the UK or the US. Music critics have drawn attention to the record's eccentric content and conceptual focus. It has since been sited as an early example of a 'collage-pop' album due to its heavy dependence on samples.

Background and recording

Future Games (subtitled A Magical-Kahauna Dream [1] ) was the final of four Spirit albums released in the mid-1970s that, according to journalist Max Bell, cemented frontman Randy California's reputation as "one of the strangest dudes on the planet", following Spirit of '76 (1975), Son of Spirit (1976) and a reunion for the band's original lineup, Farther Along (1976). [2] These releases marked Spirit's "comeback" following their success in the late 1960s and the shelving of the ill-fated Potato Land project earlier in the 1970s; [2] [3] according to Paul Lester, the rapid succession of these four albums over two years was "to the astonishment of their small but fanatical following." [4] Spirit of '76, Farther Along and Future Games have also been described as California's trilogy of "Time Coast" recordings, released at a time when he eschewed the more hedonistic elements of his lifestyle for a fitness regime. [5]

As Farther Along had been a commercial failure, Future Games was crafted in part as a response. [6] The album is effectively a solo project by California, [7] [8] recorded at Studios 70, Tampa, [9] in a manner likened by critic Steve Burgess of Dark Star magazine to "sitting at home with a console." [8] The record features California's stepfather Ed Cassidy on drums, while Dr. Demento was on hand as an extra presence during the sessions. [3] "Dr. Sardonicus" is credited as producer. [9] According to Phil McMullen, California had been "germinating, hatching and sifting" over the record since his April 1973 sojourn in Hawaii, where he subsequently moved to. [7] The musician later expressed dissatisfaction with the album, telling an interviewer in June 1978 that he had not listened to it "for a long time". He added "there was a certain point I reached, while making that album, where I felt that there was a real cosmic type of all-involved great sound to it and then I changed it, y'know, 'cause people were telling me not to do this or not to do that – there were a lot of influences in it..." [8] The record was mastered by Wally Traugott. [9]

Composition

Musical style and themes

Captain Kirk from Star Trek, whose dialogue is sampled on the album. William Shatner as Captain Kirk (1968).JPG
Captain Kirk from Star Trek , whose dialogue is sampled on the album.

A psychedelic album, [10] Future Games features 22 tracks or "song-bites", some as brief as 14 seconds and none no longer than four minutes. [6] [3] The songs are characterised by concise melodies and California's "fizzy, trebly production", [3] with swirling sounds obscuring the music and the consistent use of garbled, distorted vocals. [10] The album's disorientating sound is heightened by the use of sampled dialogue from pop culture detritus, [3] [11] including excerpts of conversation from citizens band radio, [12] 'wireless' script and synchronised snatches of American television and movies, [11] such as taped snippets from Star Trek , which break up the record's melodies. [6] [12] Dark Star characterises the album as "a kaleidoscopic starburst of space music, tone colours, acid whimsy, sound collage and multi-textural guitar rock", [6] while critic Max Bell calls it a conceptually confusing album which blends Spirit's "Hendrix meets Zappa" elements into "22 tracks of interwoven dementia". [11]

California's interests in science fiction and Hawaii are present on the album, [13] which is partly based on The Urantia Book (1955), a tome which contends that Earth's true name is Urantia and that "the planet is part of a larger galactic federation called Uversa." [12] Lester wrote that California used science fiction "as a means to express his own altered state" and that the use of such themes was well-timed, as the record's release coincided with that of Star Wars and the then-current public demand for "all things interstellar". He also contends that despite being "weird", the "bright and buoyant" album appeared on paper to be a commercial project, due to it being "a series of infectious pop songs" interlaced with snippets from Star Trek, at the time "the world's biggest TV sci-fi show". [3] Overall, Lester describes the record as "pretty druggy, steeped in FX and episodes of Star Trek," noting the heavy amount of sonic trickery but with California's pop sensibilities intact. [3]

