The High Spirits

As I mentioned previously, I am part of a band that will be playing at our 50th high school reunion next August. One of our sets will include some of “The Big Hits of Mid-America” (circa 1965-66), honoring the bands that made them.



One such band was The High Spirits, who had experienced some regional success with their cover of Bobby Bland’s Turn on Your Love Light:



The High Spirits suffered from the dilemmas of many groups of the day: popular at teen dances but too young to play in nightclubs, out of sync with changing musical styles, and a steady attrition from the military draft. One member of the group, Owen Husney, went on to an extremely successful managing and promotional career (Prince, The Rolling Stones, Richard Harris, Alice Cooper, Sonny and Cher). Cliff Siegel (now named Lauren) wearing sunglasses in the picture above, was the lead singer. My other old high school band, The Others, actually played with them once; they were doing a lot of Animals songs. We had moved on from the Animals by then, discovering fuzz-tones and proto-psychedelia. I remember Cliff watching our act very closely. The next time I saw the them play they were at the Minnesota State Fair, billed as The Psychedelic High Spirits.

Hmm.

Here is the original, the version we’ll be doing, no offense to The High Spirits, but I think this may just be a tiny bit better: