FAMILY
"Closing your ears to other men's views, change for the good, would not bring bad news"
General Rating: 2
ALBUM REVIEWS:
Family are yet another totally unjustly forgotten band from the late
Sixties/early Seventies - sometimes dubbed as a 'minor progressive outfit',
and thus largely ignored in favour of more 'classic' progressive bands.
This is, however, not true, as Family's sound hardly corresponds to the
definition of 'progressive': they rarely display influences of classical
music, and most of their material was always much too 'primitive' and 'straightforward'
to be deemed as progressive. In my mind, the closest band they can ever
get to is Traffic: they went for the same folksey/jazzy sound that characterized
Steve Winwood and Co., only unlike Traffic, they gave their sound an edge,
which is why I actually prefer Family. Anybody who keeps on raving about
the musical virtues of such Traffic records as Mr Fantasy should
definitely get around to appreciating the blistering sound of early Family
records and see how much deeper these guys actually used to dig...
Sure enough, there's plenty growls and howls an uninitiated fan can hurl
at the band. Their songwriting abilities were always kinda limited; judging
from the late-period, you'd probably doubt if such a concept as 'catchiness'
ever occurred to their main songwriting members (the early albums are more
accessible, though). None of the constantly coming-and-going band members
were musical virtuosos - all were professionals, but that actually goes
without saying: all more or less known bands of that period were, and you
had to have a pretty above average technique to go remarked. That's not
to say they couldn't play their instruments - they played them pretty well,
but 'displaying the chops' is not an expression you'd meet in a review
of any Family records. And, lastly, Roger Chapman's vocals can turn off
quite a few rock lovers who thought that there could not be anything worse
than Dylan already. Somebody described his style as 'electric goat': his
usual trick is to try out high notes that his voice simply cannot reach,
and sometimes his bleatings can get even on my nerves, sending down shudders
incomparable to the impression I get from listening to too much Jon Anderson
or Robert Plant.
That said, Family had a style - maybe it would be more correct to say,
Family were a style. Dominated by the slick, slight but solid guitarlines
of Charlie Whitney and the effective violin playing of whatever 'multi-instrumentalist'
was in the band at the time (Rich Grech, John Weider and John Wetton successively),
they were folkish - but more than folkish, with a slight tinge of jazz-fusion,
acid, psychedelia and sometimes even Marc Bolan-style mystic pretentiousness
(I would indeed describe Chapman's vocal style as a weird hybrid between
Dylan and Bolan). Their best records are really a good choice every time
when you want to try something 'avantgarde' that would be thoroughly listenable
at the same time. Speaking of songwriting, the band never really pretended
it was writing 'songs': much too often, these sound more like mantraic,
hypnotic chants, all mood, all atmosphere, but strangely captivating at
times. Of course, like every significant band, they evolved over time,
and eventually got drawn away from the initial 'weirdness' to becoming
a fairly normal folk/country rock band, but believe me, there is something
to laud on practically every Family album (of course, there's also quite
a lot of dross; if you're curious, you should probably only begin with
a hits collection). And finally, Roger Chapman's singing voice is actually
pretty good. When he doesn't strain himself, he sounds like a sincere,
well-meaning folkster with a warm, soft tone; and when he does strain himself,
well, it's your bet. I think his 'electric goat' impressions are
his trademark choice, and you simply have to take it or not; and I far
prefer this shiver-sending style to the mild hummings of Stevie Winwood,
in any case. At that exact time this was considered 'art'; nowadays
it could probably only be considered travesty; but at least it represents
his sincere artistic impulse. And you can't deny that sometimes these spooky
vocals only add to the general dark, scary atmosphere of the songs.
All Family albums have recently been remastered and reissued, many of them
with bonus tracks; pretty few, however, seem to be in print in the US.
As of now, I have been able to find five CDs of Family material, enough
to start a page of their own, but I'm still missing such a key record as
1972's Bandstand, so wait for it in the future.
Line-up (this is gonna be a real pain in the butt): Charlie Whitney
- guitar, Roger Chapman - vocals, Ric Grech - bass, violins,
Jim King - saxophone, Rob Townsend - drums. Grech quit in
1969, joining Clapton's and Winwood's Blind Faith, and later - unsurprisingly
- ended up in Traffic. Replaced by John Weider. King left, 1970;
replaced by Poli Palmer (keyboards, vibes; most keyboard work was
previously supplied by guest musicians like Nicky Hopkins or Dave Mason
- from Traffic again!). Weider left in 1971, replaced by John Wetton;
that gentleman only lasted for about two years as well, quitting the band
for King Crimson, and Palmer also left in 1973; the two were replaced by
Tony Ashton (keyboards) and Jim Cregan (bass, guitar). Band
collapsed soon afterwards.
