SPIRIT STILL MOVES THEM : The Quintessential ‘60s Band Reunites for a Free Concert in Mile Square Park

In 1968, when Spirit released its first album, the front cover was a composite of portions of the five members’ faces, combined to form one head.

It was more than just an arresting graphic. According to guitarist Randy California, “The five of us really fit together like five parts of some strange puzzle. Sometimes you can just meet somebody and they’re your soul mate, and that happened with us, where together we became that one incredibly strong force.”

California is hoping that the Spirit reunion Sunday at the KLSX Classic Jam will recapture the group’s old magic, which was indeed one of the more remarkable musical experiences of the ‘60s. Before the term fusion was even applied to music, Spirit was blending rock, jazz, classical, folk, blues and other influences into a style that sounded wholly original.

Bald-pated drummer Ed Cassidy had played jazz most of his life, though he had also done orchestral work and been in the Rising Sons, a seminal L.A. blues group featuring Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal. Keyboardist John Locke also came from a jazz background. Singer Jay Ferguson had studied classical composition, while bassist Mark Andes had played in an early version of the blues group Canned Heat.

California--Cassidy’s stepson--was a rainbow of styles within himself. His uncle owned the legendary folk club the Ash Grove, so the likes of bluesmen Lightnin’ Hopkins and Mance Lipscomb and ace flatpicker Clarence White were frequent house guests, showing the pre-teen player their licks. At 15 he played for three months with a then-undiscovered Jimi Hendrix in New York (Hendrix gave him the last name California. He was born Randy Wolfe). By the time Spirit formed when California was 17, he was mixing Wes Montgomery-like octave jazz lines with some of the most experimental feedback-laden, effects-driven rock playing this side of Hendrix.

Groups didn’t get much more ‘60s than this: They decided to form the band in 1967 after meeting up at a Griffith Park love-in; they lived communally in a house in Topanga Canyon, and California at the time described their music as “our form of love and communication with the universe.”

Fortunately, they had the chops to make you believe it. Both cerebral and sensual, their adventurous music attracted such far-flung fans as Led Zeppelin and French film director Jacques (“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”) Demy, for whom they composed one of the first rock-based soundtracks in “The Model Shop.”

According to the band’s friend and first producer Barry Hansen (better known these days as Dr. Demento), Spirit’s biggest hit--1968’s “I Got a Line on You”--began as an onstage jam at Huntington Beach’s Golden Bear. The group played frequently in the county, from informal Bear gigs where they’d work out new material, to headlining shows at the Anaheim Convention Center.

California and Cassidy still keep a version of Spirit alive, but this Sunday’s show at Mile Square Park will be only the second time all five original members have reunited since disbanding in 1971. Ferguson and Andes formed JoJo Gunne, with Andes going from there to Firefall and his present gig in Heart. Ferguson had a solo career, which yielded the hit “Thunder Island,” and in recent years has done jingle and film score work, including the first “Terminator” film.

California and Cassidy’s present Spirit lineup had played a successful free concert last year for a Philadelphia radio station, whose management team has since moved to KLSX. When they asked the group to perform at the Classic Jam this Sunday, California thought a reunion of the original lineup was due (this year marks the band’s 25th anniversary). The most recent of the group’s reunions, in 1983, had been for a dishearteningly corporate-sounding video-and-album project. “I really believe it’s going to be more of what the original band was about this time,” California says, “That’s what I’m shooting for. This time everyone’s doing it because they want to do it, as opposed to somebody coming in with a bunch of money and trying to resurrect it. At this point in time I think we’re all mature adults and want to maybe relive our youth a little bit and just go for it and have fun.”

Who: Spirit.

When: Sunday Oct. 27, at noon. With the Doobie Bros.

Where: Mile Square Park, 16801 Euclid St., Fountain Valley.

Whereabouts: From the San Diego (405) Freeway, go north on Brookhurst Street, then right on Edinger Avenue. The parking entrance will be on the right.

Wherewithal: Admission is free.

Where to call: (213) 383-4222.