Songs

The album opens with "CB Talk", which features music from a car radio. On "Kahauna Dream", California plays what Bell describes as a "chain of sinuous notes around a framework of bubbling percussion and somnambulant singing." [11] Two collaborations with Kim Fowley, "Buried in My Brain" and "Bionic Unit", are split by a Dr. Demento dialogue sample. [11] "So Happy Now" is a very short song with Beach Boys-style vocals and has been compared to "throwaway moments of bliss" from that group's "Magic Transistor Radio" (1973); it is followed by Spirit's heavy version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", a less faithful cover than California's earlier interpretations of "Hey Joe" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'". [11] Preceded by connecting sound effects, the recording shows the musician moving into "his Jimi Hendrix mode" with expressive guitar lines, but is considered to be uncommercial, as with the following song "Would You Believe?", [13] whose intro features unsettling reverbed voices phased between left and right speakers in a manner comparable to Throbbing Gristle. [13]

Excerpts from Star Trek, especially the body swap-themed episode "Turnabout Intruder", are interspersed heavily throughout the album's second side, although Paramount did not take legal action. [3] [13] "Star Trek Dreaming", "Interlude XM" and "The Romulan Experience" feature the characters of Bones and Captain Kirk. [11] Written by Cassidy, "China Doll" is relatively straightforward, while "Detroit City" is a tribute to Cobo Hall. [11] "Freakout Frog", which has drawn comparison to Richard Meltzer, samples Kermit the Frog of the Muppets and features a "zonked lyric" working incongruently against the riff, while "Monkey See Monkey Do" uses Ronettes-style echo and back-up vocals from Kaptain Kopter and Terry Anderson. [11] According to critic Joe Viglione, it is "a fusion of nutiness and pop that sounds inspired by drugs and a Dr. Demento programme". [13] The final track, "The Journey Nomad", is a protest song about the Cold War and was co-written by California with Tom Hall. [11]

Release and promotion

Future Games was released in April 1977 by Mercury Records; [14] it was Spirit's final album for the label. [15] The sleeve was designed by Joe Kotleba with photography from Hauser and D'Orio; [9] on the front cover, California is photographed naked from the waist up, pulling a macho guitar pose that has been compared to Ted Nugent, [3] [11] while on the back cover, he is depicted half-naked in what Viglione calls "a blatant and egotistical move, almost claiming that he is Spirit." [13] As Viglion highlights, the back cover also gives "thank you" messages to Dr. Demento and Anderson, but not to Gene Roddenberry. [13] Future Games was commercially unsuccessful, [3] failing to chart in either the US or UK. [14] In May 1977, "All Along the Watchtower" was released as a single with "Further Along" as its B-side; this also failed to chart. [3] Following the album's release, Spirit headlined a tour of the United Kingdom, with the Police as support. [16] In August 1977, the original Spirit line-up reunited for a one-off concert which ended acrimoniously when Neil Young, who joined the band for their encore of "Like a Rolling Stone", was knocked off stage by California. [15]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [18]
The Great Rock Discography 4/10 [14]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [19]

In a contemporary review for New Musical Express , Bell deemed Future Games to be Spirit's weirdest and most impenetrable release, featuring "a myriad of sound, effect and stone beauty in composition" that almost result in a 1970s equivalent to Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (1968). He wrote that, unlike the "flashbacks" that constitute the previous two Spirit albums, Future Games is "solid window pane" that openly disregards standard rock techniques, which is why listeners do not "decipher the solos" or follow Cassidy's drumming, and concluded that: "Hearing is believing that Randy California has tripped out on his own genius. Again. If I had my way I'd make you buy this record." [11] Walrus reviewed their album in their section on LPs they consider to "have an extra edge" and commented: "Making it with minimums is a high art. Randy California has developed the ability to suspend sound portraits across a wall using lovely melodies and marvelous images. He creates his own space, he is very conceptual." [20]