All these constant line-up changes only reflect Family's unhappy story:
a band that tried to make it big for seven years but never managed to break
through in the States, and had little less than just a dedicated cult following
in Britain. Gruesome unjustice, as I could name quite a few bands whose
huge commercial success was far less deserved... er, Traffic, for
one. Let's hope history will correct this sad mistake.
What do YOU think about Family?
Mail your ideas
ALBUM REVIEWS
Year Of Release: 1968
Record rating = 10
Overall rating = 12
Great, groovy entertainment with loads of energy and hundreds of
musical ideas - even if not everything works, there's just so many of 'em...
Best song: OLD SONGS NEW SONGS
Family's debut is smashing - it's a trifle too cluttered with filler
to be an immaculate masterpiece, but, in my opinion, the high points of
this record would be enough to immediately place the band in the upper
league of the 'artsy/psychedelic roots-rock' British bands out there. Strangely,
they didn't, and Family turned out to be doomed commercially from the very
beginning; they did get some good press coverage, but that's about it.
Most debut albums, as one knows, fall into one of the two categories: insecure,
'water-treading' debuts which show a band with 'studio-fright' just getting
into it and only making the first feeble efforts, or highly energetic,
rip-roaring debuts, with a young, ambitious band that's determined to conquer
the world with their very first step. Family's debut definitely falls into
the second category: all of their trademark elements are firmly in place,
and perhaps there's even too many of them. Music In A Doll's House
is structured as a concept album (no wonder, name me a 1968 album that
wasn't), although there's no real concept actually (no wonder, name me
a 1968 album that had one - okay, bar Village Green Preservation
Society); the 'conceptuality' is ripped-off from Sgt Pepper,
with songs fading one into another and those that don't being linked together
by small tidbits called 'Variation On A Theme Of... [insert a full song
name here]'. This could result in a mess, but somehow it doesn't; the songs
are actually quite distinct and each has its own identity.
What strikes me most is the unbelievable diversity of the record. Later
on, Family would stretch out some of the numbers, especially the live ones;
here, no song ever goes over four minutes, and no musical idea gets repeated
twice. They show themselves equally at home with tender ballads, ferocious,
visceral rockers, folksy chants, and bluesy jams. And the instrumentation
is tremendously varied: all kinds of guitars and guitar effects, keyboards,
saxes, harmonicas, Ric Grech's violin, sitars, and a very good understanding
of studio trickery - backwards tapes, phasing, etc., all of these things
are used rationally and wisely, to good effect. If there's anything lacking
on the album, it might be the sense of humour: but one should keep in mind
that Family rarely went completely overboard with their pretentions, and
for every mind-blowing number like 'The Breeze' or 'Voyage' there's a more
'grounded' number like 'Hey Mr Policeman' or 'Old Songs New Songs'. Not
to mention that Chappo's bleatings and occasional grooves like the band
launching into a crazed-out live snippety take on 'God Save The Queen'
at the end of the album are well worth a laugh now and then. In any case,
it sure is greater than Traffic's debut; speaking of which, Traffic's guitarist
Dave Mason actually produced this record and even contributed one tune
- the Traffic-sounding (what a bummer) 'Never Like This', a pleasant enough
shuffle that's not one of the record's high points but sure beats quite
a few of Mason's contributions to Traffic itself.
And, furthermore, about half of the songs on here are undeniably great.
Family's schtick slaps in your face from the very first seconds of 'The
Chase' - a pompous, medieval-sounding pop song with overwhelming vocal
harmonies and Chappo's 'tremolo voice handling' perfectly complemented
by Townsend's paranoid drum brushing; and the way the song suddenly gets
sped up towards the end really gives the effect of the protagonist being
'chased' (ooh, gruesome - apparently, she's chasing him indeed.
Hear those 'Tally-ho! Tally-ho!' at the end?) Meanwhile, 'Mellowing Grey',
with Moody Blues-ish Mellotrons, Grech's classical violin workout and one
of Chappo's most gorgeous vocal melodies ever, is a solid candidate for
the best ballad in the Family catalog.
