The Family That Plays Together [Original recording remastered]

Amazon.com
One of the most adventurous bands of the late 1960s, Spirit never really found as wide an audience as they deserved for their eclectic blend of rock, jazz, blues, and pop. The closest the group came to mainstream acceptance was this, their 1968-released second album. Propelled by guitarist Randy California's catchy riffing, his stepfather-drummer Ed Cassidy's rock-solid beat, and Jay Ferguson's bluesy vocal, "I Got a Line on You" became a Top 40 hit single, and listeners who were interested enough to buy the LP were rewarded with such broad-horizoned fare as keyboardist John Locke's jazz-flecked "Space Chile," Ferguson's string-aided "Silky Sam," and California and Cassidy's frisky "It's All the Same." --Billy Altman

The Family That Plays Together,Spirit,Sony,Pop,Popular Music,Prog-Rock/Art Rock,Psychedelic,Rock,Rock/Pop

The Family That Plays Together [Original recording remastered]

Average customer rating:

Expand your Spirit Collection
My brother Randy California
I heard a majority, but not all, so this may change
the best?
Classic late 1968...

The Family That Plays Together
Spirit
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Psychedelic Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classic Rock | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

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Similar Items:

Spirit
Clear
Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Sailor
Jo Jo Gunne

ASIN: B000002AF0
Release Date: 1996-10-22

Tracks:

I Got A Line On You
It Shall Be
Poor Richard
Silky Sam
Drunkard
Darlin' If
It's All The Same
Jewish
Dream Within A Dream
She Smiles
Aren't You Glad
Fog
So Little To Say
Mellow Fellow
Now Or Anywhere
Space Chile

Amazon.com

One of the most adventurous bands of the late 1960s, Spirit never really found as wide an audience as they deserved for their eclectic blend of rock, jazz, blues, and pop. The closest the group came to mainstream acceptance was this, their 1968-released second album. Propelled by guitarist Randy California's catchy riffing, his stepfather-drummer Ed Cassidy's rock-solid beat, and Jay Ferguson's bluesy vocal, "I Got a Line on You" became a Top 40 hit single, and listeners who were interested enough to buy the LP were rewarded with such broad-horizoned fare as keyboardist John Locke's jazz-flecked "Space Chile," Ferguson's string-aided "Silky Sam," and California and Cassidy's frisky "It's All the Same." --Billy Altman

Customer Reviews:

Expand your Spirit Collection.......2007-07-16

If you are already a "SPIRIT" fan, this is a nice addition to your collection. New to "SPIRIT"? I suggest you buy a greatest hits and work backward. A band that had an age range from 15-40 sumptin' and spun off into later bands, is well worth every track.

My brother Randy California.......2007-02-28

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

I heard a majority, but not all, so this may change.......2006-08-03

This is a good album, but has a rather melancholy tinge to it. It starts off rather ambitious with their biggest hit ever with "I Got A Line On You" at number 25, but then it goes some rather interesting, but sometimes sad directions. With track number 3 "Silky Sam" It got depressing, and another track "Aren't You Glad?" it was just as upsetting. There were some tracks that I haven't heard, but it's a hodgepodge, but it misses the mark somehow.

the best?.......2006-08-02

I have a very difficult time saying which Spirit album is the best but for me they were just as important to me back then as the Beatles, the Stones, the Blues Project, the Kinks, etc.

Now I have the CD, Spirit: Time Circle (1968-1972.)

Let me just talk about their first 2 CDs here and then I will talk about Clear and the Dreams at the Dreams.

Some of the first CD's songs sound a little weird now but I still like most of them. "Taurus" and "Mechanical World" are classics which should be included with the best by the Beatles and Stones.

Moving on to The Family, the quality of each song is amazing. Really this is an album which should be heard in its entirety just as you should listen to many by the Beatles, In Her Majesty's Service by the Stones, albums by King Crimson, the Grateful Dead, etc.

It is wonderful when an album is a whole not a bunch of tracks like now.

Listen to how I got a line on you syncs perfectly into It shall be which syncs perfectly into the wonderful Poor Richard and so on.

One reason that Spirit never caught on is that people, especially in Puerto Rico where I live, want happy music for parties and for quiet listening, and Spirit is dark in mood but how poetic! They really inspire me as a poet and singer.

I should add that I love to sing songs by Spirit although no one will probably ever hear me singing them unless they overhear me in the shower. SO IT goes.

Classic late 1968..........2006-04-14

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.

Average customer rating:

Family That Plays Together
Spirit
Manufacturer: Repertoire
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Psychedelic Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Why Dontcha
Octopus

ASIN: B000MEYHRQ
Release Date: 2007-02-26

Tracks:

I Got a Line on You
It Shall Be
Poor Richard
Silky Sam
Drunkard
Darlin' If
It's All the Same
Jewish
Dream Within a Dream
She Smiles
Aren't You Glad
Fog [*]
So Little to Say [*]
Mellow Fellow [*]
Now or Anywhere [*]
Space Child [*]

Album Details

Includes a Booklet with Authoritative and Extensive Liner Notes by Chris Welch.

Average customer rating:

A family of songs to dream with

Spirit - The Family That Plays Together

Manufacturer: Edsel
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Folk | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Psychedelic Rock | Classic Rock | Styles | Music

General | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0008D76IS

Product Description

1. I Got A Line On You ~~~ 2. It Shall Be ~~~ 3. Poor Richard ~~~ 4. Silky Sam ~~~ 5. The Drunkard ~~~ 6. Darlin' If ~~~ 7. All The Same ~~~ 8. Jewish ~~~ 9. Dream Within A Dream ~~~ 10. She Smiled ~~~ 11. Aren't You Glad ~~~

Customer Reviews:

A family of songs to dream with.......2006-12-22

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).

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