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Spirit — Fresh Garbage
Album: Spirit
Avg rating:
6.7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1345









Released: 1968
Length: 3:08
Plays (last 30 days): 4
Fresh garbage
Fresh garbage

Look beneath your lid some morning,
See those things you didn't quite consume
The world's a can for your fresh garbage
Comments (207)add comment
 carmelmike wrote:

fabulous band.  ripped off by Led Zeppelin in stairway to heaven. 



hmmmm.....not according to the courts: 

Led Zeppelin have won the appeal in the copyright case over their signature song, “Stairway to Heaven.” On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2016 decision that “Stairway” did not infringe on Spirit's 1968 instrumental track, “Taurus,” and in doing so upended a long-standing copyright precedent

but they sure sound similar! 
Haven't heard this in a long long time.  I've always loved the beat and the cool changes.  Its recovered nicely from the 70s radio overplay.
fabulous band.  ripped off by Led Zeppelin in stairway to heaven. 
 bdwhitepm wrote:

Check out the book "Sounds Like Teen Spirit"  by Tim English.   The world is full of "borrowed"  lines and melodys.  The truth is there are only so many notes and combos.  Its inevitable.



Art feeds on art.... another good book: Steal Like an Artist.
hearing some Wishbone Ash here..prob. visa versa.
So I thought I was going to hear Pink's Feel Good Time from the OST of Charlies Angles Full Throttle.
 
Check out the book "Sounds Like Teen Spirit"  by Tim English.   The world is full of "borrowed"  lines and melodys.  The truth is there are only so many notes and combos.  Its inevitable.
Now ..this is Music!
 carmelmik wrote:


it's a shame that the crooked courts ruled in the favor of Led Zeppelin when it is so obvious they stole it from Randy California.  Bad courts then, bad courts now.

Would you like some cheese with that whine in tinfoil?
 itsme_bygolly wrote:

I think "Stairway to Heaven" is Spirit's best original.



it's a shame that the crooked courts ruled in the favor of Led Zeppelin when it is so obvious they stole it from Randy California.  Bad courts then, bad courts now.
This is why I donate to RadioParadise. Thanks team! 
I think "Stairway to Heaven" is Spirit's best original.
 Highlowsel wrote:
  
Yeah....sigh....it is more true today.  I've seen that gyre.  It's......impressive. 

Here's something even more impressive.  There are gyres like the one in the Pacific in all the other major oceanic areas, too.  But the most stupendously impressive aspect of all of it is this.  The human species pulls a major portion of its sustenance from those same oceans.  Forgive my "French" but we basically shit where we eat.  Tell me what other animal on this planet does this?  Me thinks we are not so intelligent as we like to think.

So it goes.

Highlow
American Net'Zen





War also distinguishes us from most, along with its sibling Murder.
great band       sad how Randy couldn't prove Led Zeppelin ripped off the beginning of Stairway to Heaven from him
As a 7th grader in 1968, I used to listen to "Subterranean Circus" on Sunday night, which was the "underground" version of  an AM station's usual format.  They used to play this song and it sounded like the coolest, most psychedelic sound I had heard up to that point.
Thanks for the memory.
This song grabbed me on the first listen in 1974.  (I'm a late bloomer.)  How could you not like a good rock intro with a stone-cold jazz piano solo in the middle?
 BBoyes wrote:
"The world's a can for your fresh garbage"... hmmm, sadly as true today as it was in 1968.

garbage patches in ocean 

 
Yeah....sigh....it is more true today.  I've seen that gyre.  It's......impressive. 

Here's something even more impressive.  There are gyres like the one in the Pacific in all the other major oceanic areas, too.  But the most stupendously impressive aspect of all of it is this.  The human species pulls a major portion of its sustenance from those same oceans.  Forgive my "French" but we basically shit where we eat.  Tell me what other animal on this planet does this?  Me thinks we are not so intelligent as we like to think.

So it goes.

Highlow
American Net'Zen



 Proclivities wrote:

He died about 20 years ago.

 
Tragic accident - drowned while saving his son from a rip current. It was covered in the surfing mags at the time and I remember being shocked by the news.
 buddy wrote:
Ironically, a bit of fresh air in my day today.

 
Terri Gross?{#Beat}
 joelbb wrote:
Hey Bill, where is Randy California today?
 
