12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Spirit? I got it the other day for $7. It's worth at least twice that, plus it has 3 bonus tracks these days, so there's 16 songs. Just bought it based on the tripped out cover, but it was a good purchase. Kind of like MC5 meets Love.

Opinions?

― Scaredy Cat, Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

WHOOPS! I meant it has 4 bonus songs, not 3.

― Scaredy Cat, Saturday, 5 April 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Spirits no Bloodrock dude....er?

― SplendidMullet (iamamonkey), Saturday, 5 April 2003 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Classic record: from Ira Cohen cover art (saint that man right now) to some of the best psych fall-out worship ever. And in "Nature's Way" they wrote one bona fide truly great song.

But beyond that I can't say any more: my vinyl copy disappeared many years ago ...

― JonDale, Saturday, 5 April 2003 08:14 (twenty-two years ago)

A great album it is, certainly

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 5 April 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I love this album too, I must give it a play again.'Fresh Garbage' is also a great Spirit track.

― Paul R (paul R), Saturday, 5 April 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the first 4 srpirit albums are all essential. their whole thang is just so good & nice & happiness-making that it always amazes me that so few people have heard them. "12 dreams" is a lovely rekkid, sure, but "the family that plays together" is even better imo. Really, you can get these rekkids on sony reissue w/loads of really good extra cutz for almost no money at all. It's worth picking them up 0n spec even if u just think you might like them.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 5 April 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"srpirit?" gah. you know what i mean...

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 5 April 2003 19:57 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

'The 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus' is a really good album.

Two things struck me when I was listening to it tonight. "When I Touch You" is what Soundgarden would have sounded like circa 1969. "Life Has Just Begun" is a lost XTC song, give it that Rungren late 80s sheen and it would fit on Skylarking.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 21 April 2004 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh man, this is just as great as I remembered. Haha - earlnash totally OTM with that Soundgarden comparison!! I never noticed it before but that is spot on, my man. It would have fit right in on Badmotorfinger. Not just in the vocals, but also those little turnarounds they play in the chorus. I don't know if I hear XTC in "Life Has Just Begun" but it's great pop nonetheless. And what's this? "Space Child" totally sounds like some outtake from Hermeto Pascoal or Som Imaginario or some other wacked out Brazilian instrumentalists.

Fantastic record. Now I'm gonna have that chorus from "Animal Zoo" in my head all week.... There are worse things.

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 22 April 2004 04:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't love it quite as much as I did 15+ years ago (as a psychedelia zealot trapped in a highschool full of OMD/Tears For Fears fans). But it's mostly still great, and I still believe it opens with possibly the greatest 1-2-3 punch ever: "Prelude/Nothing To Hide" to "Nature's Way" to "Animal Zoo". What a fantastic sequence!

I don't much like those bonus tracks: their inclusion makes Sardonicus much too fat and a little too long! Naw, I don't really mean that, the bonus tracks are fine. Just being a wise-arse.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 22 April 2004 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

Kind of like MC5 meets Love.

Very good description.

'The Family that Plays Together' also reminds me of Love a lot.

― Bob Six, Monday, 12 May 2008 22:07 (seventeen years ago)

I've not posted on this thread before? I love Spirit!

― Herman G. Neuname, Monday, 12 May 2008 22:37 (seventeen years ago)

i love spirit too.

― stirmonster, Monday, 12 May 2008 22:51 (seventeen years ago)

SPIRIT!

― ian, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 22:26 (seventeen years ago)

Fantastic record. A guy I knew in college thought long and hard (and way impaired) about "Nature's Way" and announced that it was definitely about farts.

― ellaguru, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 22:46 (seventeen years ago)

you've got the world at your fingererrss

― Mike Dixn, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 23:16 (seventeen years ago)

thirteen years pass...

on a record-breaking run of repeat plays in my car stereo

not sure i need ever take it out

― .xlsm (P. Flick), Tuesday, 7 September 2021 15:12 (three years ago)

As good as this album is, the title always makes me think of The Contrabulus Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel.

― henry s, Tuesday, 7 September 2021 16:21 (three years ago)

Surprised I never posted here. One of my two or three key high-school drug albums from the late '70s.

― clemenza, Tuesday, 7 September 2021 23:26 (three years ago)

Something about this record always struck me as being two or three years ahead of its time, maybe looking forward to A Wizard/A True Star-era Rundgren; maybe something about the reverb?
Ed Cassidy must have been the oldest full-time member of a 60s rock group - born May 1923, he was a few months older than Tuli Kupferberg of the Fugs.

― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 8 September 2021 00:10 (three years ago)

Cassidy also the most hairless rock star until, I suppose, the ‘80s hardcore scene

― Josefa, Wednesday, 8 September 2021 01:05 (three years ago)

Spotted this at the record store yesterday, picked it up based on this revive.
It's got a real Woodstock vibe to it, so I was surprised to read that they didn't actually play Woodstock (apparently their label sent them on a radio promo tour instead).

― enochroot, Monday, 13 September 2021 03:40 (three years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.