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Last year, Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint collected expanded editions of the Ode and Epic albums from the band Spirit as the box set It Shall Be: The Ode and Epic Recordings 1968-1972. Now, Esoteric has revisited Spirit but jumped into the future for a pair of releases: The Complete Potatoland and Two Sides of a Rainbow: Live at the Rainbow 1978.

By the time of Spirit’s final Epic album, 1972’s Feedback, Randy California, Jay Ferguson, and Mark Andes had all departed the band, leaving John Locke and Ed Cassidy to be joined by guitarist Chris Staehely and bassist/lead singer Al Staehely. Clashing with the Staehely brothers over musical direction, Locke and Cassidy made the decision to leave the band. After a brief period in which the brothers toured as Spirit, the band officially broke up in mid-1973. Meanwhile, California had already recorded his solo debut for Epic, Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds. Cassidy (California’s stepfather) was among its guests, and soon they were working together again. They prepared a follow-up, but Epic rejected The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter and Commander Cassidy in Potato Land, an offbeat sci-fi concept album about a future in which potato people are made into French fries, i.e. slaughtered.

Following the album’s rejection, California moved to Hawaii, and Spirit seemed dead. But in 1974, Cassidy persuaded his stepson to return to the mainland to reform the group. After recording a large batch of material, California and Cassidy earned a deal with Mercury Records, where Spirit would release four albums through 1977. In 1979, California left the band once again, and Spirit was dissolved.

Fans didn’t forget about The Adventures of Kaptain Kopter and Commander Cassidy in Potato Land, however. In 1981, California, Cassidy, and Locke released an overdubbed version of the album on the Beggars Banquet label in the U.K. and on Rhino Records in America; it even briefly charted in England. The original Spirit line-up reformed in 1982, re-recording several of their early classics and beginning a new chapter in the band’s long history. The Potatoland saga wasn’t yet over, though.

In 2006, Mick Skidmore assembled a version of the album closer to California’s original vision, assembled from acetates, cassettes, and the surviving reels. Released on Evangeline Records, this iteration was reissued five years later on Floating World, paired with the 1981 LP. Skidmore recently discovered more original Potatoland reels in the Spirit archive, allowing for the material to be reissued by Esoteric in greatly improved sound.

CD 1 of the new 4-CD box has The Original Potatoland plus nine bonus tracks, allowing for a new opportunity to revisit the bizarre concept album featuring such tracks as “Fish Fry Road,” “Giant Potatoes,” and “Lonely in Potatoland (Mashed Potatoes).” The bonuses include “You Know” and “Donut House” from the 1973 acetate Back Together Again (the “Donut House” was visited by Kapt. Kopter and Commander Cassidy in Potatoland); the album demo “Ain’t That Too Bad’; alternates; live tracks; and interviews. The second disc expands the 1981 Beggars Banquet/Rhino version of the album with a further seven bonus cuts. Mick Skidmore explains in his new liner notes that the ’81 release “was a drastically different version with only half of the original concept being used. Side One had some great new songs that were kind of altered to fit in the Potatoland theme, namely ‘We’ve Got a Lot to Learn,’ ‘Open Up Your Heart,’ and ‘Morning Light’…the original Side One now became Side Two.” Horns and strings were also overdubbed. The bonuses here include alternate takes, a later (1981) interview, and material from the 1988 limited edition Potatoland release on Chord Records.

The final two discs officially premiere Kapt. Kopter’s concerts from September 1972 originally broadcast on KPFK Radio featuring the power trio of California, Cassidy, and Larry “Fuzzy” Knight. These oft-bootlegged shows have been in circulation, with many of the unofficial releases combining tracks from both performances on the Captain Midnight show. Skidmore has sourced the concerts here from two surviving master reels as well as a partial cassette dub made by California. The sound here is far from studio quality, as Skidmore candidly acknowledges in his detailed notes about the process of utilizing and restoring this audio. It’s an improvement over the bootlegs if still mainly for collectors only. Some of the DJ’s dialogue has been edited out, but the performances are intact. Six more bonus tracks round out the fourth CD including tracks from a 1972 rehearsal tape belonging to the late Ed Cassidy.

Blending hard rock, jazz, and just plain weirdness, The Complete Potatoland is the most fascinating chronicle of the album yet. The clamshell box features each disc in a paper sleeve, plus a 20-page booklet with Skidmore’s liner notes and another 16-page booklet reprinting the original comic-and-lyrics-book from the 1981 release. Ben Wiseman has remastered the audio for this collection.  Kapt. Kopter and Commander Cassidy originally promised “Stay tuned for the next album and be part of The Revenge of The French Fries!” While that never materialized, Potatoland has likely had a much longer life than its creators could have ever envisioned.

