| Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1972 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Studio | Larrabee, Sunwest and Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Length | 40:26 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | Kapt. Kopter (Robin Wolfe, Randy California) | |||
| Randy California chronology | ||||
| ||||
Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds is a 1972 studio album by Randy California.
This album was recorded and released following Randy California's departure from Spirit. Spirit's fourth LP, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus , reached the charts but took an inordinate amount of time to receive attention (the album would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA in 1976). As a result, Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes departed Spirit to form Jo Jo Gunne with Andes' brother Matt (whose slide guitar work had previously appeared in "Prelude: Nothin' to Hide" on the Sardonicus album) and drummer Curly Smith.
Following the departure of Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes in early 1971, Spirit recruited John Arliss (and later John Fine) on bass and resumed playing live shows in March 1971. [1] Randy California, however, was also growing disenchanted in Spirit and left the band in July 1971, along with bassist John Fine. They were replaced by brothers Al and John Staehely (on bass and guitar, respectively), and Spirit went on to record Feedback without Randy. [1] [2]
Randy spent much of his time afterwards in jam sessions with various musicians in Topanga Canyon clubs, particularly a club known as The Corral. Some of the musicians who appeared in these jam sessions, along with Noel Redding (under the pseudonym 'Clit McTorius'), Leslie Sampson (the drummer from Noel's band Road, under the pseudonym 'Henry Manchovitz') and Ed Cassidy (as 'Cass Strange'), would end up working with Randy when he started recording solo material in 1972. [2] The resulting album featured numerous covers of the works of contemporary acts such as the Beatles and James Brown, with less emphasis upon original material by Randy. The album was also heavily influenced by the death of Jimi Hendrix in 1970, who had been friends with Randy since they played together in Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B [4] |
| Classic Rock |   [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
On November 7, 1972, shortly after the album's release, Epic released a promotional-only single to radio stations. Reflecting the album's division between covers and original material, the single featured a cover of Rufus Thomas' "Walkin' the Dog" on one side and an original by Randy entitled "Live for the Day" on the opposite side (neither song was released on the original album). Neither the album or the single were commercially successful.
Randy convened a touring band during the same period under the Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds moniker. The group, which featured Ed Cassidy on drums and Larry "Fuzzy" Knight on bass, supported the album by playing shows around the Los Angeles area, including a few performances for the radio station KPFK. Several months after the album's release, this group would tour Europe as Spirit under pressure from booking agents who wanted to capitalize on Spirit's name and were not interested in Randy's solo work. [7]
Critical opinions of the album are mixed. William Ruhlmann, reviewing the album for AllMusic, wrote that the cover songs "became almost unrecognizable frames for California's improvisations. At least the covers were actual songs, which was more than you could say for the originals", before concluding that "Kapt. Kopter ended up proving that California was not ready to be promoted from a group guitarist who sang and wrote occasionally." [3] However, Robert Christgau stated that, while he did not have a passion for "sheer dense weirdness", the album's "tunefully distorted guitar (and vocal) showcase will grow on you if you give it half a chance". [4] Gavin Martin of Classic Rock in his positive review remarks how the album reflects the strong spiritual and musical connection with Jimi Hendrix, although California shows here an "individual, densely layered" sensibility which puts him "several light years ahead of the pack." [5]
Despite the album's critical reception, there has been enough continuing interest in the album to warrant numerous LP and CD reissues. The initial CD release of this album by Edsel Records contained both tracks from the promotional single that Epic released in 1972. The later CD reissues by Sony Music and Acadia also feature these tracks along with an additional instrumental track entitled "Rebel".
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Downer" | Randy California | 5:36 |
| 2. | "Devil" | California | 4:13 |
| 3. | "I Don't Want Nobody" | James Brown | 4:25 |
| 4. | "Day Tripper" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | 3:00 |
| 5. | "Mother and Child Reunion" | Paul Simon | 2:51 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Things Yet to Come" | Victor Keith Phillips, Lenny Lee Goldsmith | 8:12 |
| 7. | "Rain" | Lennon, McCartney | 8:38 |
| 8. | "Rainbow" | California | 3:31 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "Walkin' the Dog" | Rufus Thomas | 3:01 |
| 10. | "Live for the Day" | California | 3:23 |
| 11. | "Rebel" | California | 4:21 |
David Noel Redding was an English rock musician, best known as the bass player for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and guitarist/singer for Fat Mattress.
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.
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.
Edward Claude Cassidy was an American jazz and rock drummer who was one of the founders of the rock group Spirit in 1967.
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.
The Family That Plays Together is the second album by the American rock band Spirit. It was released by Ode Records in December 1968. It was voted number 575 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).
Spirit is the debut studio album by American rock band Spirit, released on January 22, 1968 by Ode Records. The album was commercially successful, spending more than six months on the Billboard album charts, peaking at #31. It was voted number 658 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).
Clear is the third studio album by American rock band Spirit. It was released in August 1969 by Ode Records.
Rapture in the Chambers is the 12th album by Spirit.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It was released in the United Kingdom by Island Records in November 1970, and in the United States by Cotillion Records in January 1971. After the group formed in the spring of 1970, they entered rehearsals and prepared material for an album which became a mix of original songs and rock arrangements of classical music. The album was recorded at Advision Studios in July 1970, when the band had yet to perform live. Lead vocalist and bassist/guitarist Greg Lake produced it.
Feedback is the fifth album by the rock band Spirit. Released in 1972, it was the first Spirit album without original members Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes, and it was also the only Spirit album that did not feature Randy California performing on it, as California had left the group to pursue a solo career (Kapt. Kopter and the Twirly Birds).
Smash Hits is a compilation album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Track Records first issued it on April 12, 1968, in the UK and included all four of the group's singles released up to that time, plus four additional songs from the UK edition of Are You Experienced.
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.
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.
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.
Mark Andes is an American musician, known for his work as a bassist with Canned Heat, Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, and Mirabal.
Hooteroll? is a jazz-rock fusion album by Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia.
Road was an American hard rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1970. Comprising bassist/vocalist Noel Redding, guitarist/vocalist Rod Richards and drummer/vocalist Leslie Sampson, the band released one album, Road, in 1972.
The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter & Commander Cassidy in Potato Land was originally recorded by Randy California and Ed Cassidy during the 1972/73 hiatus period of Spirit. A concept album of sorts, interspersed with dialogue, its original scheduled release in May 1973 was cancelled by Epic Records. It was eventually released in an abridged form in 1981, with the first half as new recordings and the second comprising original recordings remixed with overdubs. A reworked and fuller version, still somewhat erroneously credited to Spirit, was released in 2006 and remains available as The Original Potato Land.
California Blues is the 14th and last studio album of the band Spirit, due to the death of guitarist/singer/songwriter Randy California one month after its release.
