Customer Reviews

Family That Plays Together

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

From 1968, "The Family That Plays Together Stays Together" marked the first major breakthrough for Spirit, one of the late 60's most underrated (and still is) bands. On it, their mix of fuzzed jazz psychedelia that was introduced on their self-titled lp, sounds tighter and better than any of their material to that point. The surprise top 25 hit "I Got a Line On You" b/w "She Smiled" began an ecclectic collection of tunes, ranging from the gorgeous Jay Ferguson (lead singer) penned "Silky Sam" and "A Dream Within a Dream," to organist John Locke's wonderfully jazzed up "Space Chile," to guitarist Randy California and drummer (and stepfather to Randy) Ed Cassidy's funny "It's All the Same."

The results are breathtaking, and very much unlike the rest of the psychedelia made during that period. With Spirit, one gets an intelligently and professionally made lp that takes on all genres of music- jazz, blues, strings, as well as rock n roll. Spirit made music by their own rules- and it worked.

Hard core fans of the late 60's sound know full well who Spirit were. Budding guitarists should listen to Randy California for influence, as should drummers to Ed Cassidy. Those who like surprises with their music will also enjoy this lp. While their best lp, the amazing "12 Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus," was a few years away, "The Family the Plays Together Stays Together" is a wonderful listen and a great introduction to this most wonderfully unusual L.A. band.

OK, so I've been aware of this band for ages. After all, turn on the classic FM rock dial and you're bound to hear "I Got a Line On You" or "Nature's Way". It's only now that I bought any of their albums. I have acquire The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, and this one, The Family That Plays Together.

The Family That Plays Together was their second album and gave Spirit their first wide exposure, because the album's opening song was none other than "I Got a Line On You", which became a hit for them. This band is odd for one having one member a generation older than the rest. The band featured guitarist Randy California, who was at that point 17 years old, and drummer Ed Cassidy, who was his stepdad (married to his mother), and around 20 years or so older than the rest of the band. Most other people Ed Cassidy's age were more likely to yell at their kids to "Turn off that noise" (like when they're listening to the Beatles), but in Randy California's case, that was different, Ed Cassidy encouraged his music habit and both helped form a band. Of course, lets not forget the rest of the band: Jay Ferguson, John Locke, and Mark Christopher-Andes. Most other people Ed Cassidy's age were more into Lawrence Welk and Bing Crosby and thought rock and roll, like of the Beatles (or Spirit for that matter) was the downfall of civilization.

There is so much more to this album than just "I Got a Line On You". "It Shall Be" is a wonderful, atmospheric number with John Locke giving us some electric piano, and nice use of orcestrations. There are some more rocking passages as well with horns. "Silky Sam" is another one of those mellow orchestrated pieces, with the unexpectedly dissonant passage in the middle (much like what many prog rock bands a few years later would be doing). "The Drunkard" has a rather baroque feel, with an even stronger classical-feel, as it's very dominated by strings. "All the Same" is a rather fun number, with lots of nice electric piano and catchy melodies, one of my favorites on this album and for some reason often overlooked. "Jewish", penned by Randy California, is a real odd number. It's sung in Hebrew (how often do you come across a rock song sung in that language?). We should also know that California himself was Jewish (his real name was Randy Wolfe), so I guess he was exploring his Jewish roots in that song. The final song, "Aren't You Glad", ends in a rather dramatic fashion, more or less the album's epic. When I hear the more mellow, orchestral numbers like "It Shall Be" and "Silky Sam", I keep imagining that John Locke should be using a Mellotron, Spirit would have sounded great using one, but they used real strings (which still sounds great) after all the Mellotron wasn't made commercially available in America until around 1972, but the Chamberlin was available then (and only a band like the Beach Boys made the occasional use of one at that time).

