Spirit’s second album The Family That Plays Together is more of the same only more so, with Randy California now splitting songwriting duties with Jay Ferguson, who wrote nearly all of the first album. The Family That Plays Together plainly benefits from a second creative source of power. Their psychedelic sound was ahead of its time and points forward to progressive rock, particularly in California’s electric guitar. The album is otherwise notable for containing their biggest hit, the soulful I Got a Line on You. It remains a mystery to me why Spirit didn’t achieve the popularity of bands like The Doors, Traffic, Jefferson Airplane and Cream. Maybe it’s because Spirit followed their own muse. I mean, you’d have to go digging into Three Man Army’s “My Yiddishe Mama” to find another rock group that dared to write a song like Jewish (based on the hymn, “Hine ma tov”). Elsewhere, Spirit invites comparison to John Cale (Darlin’ If), Jethro Tull (Drunkard), Cream (Aren’t You Glad) and Steppenwolf (It’s All the Same) without losing their own identity. Again produced by Lou Adler with arrangements from Marty Paich, The Family That Plays Together feels like both a continuation and an expansion of their first album, Spirit. A few of the ideas are undercooked and the rhythm section is criminally undermiked, but otherwise it’s a musically impressive album as late sixties psychedelia goes. The flute is an especially nice touch; I would’ve liked to know who played it. The contrast between California and Ferguson adds an extra dynamic to their music. Ferguson’s character studies (Silky Sam, Poor Richard, “Drunkard”) and California’s Cream-colored compositions create a musical kaleidoscope. There really isn’t a bad song on the album. She Smiles (which would have been my choice for the second single), the dreamy It Shall Be and (naturally) Dream Within a Dream and the jazzy It’s All the Same are all different and all good. From: https://progrography.com/spirit/review-spirit-the-family-that-plays-together-1968/
