| Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Spirit | ||||
| Released | November 1970 | |||
| Recorded | April–October 1970 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, Jazz rock | |||
| Length | 38:58 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Producer | David Briggs | |||
| Spirit chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| Christgau | B link |
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is the fourth album by the psychedelic rock ensemble Spirit. Produced by David Briggs, who is best known for his work with Neil Young. The original LP was released in 1970 by Epic.
The album was re-issued on CD in 1996 by Sony in remastered form, with bonus tracks.
Contents |
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is a sci-fi-based, loose concept album. The album's second song is the key track "Nature's Way", the most notable hit (along with "I've Got a Line on You" – #28 in Canada) the band would ever produce. "Mr. Skin" also became a hit single in the U.S., three years after the album's release. The album also includes several other less well-known tunes which are considered to have had an impact on the genre of experimental rock in the United States.
The album influenced many other groups—the track "Morning Will Come" presaged the emerging glam rock trend and sounds strikingly similar to the music of Marc Bolan and T. Rex, and the piano figure that opens the instrumental track "Space Child" closely resembles the piano intro of the 1978 Steely Dan hit "FM". A modern nod to Spirit was given by Sam Beam of lo-fi indie band Iron and Wine. The breakdown in "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" matches that in "Prelude-Nothing to Hide".
Just as in previous attempts, Spirit fused aspects of jazz and folk together with their traditional rock stylings, but also introduced added elements of space rock, or popular music's science-fiction subset. This innovative LP is also notable as one of the first rock albums to use the newly-developed Moog synthesizer.
Nick Tosches in Rolling Stone felt that despite some shortcomings the record was a "blockbuster". [1]
All songs written by Randy California except noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Prelude – Nothin' to Hide" | 3:41 | |
| 2. | "Nature's Way" | 2:30 | |
| 3. | "Animal Zoo" | Ferguson | 3:20 |
| 4. | "Love Has Found a Way" | California, Locke | 2:42 |
| 5. | "Why Can't I Be Free?" | 1:03 | |
| 6. | "Mr. Skin" | Ferguson | 3:50 |
| 7. | "Space Child" | Locke | 3:26 |
| 8. | "When I Touch You" | Ferguson | 5:35 |
| 9. | "Street Worm" | Ferguson | 3:40 |
| 10. | "Life Has Just Begun" | 3:22 | |
| 11. | "Morning Will Come" | 2:58 | |
| 12. | "Soldier" | 2:43 | |
| 13. | "Rougher Road" †¹" | ||
| 14. | "Animal Zoo (Mono Single Version) †" | Ferguson | |
| 15. | "Morning Will Come (Alternate Mono Mix) †¹" | ||
| 16. | "Red Light Roll On (Additional Single Mix) †" |
¹ - Previously unreleased material
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Billboard 200 | 63 |
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