The Family That Plays Together is the second album by the American rock band Spirit. It was released by Ode Records in December 1968. It was voted number 575 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000).
The title alludes to the slogan "The family that prays together stays together", created by ad-writer Al Scalpone for the Family Rosary Crusade and popular in American and British parlance beginning in the 1940s. During this time the band lived together in a house in Topanga, California, near Los Angeles. The title was also inspired by the stepson-stepfather relationship between lead guitarist Randy California and percussionist Ed Cassidy.
After the first issue, the stereo master tapes for this album were locked in storage and unavailable. Because of this, subsequent CD releases by Sony, as well as the recent vinyl reissue by Sundazed Music, are taken from new stereo mixes made from the original multi-track tapes by Bob Irwin, Randy California and Ed Cassidy in 1996. Liner notes on the 1996 CD reissue state that it was "mixed and mastered by Vic Anesini, Sony Music Studios, New York". (The tracks that appeared on the Time Circle, 1968–1972 compilation were remixed as well, though those mixes are different.)
The 1996 CD reissue also contains five bonus tracks. Two of these appeared on the Time Circle, 1968–1972 compilation, while the other three are previously unissued.
In 2017, Audio Fidelity reissued the album as a numbered limited edition hybrid SACD. This was the first release to use the original stereo mixes since the 1970s. This edition also includes bonus tracks in the same mixes as on the 1996 reissue.
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