Less favorably, Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone opined that Future Games deserved to be the "last freakout" by the "noble post-psychedelic" band and added: "The way some of these aging hippies hang around, it's not hard to see why they believe in reincarnation". [21] Carol Clerk of the Gazette and Post stated that while Spirit were among the late 1960s' most important and innovative groups, they had become "a parody of their former selves", criticizing them for wasting their talents by delving deeper into psychedelia, a style she deemed to have "long gone", instead of "moving ahead and making what would probably be a worthwhile contribution to contemporary music." Clerk believed "nostalgic hippies" would prefer Steve Hillage and dismissed the album for resembling what "the BBC sound effects department might dream up to accompany a film or play about the old days in Haight-Ashbury." [10]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Viglione wrote that although, as with California's best work, the album contains "flashes of inspiration and brilliance", such as the title track, overall it was a "good, but not great record". He believed that removing the Star Trek samples would have led to "a collector's item" of more interest. [13] Reviewing it for the "hidden treasures" column in The Guardian , Lester called it "a masterpiece" that, despite its "canny appreciation of the late-1970s zeitgeist", failed to grip the public. He opined that "Monkey See Monkey Do", "China Doll" and "Freakout Frog" resemble "Top 10 smashes in that alternative reality where Todd Rundgren was a True Star, although only a madman, or a genius, would throw away a melody as sublime as 'So Happy Now' in a quarter of a minute. Still, that's probably why California was never that popular – more of a delusional populist. It also explains why Future Games still sounds like the future, 36 years on." [3]

Legacy

Lester states that as Future Games is composed of television and film samples, it is arguably "the first collage-pop album", predating Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981). He also contends that, as an early 1977 release, Future Games "now seems incredibly punk", citing its short songs, succinct melodies, do-it-yourself ethos and extremely applied "notions of individualism and non-conformity", likening it sound to a fusion of the Ramones with the "spaced-out freakiness" of the Grateful Dead. [3] In Uncut , he had drawn attention to California's "liquid fretwork" and described the album as "a masterpiece of sci-fidelia, The Prisoner on plastic". [6] Phil McMullen of Ptolemaic Terrascope considers Future Games to be a "masterpiece" and "near-solo conceptual kaleidoscope", and argues that it matches Spirit of '76 as one of California's finest albums, [7] while Steve Burgess of Dark Star has called it a "radical album by anyone's standards". [8] Ian MacDonald cites Future Games as the zany album that completes Spirit's mid-70s oeuvre and calls it "a genially impenetrable jeu d'esprit harking back to Spirit of 76 in its loose, freeflowing, impressionistic ethos." [12]

Track listing

All songs written by Randy California except where noted. [22]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."CB Talk" 0:42
2."Stars Are Love" 2:29
3."Kahauna Dream" 2:44
4."Buried in My Brain"California, Fowley, Blair Mooney, Carla Savage2:55
5."Bionic Unit"California, Fowley, Mooney2:52
6."So Happy Now" 0:19
7."All Along the Watchtower" Bob Dylan 4:27
8."Would You Believe" 3:13
9."Jack Bond Speaks"California, Burt Shonberg1:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Star Trek Dreaming" 2:16
11."Interlude XM" 0:26
12."China Doll"California, Cassidy2:00
13."Hawaiian Times" 0:10
14."Gorn Attack"Timothy Blanton, California2:10
15."Interlude 2001" 0:25
16."Detroit City"California, Cassidy3:55
17."Freakout Frog"California, Cassidy1:57
18."The Romulan Experience" 0:57
19."Monkey See, Monkey Do" 1:39
20."Mt. Olympus" 0:25
21."The Journey of Nomad"California, Tom Hall2:30
22."Ending" 3:50

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes of Future Games [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy Travis</span> American country and gospel singer (born 1959)

Randy Bruce Traywick, known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and charted over 50 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including sixteen that reached the number-one position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spirit (band)</span> American rock band founded in 1967

Spirit was an American rock band founded in 1967 and based in Los Angeles. Their most commercially successful single in the United States was "I Got a Line on You". They were also known for their albums, including their self-titled debut album, The Family That Plays Together, Clear, and Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel California</span> 1977 single by Eagles

