The Family That Plays Together

The Family That Plays Together, the second of four albums released by the original Spirit lineup, was marketed by Ode Records in 1968. Unlike its predecessor, Spirit, their self-titled and surreal debut, The Family That Plays Together evinces more greatly the band's ability for playing beyond the genre of psychedelic rock than within it. Tracks "It Shall Be" and "Silky Sam" demonstrate the ease with which the ensemble can incorporate jazz into their idiosyncratic form of rock, while "Jewish" and "Aren't You Glad" evidenced the band's competence in exploiting, to their advantage, both world music and jam rock respectively. "Poor Richard," "Jewish," and "All the Same" feature glorious double track lead breaks from guitarist California. The inspiration behind entitling The Family was derived from the stepson-stepfather relationship guitarist Randy California and percussionist Ed Cassidy shared.

The album's arrangements were created by Marty Paich, who likewise arranged and conducted Spirit's eponymous debut album, as well as "Model Shop" (which was the soundtrack to a film starring Gary Lockwood ---- fresh from "2001: A Space Odyssey" ---- and "A Man And A Woman" star Anouk Aimee, directed by Jacques Demi) recorded after "Family" but not released until 2004, as well as "Clear." Paich's son David, who is one of the founding members of the Grammy-winning band TOTO, was age 13 when he penciled the sheet-music/charts for the first ever for "Spirit." (TOTO guitarist Steve Lukather, a long-time Spirit fan, produced a Jo Jo Gunne album with original members Ferguson and Andes, his brother Matt Andes, and Curley Smith in the 90s that was never released.)

At some point after "Family's" first issue, the final mixes for the album were lost. Because of this, all subsequent CD releases by Sony, as well as the recent vinyl re-issue by Sundazed Records, are taken from new mixes made from the original multi-track tapes (the tracks that appeared on the Time Circle compilation were re-mixed as well, though the mixes differ) by Bob Irwin, Randy California and Ed Cassidy in 1996. Liner notes on the 1996 CD version state that it was "mixed and mastered by Vic Anesini, Sony Music Studios, New York." A general comparison between the original LP and the 1996 CD reissue makes this point obvious. Those who have more than a passing interest in the work should consider tracking down the original version on vinyl, as there are substantial differences in some places.

The 1996 compact disc reissue also contains five bonus tracks. Two of these appeared on the 1991 Time Circle compilation, while the other three are previously unissued.

The album cover was shot at the Sunset Highland Motel, located at 6830 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, just across from Hollywood High School.

Track listing

All songs written by Jay Ferguson except noted.

• † - Tracks specific to the 1996 reissue

¹ - Previously unreleased material

Personnel

Spirit

• Mark Andes - Bass, Vocals
• Randy California - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
• Ed Cassidy - Percussion, Drums
• Jay Ferguson - Percussion, Keyboards, Vocals
• John Locke - Keyboards

Production

• Lou Adler - Producer
• Bob Irwin - Producer
• Marty Paich - Horn Arrangements, String Arrangements
• Vic Anesini - Mastering, Mixing
• Armin Stiener - Engineer
• Adam Block - Project Director
• Tom Wilkes - Art Direction
• Guy Webster - Photography

Charts

Album

References