He died about 20 years ago.
Hey Bill, where is Randy California today?
This band was WAY ahead of its time.
Ironically, a bit of fresh air in my day today.
 Nice comment!  I like 'Nature's Way' also, another Spirit song.

wgsu_1978 wrote:
Still the best environmentally conscious RnR tune out there.

 


This song makes me feel like this:

  
One of the best opening bands in Fillmore West history. And few people know that Randy California was pretty much discovered (and named) by Jimi Hendrix. In fact, prior to the Experience, Randy California was in a Hendrix band and was asked to go to England with him but was only 17 yrs old at the time and his parents nixed the idea.
Beepn' Beep I had no idea there was so much more to this band than lurid Led Zep stories  cheers bill n beck
Love fresh garbage! {#Wave}
one of the strangest lyrics on Consumerism
Still the best environmentally conscious RnR tune out there.
This is good   do bop wop  a pop 
 gwyllwm wrote:
Great song from a fabulous band.

 
couldn't agree more!!!!{#Cheers}
Great song from a fabulous band.
"The world's a can for your fresh garbage"... hmmm, sadly as true today as it was in 1968.

garbage patches in ocean 
Courageous.
Love John Locke's piano. Great song, great album, great times.
 DanFHiggins wrote:

Say it ain't so. Partied while working.??? How in the world did you accomplish that?  {#Think}

 
You're kind of right I suppose, hmmm it's after 5 isn't it, where's that little stash of magic mahoo-viss (hoooooooooooooooooooooop : )
ppphheeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! ahhhhh    peace DanFHiggins!!! 
OMG I'd forgotten all about this group.  So much great music and not enough neural activity nor brain space to store it {#Bananajam}
Certainly an apt song title, though after all these decades, it's gotten even more ripe.
Takes me back to 1969... Nice flashback :)
Nice! Well I remember jamming to this and other Spirit songs on some really good 'cid camping by Lizard Head Pass with the bro in '85
Foundational.
 hayduke2 wrote:
more Spirit please!  never enough, especially on misty cool mornings like today... flash back to a job I had as a 17 yr old,drove around with  Larry who had a Dodge van with an 8-track, with only Spirits' 12 Dreams and Neil Young's Harvest, we did household contracting and listened to these classics a real lot, even partyed while "working"

 
Say it ain't so. Partied while working.??? How in the world did you accomplish that?  {#Think}


I'm more than good with anything by this band.  Came across a copy of their greatest hits, and went from there.  What a find!
Righteous cool music!!!  Love when I psd some crappy tune and fantastic pieces like this freshen my senses, awesome man
Zep was known to launch into this during live shows back in the day.

Give "The Dancing Avocado" bootleg a listen. 
{#Drummer}{#Bananapiano}{#Drummer}{#Bananapiano}{#Drummer}  hey man this nice
This sounds more like Spinal Tap than Spinal Tap.
Spirit of 76- one of the undiscovered gems of the last 50 years of music!
more Spirit please!  never enough, especially on misty cool mornings like today... flash back to a job I had as a 17 yr old,drove around with  Larry who had a Dodge van with an 8-track, with only Spirits' 12 Dreams and Neil Young's Harvest, we did household contracting and listened to these classics a real lot, even partyed while "working"
Throwing some love Spirit's way. 
 demenshea wrote:
Wow, a blast from the past.  I shouldn't be surprised to hear this on RP, your taste runs the gamete. I loved these guys, saw them a couple of times and have always had a soft spot for their music.  The were definitely ahead of the time, edging on rock, prog and jazz. Thanks for the reminder of all the crap I shouldn't have done in my youth! {#Zip-lip}
 



Runs the early differentiated fertilized cell cluster? Oh... Gamut!
Bill is such a hippie.


Yay!
Guardian blog...my age of enlightenemnt and where I met Spirit's Fresh Garbage 
https://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/may/11/old-music-spirit-fresh-garbage


Saw these guys at the 2nd Atlanta Pop festival in '70.  The drummer Cassidy played the entire stage, which must have been miked.  A great show, as were those of the Allman Bros. and Hendrix in his last American appearance.  Somehow, Spirit has been forgotten.  But they once definitely were peers of the other two acts.  "Fresh Garbage", their biggest hit, was one of the early ecology tunes, along with "Big Yellow Taxi".
 kurtster wrote:
I remember doing that.  And our parents wondered why it was so hard to wake us up in the morning.