Spirit is one of those few West Coast psych bands that would appeal to people who otherwise are generally not fans of that genre. They avoided the most of those psychedelic cliches (ie. "flowers and beads" and "canyons of your mind"), probably because they realize in even just a couple years time, people would laugh at that stuff if they wrote "canyons of your mind" type of music. So their music ended up not being so dated as so many of their West Coast contemporaries of the time.

The Family That Plays Together is a wonderful album, if you never heard this album, get it, you'll find out there's much more to Spirit than just "I Got a Line On You" as this album proves!

for long i was sure that credential should go to either 12 dreams of doctor sardonicus by spirit, or forever changes by love - but over time, i have come to the conclusion that this particular little gem takes that title.

despite the very radio friendly, "i got a line on you", the family that plays together is slightly inaccesseible, a lot of the structures and melodies take a little time to get used to. but they grab you at the first go. this is a must buy for experienced rock lovers, who appreciate good music. definitely not recommended for people who think bon jovi is the greatest rock star of all time, or that bruce springsteen is the boss.

this is an album for connoisseurs who know how to appreciate music. a work of sublime beauty and genius.

This is one of those albums I bought because of a song on the radio. Their hit, "I've Got a Line on You" did it for me. I was quite surprised at the rest of the album and Randy California's riffing still gives me shudders. I am amazed but at the same time not entirely surprised they did not get any bigger than they did (they sounded too good). At least they made most of the rock history books as a minor note.

To me this is their best album. I loved Dr. Sardonicus and the other one with "Dark Eyed Woman" on it (can't remember the name). But one album I missed somewhere was the one with 1984 on it. I love that song!

This album is polished but at the same time a little raw which is more to my taste and that is why I hold it above their other albums.

I've tried to keep track of the band over the years and have lately lost track of them all except for Randy (RIP).

A great album. Highly recommended.

I would like to correct some misinformation in the amazon review of this album.............Randy at the age of 17 yrs old wrote and SANG "I Got A Line On You'.......................you printed that Jay furgeson sang on it .....just wanted to keep it straight.............Janet Wolfe

The first four albums are so unbelievably great that for me it's almost impossible to say one is better that the others. Taken together, they are almost like one long album. The Family That Plays Together shows the band turning a slightly more commercial corner without sacraficing any of their artistic integrity. Their blending of styles is a bit mote intergrated than on the first. Randy California's influence on the music was becoming stronger as well. One thing that differd Spirit from most of their comtempories was the strength with whch they were able to convey their songs in concert. I saw the original version 11 times and they never failed to astound me. It's a shame that the only legitimate live recordings of the band are of the later Ed Cassidy/Randy California version. Not that the later versions of the band weren't great - they just weren't quite as good as the original band. If your'e just being introduced to Spirit, The Family That Plays Together is a fine place to start.

Underrated and increasingly forgotten Spirit's second album is a near perfect encapsulation of where high quality "progressive" rock music was in late 1968. Meticulously produced and featuring absolutely top-notch playing & singing it draws on the huge diversity of styles floating round the music scene at the time - from hard rock, through West Coast harmonies & country-folk to the emerging jazz/rock scene - and pulls them into a satisfying whole held together by a series of high quality songs.

Five stars then?... well not quite. The problem is that, like their first album "Sprit", it's almost too perfect and, at times, all a little too contrived, but it's close as the driving "I Got A Line On You", the beautifully reflective "It Shall Be" and the wonderful, Band-like "Darlin' If" amply show. And, on those that don't quite hit the highs of these three outstanding tracks, you get a great deal of clever production, a series of excellent instrumental breaks and some unforgettable tunes.

And that's late 1968 for you... a long way from the sheer enthusiasm and barrier-bending innovation of the previous two years but with a much broader pallet of styles to work off. While most of their peers were imploding, losing the plot or just waiting for something to happen Spirit captured this odd, transitional period of rock music and in "The Family That Plays Together" moulded it into something that reflected the best of it all.

