SPIRIT - Feedback - UK Eastworld Edition - LISTEN - OSTATNIE SZTUKI

"Feedback" came out in March 1972 and is probably the most controversial album in Spirit's entire discography. Not because it is particularly strange or experimental. Quite the opposite. It was the first album recorded after the departure of three key members of the band — Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes and Randy California. The album veered towards more down-to-earth American rock, at times even country-rock and classic guitar playing of the early 70s. The problem was that for many fans it no longer sounded like Spirit. The album is not a hidden masterpiece on the level of "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus", but nor is it the catastrophe it has sometimes been made out to be. Had an entirely new band from Los Angeles recorded identical material in 1972, it would probably be remembered as a good, at times very interesting American rock album. As a Spirit record it remains rather a fascinating document of the break-up of a great band and an attempt to find a new path after losing almost all the key creators of its earlier sound.(JL)