{"id":25448,"date":"2023-07-03T05:30:41","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T09:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25448"},"modified":"2023-05-26T09:47:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T13:47:23","slug":"take-5-ed-cassidy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/03\/take-5-ed-cassidy\/","title":{"rendered":"Take 5: Ed Cassidy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ed Cassidy was a force of nature. A jazz drummer who fully and enthusiastically embraced rock and roll, he was the co-founder and sole constant member of Spirit from its start in 1967 through its end three decades later. Cassidy was also one of rock\u2019s oldest artists: born May 4, 1923, this year marks <em>100 years<\/em> since his birth (he passed away in 2012 at age 89). He cut a memorable figure not only for his excellent and visually arresting playing style, but for his shaved head (an uncommon look in the rock world of the \u201860s).<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy\u2019s work with Spirit (co-led by his stepson, guitarist Randy California) is among his most well-known, but with equal parts power and finesse, the versatile drummer played on many other projects with many other artists. Here are five highlights from the celebrated musical career of Ed Cassidy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rising Sons \u2013 \u201cStatesboro Blues\u201d (1966)<\/strong> \u2013 For a variety of reasons (one likely being that its lead singer was a Black man \u2013 the record company didn\u2019t really know what to do with the Rising Sons. The Los Angeles group had talent to burn, with drummer Cassidy, guitarist Ry Cooder and vocalist Taj Mahal, each soon to find well-deserved fame on their own and with other projects. But in \u201866, neither this reading of a blues classic or their excellent version of \u201cTake a Giant Step\u201d (soon to be popularized by the Monkees) convinced their label, and the songs went unheard and\/or unreleased for years. Ed Cassidy was already 43 when he recorded this song.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EslHfR_Zk9Y\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rainbow Red Oxidizer \u2013 \u201cElevator Girl\u201d (1980)<\/strong> \u2013 This catchy slice of new wave\/power pop comes courtesy of Rainbow Red Oxidizer, a group populated with rock veterans. In addition to Ed Cassidy on drums, the group included Dennis Edmonton aka Mars Bonfire, the composer of Steppenwolf\u2019s \u201cBorn to Be Wild.\u201d The 1980 LP <em>Recorded Lies<\/em> would be the only release from the band. Cassidy was 57 when he cut this track.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0-SZdvY0HhI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Randy California \u2013 \u201cThe Prisoner\u201d (1988)<\/strong> \u2013 On this instrumental track featured on the 1988 compilation <em>Guitar Speak<\/em>, Cassidy collaborated with his stepson Randy (born Randy Wolfe, and given a new stage surname by Jimi Hendrix). The record also included ace tracks by other celebrated axe slingers Alvin Lee (Ten Years After), Eric Johnson, Leslie West (Mountain), Yes\u2019 Steve Howe, Rick Derringer, Steve Hunter, The Doors\u2019 Robby Krieger and Shadows guitar hero Hank Marvin. A reunited Spirit would cut another version of this song \u2013 this time with lyrics \u2013 in 1989. Cassidy was 65 when he recorded the track for <em>Guitar Speak<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bb8ulBCqBBU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Merrell Fankhauser \u2013 \u201cPsychedelic Dreams\u201d (1998)<\/strong> Leader of collector- and cult-favorite bands Fapardokly and Mu, Fankhauser has never truly broken out of his underground status. But he\u2019s a player\u2019s player, and for many years hosted his own <em>Tiki Lounge<\/em> cable television program, featuring many of his better-known musician friends. One such pal was Ed Cassidy, who would collaborate frequently with Fankhauser on recorded projects. The title of this track has the word <em>psychedelic<\/em> in it, though the tune\u2019s character is closer to roots rock. Cassidy was 75 when he took part in this recording session.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/F6E3F8Lchmg\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Spirit \u2013 \u201cI Got a Line On You\u201d (1968)<\/strong> \u2013 No roundup of Ed Cassidy\u2019s work would be complete without including this, the best-known song from Spirit\u2019s deep catalog. Released in 1968 when the drummer was 45 years of age, the song was ahead of its time then; it still sounds fresh and exciting today. A true rock classic, \u201cI Got a Line On You\u201d was a successful single (<em>Billboard<\/em> #25) taken from the band\u2019s second long player, <em>The Family That Plays Together<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/faEtYEP2vUs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ed Cassidy was a force of nature. A jazz drummer who fully and enthusiastically embraced rock and roll, he was the co-founder and sole constant member of Spirit from its [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5150,2016],"class_list":["post-25448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-ed-cassidy","tag-spirit","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25450,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25448\/revisions\/25450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}