Spirit: The Family That Plays Together

I can see how you might have been turned off - it's pretty heavy on the ballads and is fairly accessible overall.  It's still very close to a 5-star album for me.   It has a dark grandeur and fullness to it that's comparable to the Moody Blues' work at the time (e.g. It Shall Be, Silky Sam, Dream Within a Dream).  The background orchestrations are pretty unpredictable in spots too, they're not just there for sweetening (check out "Drunkard" for proof of that).  And I do like the big hit single I Got a Line on You, along with its upbeat side-opening bro It's All the Same, if only for the way they inject a little energy into an otherwise sedate album.  The beauty of the album lies in the darkly rich mellow tracks, however.

I listened to this album again after a very long time, obviously, and it strikes me now as a very solid but more mainstream album than the s/t debut. It does have some very good songs that are worth another listen.

^Agreed. It sounded better to me the third or fourth time around approxiamtely 40+ years later!

Excellent album....the whole first side is a suite of sorts.  Great use of orchestration and Randy keeps things on the easy groove side.  Spirit deserves more recognition.