Just because he's associated with a 60s band and isn't trendy, that's not a good enough reason to neglect the untimely passing of one of the finest guitarists of all time, from a sadly overlooked and disgracefully underappreciated band - Randy California, of the original L.A.-based group, Spirit. He apparently drowned a few days after New Year's Day in an ocean accident in Hawaii (after saving his 12-yr.-old son's life, no less). This is an especially tragic loss, given the longtime general undeserved neglect of Spirit in the warped annals of "rock history", and the fact that there finally has been some serious energy directed toward enlightening the world to Spirit's great music (old and new, see http://kspace.com/spirit).

California was as good a rock guitarist as any more vaunted name you can think of (yes, ANY of them), and he never lived to see his place in history properly acknowledged (not that that seemed to bother him very much, as he remained more active than ever after the demise of the original Spirit quintet). One of the wisest things any Consumable reader can do for him/herself is to go out and buy all four of the recently reissued original Spirit albums (all now including some superb bonus tracks): Spirit (1968), The Family That Plays Together (1969), Clear (1970), and The 12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1971), all on Sony/CBS's Legacy series label. Additional enlightenment can be found on the "Time Circle" 2-cd Spirit anthology box set. This band made some astonishing original music, integrating rock, jazz, blues, country, folk, and label-less styles better than just about any band you'll ever hear - none of this ersatz "jazz-rock fusion" froth. And California was as expressive and as colorful on his guitar as any master musician on any instrument. (Don't buy my "hype"? Just listen to those albums above.) For those of us who were lucky enough to discover Spirit while Randy California was still alive, we know. And we'll miss him painfully. - Stuart T. (stuart@apollo.hp.com) P.S. If anyone has the list of BBC Radio 1 John Peel's '96 "Festive 50", please contact me. Thanks.