The Family That Plays Together – SPIRIT****

I Got A Line On You/It Shall Be/Poor Richard/Silky Sam/The Drunkard/Darlin’ If/All The Same/Jewish/Dream Within A Dream/She Smiled/Aren’t You Glad

The Family That Plays Together was the follow up and most commercially successful album from the Los Angeles rock group Spirit. The group would continue to make the lower reaches of the chart until the mid seventies. (US:22)

“Another solid release by this outstanding band, the follow-up to their debut continues in a similar vein, with a diverse mix of acoustic guitar driven soft rock, and psych flavoured harder material. Overall, quite an ambitious project.”

“The Family That Plays Together is the same quality as their debut. That means this album rocks very well start to finish. The best known song of the disc is the minor hit and the album opener I Got A Line On You. What a great song that is. But it's not the only stand out cut on this record.”

“This second LP containing the AM smash I Got A Line On You, maybe their peak creation from start to finish, a virtual psychedelic trip. Along the way double-tracked fuzz guitar, flutes, jazz electric piano, some nice tambourine shaking, drum solos, Hebrew prayer, intricate harmonies, acoustic guitar work, songs about girls smiling, and stepping off mortal coils.”

“While their first album was psychedelic and surreal, on this their second release, it shows that the band were just as comfortable taking advantage of world music, jazz and jam rock. Unfortunately, Spirit never managed to break through to the big time, as they so richly deserved.”

“The second Spirit album contains some good rock tunes, well arranged songs with tight performances but despite it all The Family That Plays Together remains rather unremarkable. Lou Adler's production is by a long way the weakest link with this album, and Spirit's work in general. Randy California was beginning to make his mark as both songwriter and guitarist, but much of his work pales into the background by the unspectacular methods Adler used to produce the album. There is no doubt that there is potential in the music; I Got A Line On You is a tight pop rock number. The band were very talented and experimental as they explored many avenues, but many of the guises don’t take off fully.”