Pretty much every musical style you can think of is incorporated into this bands sound. They play straight ahead rockers like the classic I Got a Line On You but also play wandering mind trippers like She Smiles. Whatever they are doing they are always intelligent and original, never cliche. No one style dominates and the blend just keeps shifting around featuring different elements on different songs. After the opening rocker the album settles into a mellow but intereting cycle of story songs including Silky Sam about various characters ,mostly sordid, as that is the Spirit sensibility. In that way they may remind some of the early 70's glam bands that often wrote of drugs and excess but Spirit often employs an irony lacking in other bands lyrics and Spirit has so many aspects including Jazz that they give whatever material they are working with their master musicianship. That makes them different from many of their sixties counterparts(or those seventies bands that followed in their wake) who were simply faddish are whose talent just didn't go any deeper than one style of play. Spirit as this records name implies played together for a long time and really explored music and broke down barriers between genres thought incompatible and all those interesting fusions of different styles they came up with were very influential then and their records still sound different from anything being played then or now. I think this is even better than Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus but that one is good too. Twelve Dreams is a bit giddy at times while this one, though it can be dreamy, has a stronger center and so is a more satisfyingly balanced batch of songs. Extra tracks show how the band in addition to everything else were also pioneers in the field of spacey ambient music.

It's a bittersweet experience to be writing a review of this wonderful album on Amazon.com 35 years or so after its original release. There's so much water under the bridge since then that one has to wonder if a present day listener could ever quite grasp what this album meant to me and my circle of friends when it was released.

Simply put, Spirit passed the acid test, that is, they were one of the relatively few bands that my friends and I chose to play while we tripped. In retrospect, what were our criteria? It is hard to describe it without sounding pretentious, but at the time we just took it as a given. Groups that encompassed the full range of human emotion and experience, and left you in a balanced space between tragedy and ecstasy. In short, bands with heart. And, preferably, with chops. Spirit was at the top of our list. And "The Family That Plays Together" was our favorite Spirit album.

Picture this: you're deep into the emotions triggered by the music in the background. The music suddenly ends. Someone is sufficiently together to flip the record and get the needle on the vinyl without too long a gap. The mood sustains itself. The music? Spirit. Procol Harum. The Beatles (I admit it). McKendree Spring. The Steve Miller Band. The Byrds. And that's about it.

What did these bands have that caused us to listen to them in such vulnerable states? They affirmed the human spirit. Their mesh of music and lyrics left the listener in a higher state than before. Whether you were simply stoned or tripping, Spirit did the job. "The Family That Plays Together" in the middle of the trip, "Clear" (their 3rd album) towards the end.

Spirit, like all good pop music, was of its era. At the time, I was certain that they were the best damn band going, and the fact that they never achieved mass popularity was proof of the fact. Yet, as the 80's and 90's proceeded, I didn't return to Spirit's albums very often. Perhaps I identified them too much with their original eras, and they didn't fit in with punk/new wave/grunge, etc.

But in retrospect, Spirit still stands as one of the best expressions of a certain late 60's-early 70's sensibility: intelligent rock mixed with jazz and acid. "TFTPT" and "Clear" are time capsules from a long gone era. If you have any curiosity about the height of rock in that era, Spirit is the key.

What a great album.

Not as darkly moody as their equally fine self-titled first album, this one nevertheless takes its listeners in numerous poetic and emotional directions, with nary a jagged edge nor awkward transition. There is a certain shimmering quality that rather inhabits the entire album, kind of like moonlight. The writing and playing is astoundingly rich and original. I wonder if anything before or since has quite realized this level of projection of the contents of fertile imaginations in sound. The music effortlessly takes you where it wants, and you willingly go with it.

This baby is SMOOTH from front to back. It's nice to see that the original sequence has been kept intact-that one can listen to the entire 'album' without having to flip the vinyl over.

Please note that only the first eleven tracks appeared on the original release (tracks 12-16, including Space Chile, are bonus tracks).