Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne

Jo Jo Gunne were one of the first bands to be signed by Asylum and their first single, "Run, Run, Run" was a big hit, especially in the UK. I loved them. One of the reasons I took note of Eagles was because they were on the same record label. I thought "Take it Easy" was going to be a cover of the Jo Jo Gunne song of the same name.

Meanwhile, my older brother acquired a second-hand copy of Spirit's "Twelve Dreams of Dr Sardonicus" and that was even better. What links the two are Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes.

So today, I came across a couple of Redbeard interviews with Jay Ferguson and they're great. In the first, he talks about Spirit, an LA progressive band from the late sixties which had a fusion of folk, jazz and rock&roll. In the second, he talks about how he and Mark Andes wanted to play more rock&roll and broke off to form their own band.

http://www.inthestudio.net/online-on...s/spirit-best/

http://www.inthestudio.net/online-on...-jay-ferguson/

Mark Andes went on to play for Firefall and Heart. Ferguson went solo for a bit (produced by Bill Symzyck) before going into film an tv soundtracks.

This is probably Randy California's best know song with Spirit. I always thought it was from a later incarnation of the band but it seems that it originally had problems because of the political nature of the lyrics and didn't get a proper release until after Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes had left.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckyLi_C0lso[/ame]

It had me thinking of this quote about David Geffen:

Quote:

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"David took the crème de la crème from that scene," says Eve Babitz, "and signed them on the basis of their cuteness."

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Did the cuteness of Ferguson (tamboreen) and Andes (bass) have anything to do with him signing Jo Jo Gunne?

Interesting - thanks for posting!

I'm bumping this, because Funk50 says he's a fan of Spirit.

Also, I think I've heard Don (Henley) talking about being in a band that played covers and having to play "Got a Line on You" which I assume is the Spirit song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en55_U3sKAM

Well thanks UTW, the title certainly attracted my attention.

After buying all Joe's albums, I started investigating The Eagles, The James Gang and Joe's close allies, such as Joe Vitale and Jay Ferguson. Bill Szymczyk loves Jay's first solo album, All Alone In The End Zone. I initially, didn't think much of it but I've never stopped listening to it and I love all Jay's albums now.

Discovering Jay as a keyboardist on a couple of Walsh albums, I was stunned that he'd been the lead singer of a fabulous 60s group and that he has a few monster hits in his back catalog. Run,Run,Run and Got A Line On You are great.

Spirit are one of those bands that the more I heard, the more I liked. I wasn't as keen on Jo Jo Gunne, not as eclectic as Spirit but after getting their reunion album, Big Chain, which I enjoyed, I'm got more into their early stuff.

If Joe ever returns to Ringo Starr's All Starr Band, Jay Ferguson would be my first choice as the keyboard player/percussionist. with hits.

I'm in suggestible mood today because it only takes the mention of the lovely Jay Ferguson for me to head off to youtube.

There's an Eagles connection with this one, as in some interview Don Henley spoke about having to play "I got a line on you" at frat parties. I assume he meant the Spirit song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjKTPh2FEqk

Fresh Garbage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIV6qEnZf_0

I was looking for the clip of Jo Jo Gunne's appearance on Top of the Pops but this will have to do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqYYhbDbnsI

I'm also remembering why my friend and I were so taken with Jo Jo Gunne in the days when you propped the album cover in front of you when listening to the music.
http://i1060.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4ujziajc.jpg

And yet more! Here's a poor quality interview with Mark Andes where he talks about Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne and Heart. He says that he and Jay left Spirit because of Randy California's instability and that he was fired from Jo Jo Gunne on the first tour because the others didn't like his girlfriend.

Thanks for those clips UTW, really enjoyed viewing them.

What a bassist Mark Andes is. Success with one band is a dream come true but Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall and Heart is one helluva CV.

The last I heard, Mark was playing Bass in the late, Ian McLagan's band.

I wish Spirit had Irving as manager. I can't believe such a great band struggled to get any success in their time.

I was surprised to learn that Mark Andes was briefly in Canned Heat, before Spirit.

The Spirit manager was Lou Adler but he doesn't seem to have done much for them. Jo Jo Gunne were signed to Asylum but were they managed by Geffen-Roberts?

OT: I was sitting in an airport yesterday and Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island" starts playing. I've loved this song for decades; it was a big hit in '78. Only yesterday it occurs to me during the guitar solo, "Damn, that sounds just like Joe Walsh." And so it was. Joe was so productive.