"Hotel California" is a song by American rock band Eagles, released as the second single of their album of the same name on February 22, 1977. The song was written by Don Felder (music), Don Henley, and Glenn Frey (lyrics), featuring Henley on lead vocals and concluding with an iconic 2 minute and 12 seconds long electric guitar solo performed by Felder with a Gibson Les Paul Gibson EDS-1275 double neck and Joe Walsh with a Fender Telecaster, in which they take turns playing the lead before harmonizing and playing arpeggios together towards the fade-out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oh My Darling, Clementine</span> 1884 American western folk ballad

"Oh, My Darling Clementine" is a traditional American, tragic but sometimes comic, Western folk ballad in trochaic meter usually credited to Percy Montross (1884), although it is sometimes credited to Barker Bradford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randy California</span> American guitarist and singer (1951–1997)

Randy Craig Wolfe, known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967.

<i>Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus</i> 1970 studio album by Spirit

Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is the fourth album by the American rock band Spirit. It was produced by David Briggs, who is best known for his work with Neil Young. The original LP was released in November 1970 by Epic. The band's lowest charting album to that point, it peaked at #63 on the Billboard 200 in February 1971, spending only fourteen weeks on the chart. However, it sold well as a catalog item and became the band's only album to ultimately attain a RIAA gold certification in the U.S., achieving that status in 1976. On the Canadian RPM Magazine Top 100 charts, the album reached #49 and was in the top 100 for 10 weeks.

<i>Clear</i> (Spirit album) 1969 studio album by Spirit

Clear is the third studio album by American rock band Spirit. It was released in August 1969 by Ode Records.

Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Bologna</span> 1979 single by "Weird Al" Yankovic

"My Bologna" is the debut single by American musical parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic, originally released in December 1979. It is a parody of the Knack's hit song "My Sharona". Yankovic originally wrote the lyrics while he attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California; the original version of the parody was recorded in a bathroom across the hall from the campus radio station, KCPR, at which Yankovic had worked as a DJ. The title refers to Bologna sausage, specifically the Oscar Mayer brand popular in the United States. Yankovic sent "My Bologna" to Dr. Demento, who aired the song on his nationwide radio program, The Dr. Demento Show. The song was a hit on the program, and eventually gained the number one spot on Dr. Demento's "Funny Five" countdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebop Kwaku Baah</span> Ghanaian musician

Anthony "Rebop" Kwaku Baah was a Ghanaian percussionist who worked with the 1970s rock groups Traffic and Can.

<i>Quark, Strangeness and Charm</i> 1977 studio album by Hawkwind

Quark, Strangeness and Charm is the seventh studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1977. It spent six weeks on the UK Albums Chart peaking at number 30.

<i>Spirit of 76</i> (album) 1975 studio album by Spirit

Spirit of '76, released in May 1975, was the first of four albums that Spirit would (initially) release for Mercury Records, and their sixth album overall. Though all four albums were greatly influenced by the time that Randy California spent living in Hawaii, this album bears that influence more than any of the others. Though it was largely ignored upon its first release, many fans consider it to be one of Spirit's best albums.

<i>Son of Spirit</i> 1975 studio album by Spirit

Son of Spirit was the second album that Spirit released through Mercury Records, and their seventh album overall. It was released in October 1975. Unlike Spirit of '76, however, it did not make the national charts.

<i>Farther Along</i> (Spirit album) 1976 studio album by Spirit

Farther Along was the third album that Spirit released through Mercury Records, and their eighth album overall. Though Jay Ferguson was missing from the lineup, it is generally considered to be their first "reunion" album.

<i>The Thirteenth Dream</i> 1984 studio album by Spirit

The Thirteenth Dream was the second "reunion" album from Spirit, and their eleventh album overall. It features re-recordings of seven of their best-loved tracks, along with three new songs. The most noteworthy things that can be said about the album are in regard to the excellent fidelity of the album, as it was originally recorded by an audiophile label and is an early digital recording, and that it was the first Spirit album to be released on CD, as it appeared in that format from Mercury Records in West Germany in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Love L.A.</span> 1983 song by Randy Newman

"I Love L.A." is a song by Randy Newman. It was originally released on his 1983 album Trouble in Paradise. The song is about Los Angeles, California, and its hook is its title, repeated, each time followed by an enthusiastic crowd cheering, "We love it!"

