Spirit is the third of John Denver's mid 70s trilogy of albums that marked his peak; Back Home Again and Windsong contained heavy bouts of Country tunes but resonated with me on the ringing Mountain ballads full of sweeping strings. Spirit is adorned in Native American imagery with Denver sitting in grassland wearing an embroidered shirt, one could almost call it cultural appropriation as he has no known Native American heritage , not nearly enough for this exploitative cover. Hitchhiker starts off as a strong bluegrass tune with a pronounced 'hick' accent in Denver's voice but it has a thoughtful depth to it and strong backing vocals. Come and Let Me Look in Your Eyes is the album opener and like many of his songs's the chorus is delivered too flat and wordy while the chorus is far more expressive, there is some sweet pedal steel and mandolin parts, while the weeping viola and ever pervasive woodwinds are excellent. Eli's Song features some flamenco licks in an affirmative song sung with subdued confidence by Denver.
Wrangle Mountain Song is a peak in Denver's yodelling skills with a breathtaking vocal line opening the song and a pop melody that follows full of chugging banjo and bass led arrangement. In the Grand Way opens with a more Soft Rock piano lick and strummed guitar and straightforward wailing, it's followed by the old timey jazz of Polka Dots and Moonbeams which manages to be romantic and soft but none of the vocal ballast of his other songs. Denver's proteges, The Starland Vocal Band lift Baby You Look Good to Me Tonight, they were having their time in the sun the summer of Spirit's release with their debut hit Afternoon Delight; which hinted at Denver's early Folk Rock but with far more pop conciseness. There is boring country songs like Makes me Giggle and San Antonio Rose, in fact the last one to have effect on me is Pegasus with it's children choir laden chorus, cowboy balladry full of sparse folk extemporising and Denver singing in low register in a circular rhythm along with spiritual imagery of the winged horse its the closest to making sense of the album title and cover. It's a precursor to his lighter work in the 80s and reminds me of some of his Prog folk in the early 70s, the banjo break sound like tantric blues that would be played around a Navajo campfire.
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