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In 2010, Sony presented Spirit's first five albums in a budget-priced box set. There wasn't anything extra, just five albums in a generic-looking slipcase. Great Britain's Esoteric Recordings felt the band deserved better. Spirit's first five albums are also included here with newly remastered sound -- alongside a slew of associated outtakes, singles, and alternate mixes offered in 1991 for Time Circle compilation. They also added the original mono mix of the band's self-titled 1968 debut album, and the group's soundtrack for French writer-director Jacques Demy's 1969 film Model Shop. As most fans know, Spirit's meld of jazz, blues, psychedelia, and pop proved highly influential, but was never quite sustainable commercially. Despite smoking and commercially viable singles such as "Fresh Garbage," "I Got a Line on You," "Uncle Jack," and "Nature's Way," the band's wildly eclectic sound never really connected with the masses. Listening to the band's Ode debut is a case in point. The strange mix of genres, while seamless, was unsettling and more often than not, regarded as dark, mysterious, and brooding -- check "Mechanical World," "Fresh Garbage," and "Taurus." This was enhanced by their appearance in the fragmented cover photo with 17-year-old guitarist Randy California (who'd played with Jimi Hendrix at 16), his stepfather, jazz drummer Ed Cassidy (Roland Kirk, Art Pepper, New Jazz Trio) -- whose waxy-looking bald pate looked downright strange, even in 1967 -- keyboardist John Locke (New Jazz Trio), vocalist Jay Ferguson, and bassist Mark Andes. The released stereo version of the debut album with 1968's The Family That Plays Together -- that netted the hit "I Got a Line on You" -- reveals a tale of two bands: The former seeking to express all the core elements in their sound, and the latter from an outfit that has found a way to make them gel. Disc two opens with the Model Shop soundtrack cut in 1968, followed by the slightly schizophrenic but nonetheless rewarding Clear, which was, in retrospect, deeply influenced by the experience of the film score yet contains some of the band's finest accessible tracks in "Dark-Eyed Woman" "Give a Life, Take a Life, and "New Dope in Town." Disc three contains not only their most commercially successful album in The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, but all of its attendant sessions. Disc four offers the mono mixes of Spirit as well as four bonus cuts from those sessions and Time Circle mixes. The final platter contains eight more Time Circle mixes, assorted outtakes from The Family That Plays Together and Clear, both sides of the "1984" and "Animal Zoo" singles, and other assorted mixes. It's all held together in a handsome clamshell package with a booklet chock-full of photos, liner notes by Malcolm Dome, and archival interviews with California and Cassidy. Though Spirit continued recording and touring in one way or another until California's death in 1997, It Shall Be: The Ode & Epic Recordings is a definitive aural portrait from a band whose influence continues unabated into the 21st century.


CD1
Taken From The Stereo Album 'Spirit'
Released In 1968
01. Fresh Garbage
02. Uncle Jack
03. Mechanical World
04. Taurus
05. Girl In Your Eye
06. Straight Arrow
07. Topanga Windows
08. Gramophone Man
09. Water Woman
10. The Great Canyon Fire In General
11. Elijah
Taken From The Album 'The Family That Plays Together'
Released In 1968 / Original 1968 Stereo Mix
12. I Got A Line On You
13. It Shall Be
14. Poor Richard
15. Silky Sam
16. The Drunkard
17. Darlin' If
18. All The Same
19. Jewish
20. Dream Within A Dream
21. She Smiled
22. Aren't You Glad

CD2
Taken From The Film Soundtrack
'The Model Shop' / Recorded In 1968
01. The Moving Van
02. Mellow Fellow
03. Now Or Anywhere
04. Fog
05. Green Gorilla
06. Model Shop I
07. Model Shop II (Clear)
08. The Rehearsal Theme
09. Song For Lola
10. Eventide
11. Coral
12. Aren't You Glad (Demo)
Taken From The Album 'Clear'
Released In 1969
13. Dark Eyed Woman
14. Apple Orchard
15. So Little Time To Fly
16. Ground Hog
17. Cold Wind
18. Policeman's Ball
19. Ice
20. Give A Life, Take A Life
21. I'm Truckin'
22. Clear
23. Caught
24. New Dope In Town

CD3
Taken From The Album 'The Twelve Dreams
Of Doctor Sardonicus' Released In 1970
01. Prelude - Nothing To Hide
02. Nature's Way
03. Animal Zoo
04. Love Has Found A Way
05. Why Can't I Be Free?
06. Mr Skin
07. Space Child
08. When I Touch You
09. Street Worm
10. Life Has Just Begun
11. Morning Will Come
12. Soldier
Recorded In 1970 During Sessions For
'The Twelve Dreams Of Doctor Sardonicus'
13. Rougher Road
Taken From The Album 'Feedback'
Released In 1972
14. Chelsea Girls
15. Cadillac Cowboys
16. Puesta Del Scam
17. Ripe And Ready
18. Darkness
19. Earth Shaker
20. Mellow Morning
21. Right On Time
22. Trancas Fog-Out
23. Witch

CD4
Taken From The Mono Album 'Spirit'
Released In 1968 Previously Unreleased On CD
01. Fresh Garbage
02. Uncle Jack
03. Mechanical World
04. Taurus
05. Girl In Your Eye
06. Straight Arrow
07. Topanga Windows
08. Gramophone Man
09. Water Woman
10. The Great Canyon Fire In General
11. Elijah
Recorded In 1968 During Sessions For 'Spirit'
12. Veruska
13. Free Spirit
14. If I Had A Woman
15. Elijah (Alternate Take 2)
Taken The 1991 Compilation From 'Time Circle'
16. I Got A Line On You
17. It Shall Be
18. Poor Richard
19. Silky Sam

CD5
Taken The 1991 Compilation From 'Time Circle'
01. Scherozode
02. All The Same
03. A Dream Within A Dream
04. Aren't You Glad
05. Eventide
06. Model Shop Theme
07. Green Gorilla
08. Rehearsal Theme
Recorded In 1968 During Sessions For
'The Family That Plays Together'
09. Fog
10. So Little To Say
11. Mellow Fellow
12. Now Or Anywhere
13. Space Chile
Recorded In 1969 During Sessions For 'Clear'
14. Fuller Brush Man
15. Coral
A & B-Sides Of Singles / Released 1970
16. 1984
17. Sweet Stella Baby
18. Animal Zoo (Mono Single Version)
19. Red Light Roll On