THE ADVENTURES OF KAPTAIN KOPTER & COMMANDER CASSIDY IN POTATO LAND

If you took a little bit of Zappa’s odd self-musings, added some Gap Band funk, some detached Bowie-meets-Barney vocals, maybe a little Prince for style, and wrapped it all up with a catchy dance beat, you’d be pretty close to matching the sound of this album. This is Randy California’s belated Sgt Pepper’s, and although I think it would be a stretch to call this progressive music, it’s definitely way better than simple pop.

California recorded his first solo album, also the first Kaptain Kopter album, shortly after his brief departure from Spirit, which was also shortly after whacking his noggin falling of a horse and turning kind of goofy. The three events were presumably all related. Anyway, this is the follow-up, and features most of the band except keyboardist John Locke, and the most obvious difference besides the H.R. Pufnstuf cartoonish- psychedelic feel, is the obvious lack of jazz-influenced tempos or arrangements. So I guess Locke was the one who fed that into the band, not drummer Ed Cassidy as was commonly thought.

There’s really no point in belaboring each track here. They are woven together into some sort of PG-rated acid trip, full of oddly articulated vocals like Bowie (only not as good), simple but catchy beats, and most of all some of the best guitar strumming and picking California ever did after Dr Sardonicus. I believe this was actually recorded in the early seventies, but was shelved as unmarketable until fan demand and a soft market led to its release in 1981. I’m glad, because it’s an interesting album full of great guitar, funky keyboards, and brain-candy rhythms.

The strongest tracks are the trippy “Potatoland Theme”; the surprisingly lucid “Turn to the Right” (which features a ripping guitar solo by California), and the down-home bluesy “Donut House”, probably the only rock song I’ve ever heard about eating donuts.

The one that sounds most like Spirit (really the only one that sounds like Spirit) also features a guest appearance by Locke, “Fish Fry Road”. Excellent fuzzy guitar, Utopia- like blended vocals, and that darn jazzy keyboard. This one is almost worth the trip, although this CD could set you back a bit unless you can find a used copy somewhere. Fortunately, there are still cutout copies of this floating around some old record stores if you’re willing to look.

This isn’t really excellent, especially not for Spirit, but it’s pretty good, so three stars isn’t really a stretch, and that’s what I’ll give it. Recommended if you can find it cheap.

peace