I even still have the actual headphones.  Why, I couldn't tell you, but I know right where they are and could even bust them out and plug them in in just one minute.
 
With a head full of Owsley, listening to ABX on my Koss phones...........

(Terrific concert, incidentally. Saw it with my sis and her boyfriend, the latter who became the former head of ABC Entertainment.)


 demenshea wrote:
Wow, a blast from the past.  I shouldn't be surprised to hear this on RP, your taste runs the gamete. .....
 

{#Lol}
Twelve Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus is also worth remembering and listening to.
Wow, a blast from the past.  I shouldn't be surprised to hear this on RP, your taste runs the gamete. I loved these guys, saw them a couple of times and have always had a soft spot for their music.  The were definitely ahead of the time, edging on rock, prog and jazz. Thanks for the reminder of all the crap I shouldn't have done in my youth! {#Zip-lip}
Wow, sounds like The Doors and Yes all getting high together!
OUTSTANDING! {#Bananajam}MUSIC WAY AHEAD OF ITS TIME!
We'll take it!!  A great splash from the past!
 ce wrote:
Ah, this must be where Pink found that intro.
 
Yep - Jay Ferguson got a writing credit.
It is great to here some Spirit- it has been a long time.
Ah, this must be where Pink found that intro.
 ajlept wrote:

CKLW in Windsor, Ontario (across the river from Detroit) would play all the time on my AM only transistor radio in 1967-68. Then I graduated to WRIF FM. Still on a transistor radio. Had to sneak into the living room at midnight with my Dad's headphones on the family stereo when all were asleep. Stereo headphones were the BOMB back in 1970! My kids today don't have to sneak around for good music listening. Who knows what they're sneaking around for....*nervous chuckle*
 
I remember doing that.  And our parents wondered why it was so hard to wake us up in the morning.

I even still have the actual headphones.  Why, I couldn't tell you, but I know right where they are and could even bust them out and plug them in in just one minute.


Hello Cleveland!
 ajlept wrote:

CKLW in Windsor, Ontario (across the river from Detroit) would play all the time on my AM only transistor radio in 1967-68. Then I graduated to WRIF FM. Still on a transistor radio. Had to sneak into the living room at midnight with my Dad's headphones on the family stereo when all were asleep. Stereo headphones were the BOMB back in 1970! My kids today don't have to sneak around for good music listening. Who knows what they're sneaking around for....*nervous chuckle*
 
I used to listen to CKLW from Cleveland. Great station! 

Great song, so trippy! 
 TerryS wrote:


Inspiration for intro piano licks courtesy of Osibisa?
 

There's a name I haven't heard in a while.  But doesn't this predate Osibisa by a year or two?
GREAT to hear again. Desk dance at the office!
Again, I'm a man of few words, and actions speak louder... SPIRIT, one of the most mystical of the time - thank you.
 boober wrote:

For us "Easteners" that would have been WNEW-FM (New York)
They played everything.....trippy station.

 
CKLW in Windsor, Ontario (across the river from Detroit) would play all the time on my AM only transistor radio in 1967-68. Then I graduated to WRIF FM. Still on a transistor radio. Had to sneak into the living room at midnight with my Dad's headphones on the family stereo when all were asleep. Stereo headphones were the BOMB back in 1970! My kids today don't have to sneak around for good music listening. Who knows what they're sneaking around for....*nervous chuckle*


 Propayne wrote:
John Locke on keyboards.

Lower right hand corner of the album sleeve.

 

Inspiration for intro piano licks courtesy of Osibisa?
John Locke on keyboards.

Lower right hand corner of the album sleeve.

 Odyzzeuz wrote:
I love the Doors.
 

Definitely hearing Ray Manzarek influence in this, too.
truly fresh garbage...........somebody tell my mother.........I died....and went to RadioParadise.com  thank you Bill... Becky   You guys ROCK the Casbah!!!{#Clap}
I'd forgotten the Album Art   sweet  extra touch
 Shawnmcc wrote:
Really?
 
what...you don't like garbage, either?  {#Mad}
love that riff
Really?
paulmack wrote:


I grew up in southern California - essentially all LA then and now - and it was quite a time to be alive and a music lover. I'm not sure there's really been anything like it since. So many bands doing what today would be far outside the mainstream - and still selling albums. And, no, I never knew anyone who thought there was any resemblance between the sound of The Doors and Spirit - nor do I hear any.

