Search - Spirit :: Potatoland

I'm going down to Fish Fry Road!

Scott R Stout | Philly suburbs | 07/22/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you have any possible way of getting your hands on this album do so with great speed!!! It is the best!!!To clarify - if you like SPIRIT, you will of course like this. If you like OGDENS NUT GONE FLAKE by the Small Faces, you will like this. If you like Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds, you will like this. If you're into psychedelic music, you will like this. If you're into George Orwell's 1984, you will like this. If you like the Moody Blues, Geroge Harrison, or early Steve Miller, you will like this. If you have an open mind, you will like this. Need I go on?It is a musical version (of sorts) of Orwell's 1984 represented by our heroes Kaptain Kopter and Commander Cassidy who journey into Potatoland to find out where love went. Sound crazy? Well it is! It's serious but yet very "tongue in cheek". Great music, sound effects, story and dialouge (and if you get the remastered CD there's a little comic book too).This basically was an idea of Randy California and Ed Cassidy after the band SPIRIT was dying. The project was shelved by the record company because it has no commercial possibility (uh huh... well... that may have been true, but I'm sure the hippies would have dug it... and when does creativity and commercial possibilities ever match??). So some smart independent record company released it in the early 1980's (I think) and it has become a cult classic.You will really enjoy it if you want to try something new ( and if you can find it)."

A Lost Classic

Jerry G. | shaker hts, oh United States | 11/05/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Potato Land is easily as great a concept album as the Who's Quadrophenia or Pink Floyd's The Wall, but thanks to the vicissitudes of pop music it is a sadly forgotten classic. Filled with definitive songs that should have been top hits, a comical story about a voyage into the world of potatoes is told. Sound effects and spoken word help to narrate this story, which is surprisingly full of meaning, and yet remains lighthearted to the end. Everyone with a functioning set of ears should at least give it a chance. It is the sort of album that grows on you and is also enormously enjoyable to listen to. It is certainly a unique recording, and it's impossible to imagine anything like it will ever be made again. I'd say that after Dr. Sardonicus, it's arguably Spirit's best album. And you'll never feel the same way about eating French fries again."

INVASION OF THE POTATO PEOPLE

Arthurley | Greensboro NC | 08/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"WELL FOLKS YOU WILL NEVER SEE OR HEAR AN ALBUM OF THIS NATURE RELEASED AGAIN. RANDY CALIFORNIA LEAD GUITARIST FOR THE 60'S BAND SPIRIT IS KAPTAIN KOPTER AND THE DRUMMER FOR SPIRIT ED CASSIDY IS COMMANDER CASSIDY. IT MAY BE CALLED A SPIRIT ALBUM BUT IT IS MORE OF A SOLO EFFORT BY RANDY THAN A SPIRIT ALBUM PER SAY.WHILE THIS ALBUM DOES NOT HAVE AS STRONG OF TUNES AS THE FABULOUS TWIRLY BIRDS ALBUM BY THE SAME MUSICIANS RELEASED A FEW YEARS EARLIER IT FLOWS BETTER AND MAY EVEN BE BETTER AS A WHOLE. THE CONCEPT OF FRENCH FRIES AND POTATOES AND SUCH MAY SEEM A BIT GOOFY. TRUST ME WHEN I TELL YOU THE MUSIC IS NOT. MORNING LIGHT TURN TO THE RIGHT AND FISH FRY ROAD. THESE 3 CUTS ALONE ARE WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION. GLAD TO SEE THIS CD FINALLY BECOMING AVAILABLE IN THE USA. RANDY CALIFORNIA IS NO LONGER WITH US BUT MUSIC SUCH AS IS ON THIS CD ALLOW RANDY TO REMAIN IN OUR HEARTS AND SOUL. HE WAS AN EXCELLENT SINGER SONGWRITER AND GUITARIST AS THIS CD WILL ATEST TO. GOD BLESS YOU RANDY YOU TOUCHED US IN A WAY ONLY A FEW ARTISTS COULD EVEN BEGIN TO COMPREHEND OR UNDERSTAND.



ARTHURLEY"