Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is the fourth album by the psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 ensemble Spirit

Spirit (band)

Spirit was an American jazz/hard rock/progressive rock/psychedelic band founded in 1967, based in Los Angeles, California.- The original lineup :...

. Produced by David Briggs

David Briggs (producer)

David Briggs was an American record producer best known for his work with Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse. He is noted for his eclectic imagination and style.-Early life:David Briggs was born in Douglas, Wyoming...

, who is best known for his work with Neil Young

Neil Young

Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...

. The original LP was released in 1970 by Epic

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

.

The album was re-issued on CD in 1996 by Sony in remastered form, with bonus tracks.

Description

Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is a sci-fi-based, loose concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

. The album's second song is the key track "Nature's Way", the most notable hit (along with "I've Got a Line on You" – #28 in Canada) the band would ever produce. "Mr. Skin" also became a hit single in the U.S., three years after the album's release. The album also includes several other less well-known tunes which are considered to have had an impact on the genre of experimental rock

Experimental rock

Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....

 in the United States.

The album influenced many other groups—the track "Morning Will Come" presaged the emerging glam rock

Glam rock

Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...

 trend and sounds strikingly similar to the music of Marc Bolan

Marc Bolan

Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...

 and T. Rex, and the piano figure that opens the instrumental track "Space Child" closely resembles the piano intro of the 1978 Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

 hit "FM". A modern nod to Spirit was given by Sam Beam of lo-fi indie band Iron and Wine. The breakdown in "Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)" matches that in "Prelude-Nothing to Hide".

Just as in previous attempts, Spirit fused aspects of jazz and folk together with their traditional rock stylings, but also introduced added elements of space rock

Space rock

Space rock is a subgenre of rock music; the term originally referred to a group of early, mostly British, 1970s progressive and psychedelic rock bands such as Hawkwind and Pink Floyd, characterised by slow, lengthy instrumental passages dominated by electric organs, synthesizers, experimental...

, or popular music's science-fiction subset. This innovative LP is also notable as one of the first rock albums to use the newly-developed Moog synthesizer

Moog synthesizer

Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...

.

Spirit

• Mark Andes
  Mark Andes
  Mark Andes is an American musician, known for his work as a bassist with Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, and Mirabal.-Early life:...
  
   - Bass, Vocals
• Randy California
  Randy California
  Randy California was a guitarist, singer and songwriter and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967.-Biography:...
  
   - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
• Ed Cassidy
  Ed Cassidy
  Ed "Cass" Cassidy is an American drummer who was one of the founders of the rock group Spirit in 1967.His family moved to Bakersfield, California, in 1931, and he started as a professional musician in 1937. He was in the Navy during World War II, and after his discharge worked at many jobs before...
  
   - Percussion, Drums
• Jay Ferguson
  Jay Ferguson (American musician)
  Jay Ferguson is an American rock and roll musician, known for his work with Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne, and his 1978 solo hit "Thunder Island". His later career has been as a composer of music for television programs and films.-Childhood and early musical career:He was born in Burbank, California, in...
  
   - Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals
• John Locke
  John Locke (musician)
  John Tilden Locke was an American rock keyboardist and a member of the rock group Spirit. Locke was also a member of the band Nazareth in the early 1980s....
  
   - Keyboards, Art Direction

Production

• David Briggs
  David Briggs (producer)
  David Briggs was an American record producer best known for his work with Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse. He is noted for his eclectic imagination and style.-Early life:David Briggs was born in Douglas, Wyoming...
  
  - Producer
• Vic Anesini - Mastering
• Adam Block - Project Director
• David Blumberg - Horn Arrangements
• Ira Cohen - Photography
• Jeff Smith - Package Design
• Bob Irwin - Compilation Producer

Track listing

All songs written by Randy California except noted.

• † - Tracks specific to the 1996 reissue

¹ - Previously unreleased material

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1971	Billboard 200	63