You lucky dog (being there, in southern California, at that time), thanks for the backup. Yes, it was "quite a time to be alive and a music lover." To me, it was the best of times.

I love to hear this band although my knowledge of them is merely pedestrian...
 RParadise wrote:


Wow!  I haven't thought of that show in . . . ages and ages.  I grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago and used to listen the Circus on Sunday nights with the lights out and my transister radio turned down low and pressed to one ear under the covers.  I was probably about the same age as you were.  What a time for music.  Who has shows like that on the radio now, outside of public radio?  We've lost a lot of creativity.

All the more reason to appreciate Bill and Rebecca for what they do here.
 
For us "Easteners" that would have been WNEW-FM (New York)
They played everything.....trippy station.

Solid stuff, check out the album "Clear". Thanks for playing anything from Spirit.
 eastwesterner wrote:
Reading through some of the comments, I saw several references to them sounding like the Doors and... are you kidding me? I love the Doors and I love Spirit. As someone who was there when these albums came out, nobody— repeat, nobody— thought they sounded like the Doors. So please, give this excellent group their due.

The thing they have in common is they all come out of the same era and same area (southern California). So yeah, a similar period sound and engineering and stuff, but that's about it. Think of it like this: what if, forty years from now, people were commenting that Wilco sounded like Coldplay?

 

I grew up in southern California - essentially all LA then and now - and it was quite a time to be alive and a music lover. I'm not sure there's really been anything like it since. So many bands doing what today would be far outside the mainstream - and still selling albums. And, no, I never knew anyone who thought there was any resemblance between the sound of The Doors and Spirit - nor do I hear any.
 DaveInVA wrote:
Good stuff! {#Music}
 
{#Motor}
In calm, clear ecstacy...{#Tongue}
Good stuff! {#Music}
As a teenager in the '70s I got "12 Dreams" on vinyl and just fell in love with the band. That was the only album in print at the time and it was quite an adventure searching out their earlier LPs.

Just love that Bill plays them so much. 
 nickhanks wrote:
Wow, this takes me back!  Spirit is one of those groups that never got radio play after they disappeared from the scene.  This is why I like RP.
 
+1

 keller1 wrote:
One of the anomalies of AM radio is that at night you can pick up stations from a long way away.  I lived in Goderich, Ontario, almost two full Great Lakes from Chicago, but one night when I was maybe twelve years old I heard this on Ron Britten's Subterranean Circus on WCFL.  It sounded like nothing else I'd ever heard before, and it was a game changer.
 

Wow!  I haven't thought of that show in . . . ages and ages.  I grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago and used to listen the Circus on Sunday nights with the lights out and my transister radio turned down low and pressed to one ear under the covers.  I was probably about the same age as you were.  What a time for music.  Who has shows like that on the radio now, outside of public radio?  We've lost a lot of creativity.

All the more reason to appreciate Bill and Rebecca for what they do here.
very fresh indeed, but not garbage! Dig this {#Dance}
One of the anomalies of AM radio is that at night you can pick up stations from a long way away.  I lived in Goderich, Ontario, almost two full Great Lakes from Chicago, but one night when I was maybe twelve years old I heard this on Ron Britten's Subterranean Circus on WCFL.  It sounded like nothing else I'd ever heard before, and it was a game changer.


This song take me back to my 20's in my town flat in Edinburgh centre in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. I was just married and Fresh Garbage was one of our favourite tunes. It was included in a compilation LP  and we played it on my brand new stereo which was my pride and joy. Happy days and a bitter sweet memory. Thanks RP.
Reading through some of the comments, I saw several references to them sounding like the Doors and... are you kidding me? I love the Doors and I love Spirit. As someone who was there when these albums came out, nobody— repeat, nobody— thought they sounded like the Doors. So please, give this excellent group their due.

The thing they have in common is they all come out of the same era and same area (southern California). So yeah, a similar period sound and engineering and stuff, but that's about it. Think of it like this: what if, forty years from now, people were commenting that Wilco sounded like Coldplay?

Alwaya loved this album and this group.  Had strong jazz influences which led to some great songs.

As an aside, I use a part of this song for my "empty recycle bin" sound.

