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 (Fabulous) Twirly Birds).
| Feedback | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 1972 | |||
| Recorded | November 1971 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 38:31 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | David Briggs | |||
| Spirit chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   link |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B−[1] |
| Rolling Stone | link |
Feedback reached the same chart position on the U.S. Billboard album charts as its predecessor, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.
Description edit
Feedback was the only Spirit album to feature John and Al Staehely as band members. Musically it was a different turn for the band, in favor of a country influenced hard rock style and lyrics mostly dealing with conventional male-female love topics, with only the tracks "Darkness" and the instrumentals "Puesta Del Scam" and "Trancas Fog-Out" recalling Spirit's earlier psychedelic rock. Although the album was not widely heard in later years, it finally surfaced on compact disc and received some extremely satisfying notices. The Feedback tour saw the remaining original members (Locke and Cassidy) leave the band during the tour, and John and Al Staehely regrouped the band under a new name, Sta-Hay-Lee, recording another album self-titled under the Sta-Hay-Lee name in 1973. John Staehely would later join Jay Ferguson's band Jo Jo Gunne.
Al Staehely, already a lawyer at the time, went on to become a full-time entertainment lawyer.[2]
Track listing edit
All songs written by Al Staehely except noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Chelsea Girls" | 3:38 | |
| 2. | "Cadillac Cowboys" | 3:41 | |
| 3. | "Puesta Del Scam (instrumental)" | Locke | 2:10 |
| 4. | "Ripe and Ready" | 3:53 | |
| 5. | "Darkness" | Locke | 4:59 |
| 6. | "Earth Shaker" | 4:02 | |
| 7. | "Mellow Morning" | Andes, A. Staehely | 2:30 |
| 8. | "Right on Time" | 2:50 | |
| 9. | "Trancas Fog-Out (instrumental)" | Locke | 2:46 |
| 10. | "Witch" | 5:25 | |
| 11. | "New York City †" |
- † - CD bonus track
Personnel edit
Spirit edit
- John Christian Staehely [credited as Chris Staehely] - guitar, backing vocals
- John Locke - keyboards
- Al Staehely - bass, lead vocals
- Ed Cassidy - drums
Production edit
- David Briggs - producer
- David Brown - engineer
Charts edit
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Billboard 200 | 65 |
References edit
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: S". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 13, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ "Al Staehely". music-lawyer.com. Retrieved 2009-10-22.