Clear – SPIRIT****

Dark Eyed Woman/Apple Orchard/So Little Time To Fly/Ground Hog/Cold Wind/Policeman’s Ball/Ice/Give A Life Take A Life/I’m Truckin’/Clear/Caught/New Dope In Town

Clear was the third album from the jazz rock group Spirit. By undertaking a tour to promote the album they had to turn down an invitation to appear at the Woodstock festival. (US:55)

“The first half of Clear is covered in hard-rock numbers, like Dark-Eyed Woman and Ground Hog. These songs blare with Hendrix tinged leads, but they have time changes and keyboard solos that add a very sophisticated polish to the tunes. Everything is extremely well thought out. Each song's dynamics unearth themselves with repeated listens; there are layers and layers of sound here. The second half is mainly covered by spacey interludes and jazzy improvisations.”

“Clear is not a good first listen, because the most interesting parts are buried deep within the music, and listeners may have trouble with Spirit's strange musical crossbreeds. But stick with it, and this album will be a fantastic standby for years to come.”

“When I surf the radio waves of today, I thank the gods that bands like this once roamed the earth, and that they left an electric legacy for our modern-day rock & rollstarved souls to continuously rediscover and immerse ourselves in.”

“The music is rock with a touch of jazz, much like Steely Dan. It is well written, well played and packs an emotional punch that blows you all the way back to the 60s. The group is composed of talented musicians from varied backgrounds. Like all great bands, they play as a cohesive musical force that is greater than the individuals that comprise it.”

“This is a very unusual in terms of the number of musical styles that the band covers. But here's the Spirit trademark: everything is played with great passion and respect for those differing styles; within the world of music, such seemingly disparate styles can sometimes meld together with wonderful results. The arrangement of the songs and the contribution of each musician, fit in with the rest of the band and is obviously very well thought out.”

"This was a difficult album to get into. But after years of listening to it you can't help but love it. It does have changing tunes, but that is what made Spirit so great.”