I love the Doors.
{#Mrgreen}
Intro was annoying, piano (elec/synth) solo got better, then the rest joined in...  HMMM, not a 2 any more, maybe a 5??
Likely the only song ever covered by both Led Zeppelin and Pink... at least up until this point.

I suspect she'll be covering Bukka White next. 
 ugly wrote:
this is so sophisticated and before it's time I think....
jmho
 
I agree..

Love this song..the bass line after the piano solo with the guys screamin "Yeah".........Yeah!
 jagdriver wrote:


{#Iamwithstupid}   (Where's the keyboard-playing banana?)

 

{#Bananapiano}
Wow, this takes me back!  Spirit is one of those groups that never got radio play after they disappeared from the scene.  This is why I like RP.
{#Drummer}

 jagdriver wrote:
{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}

{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}

 

{#Iamwithstupid}   (Where's the keyboard-playing banana?)

this is so sophisticated and before it's time I think....
jmho
Great song from a great band...ahh the memories..{#Chillpill}
Fascinating...a blend of Doors, Zappa, Rush and others.  Upon hearing it here on RP a 2nd time, I'm a fan.  Nice! {#Yes}
 jagdriver wrote:
Interesting I should hear this today, for I just watched a DVD rental last night of them playing a smallish outdoor gig circa Dr. Sardonicus. Great video, with great sound, and it's very obvious everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves (not always the case with stage performers). Ed Cassidy pounds a mean set of drums; I just had to turn it up and give more boost to the subwoofer. Highly recommended! You'll find it at your favorite mail order rental outfit.

Afterward I looked up Randy California on Wikipedia. I knew he had played with Hendrix at the ripe old age of 15, but hadn't realized he drowned while saving his son. So sad; the guy had gobs of talent!

And while I'm flashbacking, I saw them live with Fever Tree at Detroit's Grande Ballroom during the Pleistocene era...of course I can't remember a whole lot (if you remember the '60s, you weren't there).

 
Wow lol, Fever Tree, hadn't thought about them in ages hmmmm remember their album, now what was on the damn thing, oh wiki here wiki, hell I might have album. And  Ed did play the hell out of the drums and Randy was great guitar player, what a father son team, the really put on a show

Hell yeah. I loved Spirit. Great to hear this song again.


Stephen Marley - Inna Di Red (w/ Ben Harper)    ==>    Spirit - Fresh Garbage    ==>    Kali - Me Ki Sa Oule    ==>   Kirsty MacColl - In These Shoes?    ==>    Los Lobos - La Bamba     ==>   Al DiMeola - Mediterranean Sundance



not only the artists, the radio also has inspiration moments!


 kindermanltd wrote:
Is this the sequel band to the Doors? — "The Doors 2"
 

Nah, these guys leave the Doors for dead!
always liked this band{#Cheers}
{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}{#Bananajam}

{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}{#Drummer}

I'm hearing David St. Hubbins: "It's a rock and roll Cree-ayy-shun!"

no?
 Hannio wrote:


On the other hand, you heard about Mr. Loco long before we did.
 
Long live Mr. Loco! And his wacky cousin!

 healyf52 wrote:
Wow!

I remember my brother with his head underneath our mom's hi-fi unit listening to this album. It looked a little like a coffee table. He got this album as part of a membership deal to one of the music services.

We were completely floored by this record. I was 14 and he was 12.
 
Gee.... I guess you were really floored! Or at least your brother was....

Interesting I should hear this today, for I just watched a DVD rental last night of them playing a smallish outdoor gig circa Dr. Sardonicus. Great video, with great sound, and it's very obvious everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves (not always the case with stage performers). Ed Cassidy pounds a mean set of drums; I just had to turn it up and give more boost to the subwoofer. Highly recommended! You'll find it at your favorite mail order rental outfit.

Afterward I looked up Randy California on Wikipedia. I knew he had played with Hendrix at the ripe old age of 15, but hadn't realized he drowned while saving his son. So sad; the guy had gobs of talent!

And while I'm flashbacking, I saw them live with Fever Tree at Detroit's Grande Ballroom during the Pleistocene era...of course I can't remember a whole lot (if you remember the '60s, you weren't there).

so good to hear them again, and where else but here , of course.
one of the first great environmental rock songs:

Look beneath your lid some morning,
See those things you didn't quite consume
The world's a can for
Your fresh garbage . . .





of which Spirit did a few (Nature's Way comes to mind)