<i>Call of the Wild</i> (Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes album) 1973 studio album by Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes

Call of the Wild is the fifth studio album by The Amboy Dukes, credited as "Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes", released in 1973.

The Firm was a British music act, formed by guitarist, session musician and music producer John O'Connor, which had hits in the 1980s with novelty songs.

<i>Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds</i> 1972 studio album by Randy California

Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds is a 1972 studio album by Randy California.

"Silly" is a song written by Fritz Baskett, Clarence McDonald and Deniece Williams and performed by Williams. The soulful ballad was released off Williams' My Melody album in 1981 and became the most successful track off the album reaching as high as number fifty-three on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming an even bigger success on the R&B chart where it peaked at number eleven. It has since gone on to become one of Williams' most requested songs over a career that has spanned over thirty years. The song featured production by Williams and respected Philly soul producer Thom Bell. The song was recorded at Philadelphia's acclaimed Sigma Sound Studios. The song would be later covered by singer Taral Hicks nearly two decades later in 1997 and was released as the second single off Hicks' debut album becoming a hit on the R&B chart.

References

  1. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries Third Series: Sound Recordings. United States: Library of Congress. Copyright Office. 1978. p. 580. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Bell, Max (June 18, 2014). "California Dreaming: The Wild and Tragic Story of Spirit". Classic Rock. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Lester, Paul (5 March 2013). "Hidden treasures: Spirit – Future Games". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Lester, Paul (March 2004). "Spirit: Spirit of '76". Uncut. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ Bell, Max (March 1997). "Randy California". Mojo. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Lester, Paul (July 1997). "Spirit: The Mercury Years". Uncut. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 McMullen, Phil (March 1997). "An Appreciation Of The Career Of Randy California, Who Died On January 2nd, 1997". Ptolemaic Terrascope. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Burgess, Steve (June 1978). "Spirit: From The Time Coast — Randy California Interviewed". Dark Star. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Future Games (liner). Spirit. Mercury Records. 1977.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. 1 2 3 Clerk, Carol (June 16, 1977). "Sounds Around". Gazette and Post. Acton: 11. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Bell, Max (March 19, 1977). "Spirit: Future Games — A Magical Kahauna Dream (Mercury Import)". New Musical Express. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  12. 1 2 3 4 MacDonald, Ian (2003). "The Elusive Spirit". The People's Music. London: Pimlico. p. 165. ISBN   9781844130931 . Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Viglione, Joe. "Future Games: A Magical-Kahauna Dream Review by Joe Viglione". AllMusic. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Strong, Martin C. (2006). "Spirit". The Great Rock Discography. Edinburgh: Canongate Books. pp. 1, 015–1, 016. ISBN   1-84195-827-1.
  15. 1 2 Tobler, John (2000). "Spirit". Rock's Backpages. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ Neyland-Francis, Patrick (1999). "Spirit". In Buckley, Jonathan; Duane, Orla; Ellingham, Mark; Spicer, Al (eds.). The Rough Guide to Rock (2nd ed.). London: Rough Guides. pp. 936–937. ISBN   1-85828-457-0.
  17. ↑ Allmusic review
  18. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1997). "Spirit". Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London: Virgin Books. p. 1,121. ISBN   1-85227 745 9.
  19. ↑ The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 661.
  20. ↑ "New Releases" (PDF). Walrus: 30. February 16, 1977. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  21. ↑ Marsh, Dave (March 19, 1977). "Record reviews (Rolling Stone)". The Morning Record and Journal: A 7.
  22. ↑ "Spirit – Future Games (A Magical-Kahauna Dream) (1977, Vinyl)". Discogs . 1977.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.