The Complete Potatoland will be joined on November 29 by Two Sides of a Rainbow: Live at the Rainbow 1978.  Originally released on the Floating World label in 2012, this 2-CD set presents a soundboard mix of Randy California, Ed Cassidy, and Larry “Fuzzy” Knight in concert at London’s fabled Rainbow Theatre on March 11, 1978.  The first disc has the core portion of the show (including Spirit originals and covers of “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Hey Joe”) while the second rounds up the half hour-plus of encores (featuring covers of “All Along the Watchtower,” “Stone Free,” and “Wild Thing” plus “Downer,” “Turn to the Right,” and an encore of “Rainbow Jam Electro Jam”) as well as the complete U.S. release of Live Spirit.  The latter album is a “produced,” overdubbed, and heavily truncated version of the Rainbow show plus additional tracks.  It’s more polished than the board mix and is sonically superior but loses the arresting, chaotic intensity of the original performance.

Esoteric has upgraded the packaging for this presentation, re-presenting band archivist Mick Skidmore’s 2011 liner notes and adding 2019 remembrances from Larry “Fuzzy” Knight in the 20-page booklet.  Skidmore has also remastered both discs for this release although only so much could be done with the board mix culled from period cassettes.  The discs and booklet are housed in a newly-designed digipak.

Both of these Spirit-ed sets are available from Cherry Red and Esoteric Recordings at the links below!

Spirit, The Complete Potatoland (Cherry Red/Esoteric ECLEC 42687, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: The Original Potatoland (Evangeline/Acadia ACA 8095, 2006) plus bonus tracks

1. Introduction: 1984
2. 1984
3. Exit 27
4. Turn to the Right
5. Everything Talks to Me
6. Fish Fry Road
7. Nature’s Theme
8. Information
9. My Friend
10. Walkin’ the Dog
11. Giant Potatoes
12. Lonely in Potatoland (Mashed Potatoes)
13. Nature’s Way
14. Salvation: Matter of Time Suite
15. 1984 (Reprise)
16. Oil Slick – Million Years Suite
17. Information (Reprise)
18. It’s Time Now

Bonus Tracks

19. You Know
20. Donut House (Alternate Version)
21. Walkin’ the Dog (Alternate Version)
22. Ain’t That Too Bad
23. Skin (Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test, April 10, 1973)
24. Turn to the Right (Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test, April 10, 1973)
25. Interview with Randy California and Ed Cassidy – April 9, 1973
26. Fish Fry Road (Live in Austin, Texas, May 7, 1979)
27. Day Tripper (Live in Austin, Texas, May 7, 1979)

CD 2: Potatoland (The 1981 Version) (Rhino RNSP 303/Beggars Banquet BEGC23, 1981)

1. We’ve Got a Lot to Learn
2. Potatoland Theme
3. Open Up Your Heart
4. Morning Light
5. Potatoland Prelude
6. Potatoland Introduction
7. Turn to the Right
8. Donut House
9. Fish Fry Road
10. Information
11. My Friend
12. Salvation
13. Potatoland March/Midnight Train
14. Turn to the Right (Alternate Version)
15. We’ve Got to Learn (Alternate Version)
16. Morning Light (Alternate Version)
17. Potatoland Theme (Alternate Version)
18. 1981 Interview with Randy California

CD 3: Kapt. Kopter Live on KPFK, Los Angeles, September 13, 1972 (previously unreleased)

1. Introduction Dialogue
2. Veruska
3. Miss This Train
4. Band Introductions/Dialogue
5. Get Out of My Life Woman
6. Walkin’ the Dog
7. Hi-Heel Sneakers
8. Fixin’ to Die
9. Ain’t That Too Bad
10. Live for the Day
11. Happy
12. Free as the Wind
13. I Don’t Want Nobody
14. Devil
15. Shotgun
16. Melting Into the Furniture

CD 4: Kapt. Kopter Live on KPFK, Los Angeles, September 6, 1972 (previously unreleased)

1. Veruska
2. Miss This Train
3. Walkin’ the Dog
4. Get Out of My Life Woman
5. Ain’t That Too Bad
6. Jam/Happy
7. Hi-Heel Sneakers
8. Downer
9. Sunrise (Studio Cut)
10. Man in Love (Demo)
11. Brian Berry Blues (Rehearsal)
12. ECDAB (Rehearsal)
13. Z (Rehearsal)
14. Boogie Woogie All Night Long (Studio Cut 1972)

Spirit, Two Sides of a Rainbow:  Live at the Rainbow 1978 (Floating World FLOATD 6136, 2012 – reissued Cherry Red/Esoteric ECLEC 22704, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: The Board Mix

1. Rainbow Jam Electro Jam
2. Mr. Skin
3. Nature’s Way
4. Like a Rolling Stone
5. Hollywood Dream
6. Animal Zoo
7. 1984
8. Hey Joe
9. Looking Down
10. Love Charged
11. All the Same
12. I Got a Line on You

CD 4: The Encores (Tracks 1-6) plus Live Spirit (Potato Records PR 2001, 1978) (Tracks 7-15)

1. All Along the Watchtower
2. Downer
3. Turn to the Right
4. Rainbow Jam Electro Jam Return
5. Stone Free
6. Wild Thing
7. Rock and Roll Planet
8. Nature’s Way
9. Animal Zoo
10. 1984
11. Looking Down
12. All the Same
13. I Got a Line on You
14. These Are Words
15. Hollywood Dream