Today’s classic song of the day comes from one of the most innovative but overlooked albums of the early ’70s, Spirit’s Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. The song, “Mr. Skin” was released as a single in 1973 and barely cracked the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at a totally unjustifiable #92. It’s a great tune, nonetheless.
“Mr. Skin” is a hard-driving tune written by band member Jay Ferguson, who later had a solo hit with 1978’s “Thunder Island.” It was the concluding song on side one of the album.
I’ve written before about Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, which was released in 1970, and you can read about it here. As I wrote in that previous post:
It’s a trippy, psychedelic album, all about peace and love and the environment and groovy stuff like that. The tunes, including “Nature’s Way,” are great—great writing, great performances, and (especially) great production. You have to listen to this one with a good set of headphones, because this album uses the entire stereo sound field with pinpoint precision, ping-ponging guitars and other sounds between channels and right through your brain. It’s kind of sort of a concept album, a jazz-rock symphony, as it were, with one song seamlessly blending into another. (There’s lots of stuff between tracks, too, so you have to listen to it as an uninterrupted whole.)
The song “Mr. Skin” was named after Spirit’s drummer, Ed Cassidy, whose shaved head inspired his nickname of “Mr. Skin.” Jay Ferguson says the song was about “sex in America,” and that kind of makes sense. He also says the song was inspired by the music of Sly and the Family Stone, and you can kind of hear it, especially with the added horn players. However you look at it, it’s a terrific track and should have been a bigger hit.
And here’s your daily bonus song of the day, another track from Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, also written by Jay Ferguson, the equally hard rocking “Animal Zoo.” You’re much too fat and a little too long…
