| Future Games | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 1977 | |||
| Studio | Studios 70, Tampa | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:38 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Producer | Dr. Sardonicus | |||
| Spirit chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Future Games | ||||
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Future Games (subtitled A Magical-Kahauna Dream) is the ninth studio album by American rock band Spirit. Released in April 1977, it was their final album for Mercury Records and the last of their four "comeback" releases of the mid-1970s. It is essentially a solo project for frontman Randy California, who recorded it with drummer Ed Cassidy, though he later expressed dissatisfaction with the recording.
An album of psychedelic, rock and pop music, Future Games features 22 short tracks and is characterised by its textural guitar work, disorientating sound, fizzy production, concise melodies, use of sound collage and dialogue samples from American television, film and radio – in particular, the science fiction series Star Trek and the episode "Turnabout Intruder". The record reflects California's interests in science fiction, Hawaii and The Urantia Book; among its songs are two collaborations with Kim Fowley and a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", which was released as a single.
Housed in a sleeve depicting a half-naked California pulling a macho guitar pose, the album was the follow-up to the commercially unsuccessful Farther Along (1976). Future Games was similarly unsuccessful and did not chart in either the UK or the US. Music critics have drawn attention to the record's eccentric content and conceptual focus. It has since been sited as an early example of a 'collage-pop' album due to its heavy dependence on samples.