On 'Me My Friend' the band really blows the top - the medieval stylistics
is as strong as ever, and the song easily predicts a good half of prog-rock
stylistics that would become to boil up a couple years later. Especially
hard-hitting here is the contrast between the electronically encoded, 'mystical'
vocals of Grech and the angry, near-paranoid splutterings of Chapman. But
those who can be offended by something thus 'overblown' (although I wouldn't
get it - how can a song that lasts little more than two minutes be 'overblown'),
will probably get their kicks out of 'Old Songs New Songs'. All pretense
is dropped, and the band just rocks out - the number does begin as an art-rock
number that alternates between the blues-influenced main melody and the
heavenly choruses chanting 'old songs, new songs, keep on singing' (funny,
that section seems to have been borrowed by Andrew Lloyd Webber for JC
- remember 'Good old Judas, so long Judas'?), but then transforms into
a magnificent, fast, breathtaking saxophone/wah-wah/harmonica jam, and
one of the most charged ones I've heard in a long time. Whitney blazes
away on the wah-wah, Grech pumps out a mastodontic bass line, and Jim King
really lets loose. And this is immediately followed by the folk-jazz fusion
masterpiece 'Hey Mr Policeman', a funnily straightforward piece with a
catchy melody and really, really, really creepy saxes - again, as is usual,
they build the song effect on the contrast between Chappo's vocals
(quiet and disturbingly scary this time) and the responding saxes. Like
I said, nobody's a true virtuoso, but how they manage to bring all the
instruments to such a perfect whole is something I still have to
understand.
Likewise, don't forget the pretty hard-rocking and vigorous 'Peace Of Mind',
with a simple, but Eastern-influenced melody and Jim King on backing vocals
(yeah, I've always thought it was a female singing, but wise men told me
otherwise). They also rip off the Yardbirds' 'For Your Love' at the end
of the track with the 'ah ah ah' bit, but who cares? The Yardbirds wouldn't
sue them for that. 'The Breeze' is a charming, gentle folkish ballad with
sparkling piano bits from Dave Mason (I suppose), very atmospheric and
authentic-sounding: I suppose that were it to turn up in the hands of somebody
like Ray Thomas from the Moodies, he could have made it into a hit. And
then the album ends up with the multi-part mini-suite '3 x Time' (my favourite
part about it is the hilarious marching band imitation in the middle and
its reprise in the end). I have a question, though: that harmony-drenched
part towards the end, sounding like a solemn funeral march - where did
they lift it from? You don't mean it's original? And how come it so closely
resembles the famous melody of 'Memory' from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats?
Could it be that Andrew was stealing a melody from Family? Probably
a dumb question.
Of course, Whitney and Chapman were no Lennon and McCartney - there are
certain weak spots on the record, songs that aren't bad, but aren't tremendously
memorable, either, like the pathetic ballad 'Winter', or the overtly dissonant
'See Through Windows' where Chapman engages too much in disjointed word
pronunciation that predicts such later excesses as can be found in the
archives of prog, on Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans, for instance.
I don't care too much for 'Voyage', either, as the sound effects used therein
(backwards violins, cunning distortion of Chappo's vocals, etc.) get on
my nerves; but I do admit it's one of the most bizarre tracks on the album,
and so might please quite a few listeners. And it has the Mellotron, too.
But these are not essential quibbles - Music In A Doll's House is
still one of the best art-rock records of 1968, and it doesn't deserve
the tag of 'pointless Beatles rip-off' that it sometimes gets, along with
a million other records of the same year.
An excellent effort that'll probably always remain as my favourite Family
record - Entertainment may have higher song peaks (or peak,
for that matter), but it's nowhere near as innovative, energetic, or simply
consistent.
Hey Mr Policeman! Mail
your ideas!
FAMILY
ENTERTAINMENT
Year Of Release: 1969
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 11
Slightly less edgey, but perhaps even somewhat more majestic. Acid
flowing in all directions, too.
Best song: THE WEAVER'S ANSWER
Perhaps it wasn't such a wise decision to put 'The Weaver's Answer'
at the very beginning of the album, as the absolute magnificence of this
song makes everything else look pale and shabby in comparison - it would
have made a far better climactic finish. Even so, when you take the song
on its own merits, the very idea is pure brilliance in its simplicity.
It's a four minute 'proto-progressive' epic, with a rather simple melody
that nevertheless reaches up to heights never again scaled by the band.
Chappo bleats his way through a very poetic, even if a wee bit cliched,
description of a person's life slowly unveiling before his eyes, from birth
to death (the 'weaver' is the Lord, of course), and manages to make his
delivery absolutely thrilling and shiver-sending, ending each verse with
a feedback-beating growl that'll really make you jump up in your chair;
meanwhile, Grech's fiddle, King's sax and Whitney's organ all join in an
ominous, majestic symphony. Do I make myself clear? In a nutshell, 'Weaver's
Answer' is one of the most perfect example of a complex and thoroughly
overblown musical/lyrical subject treated in a simple and accessible way
and actually working (unlike, say, something you'd meet on a Uriah
Heep record - and I'm just making a counterexample to make my point more
understandable, not because I feel a great need to take another
jab at Uriah Heep. Eh? See that? I'm not a hater! I'm perfectly well-humored!)
Like I said, the record never really scales the same heights again, and
this makes up for a less consistent image than that of Music In A Doll's
House, but eventually, when you're getting sick of hearing 'Weaver's
Answer' for the thirtieth time, the rest of the songs start growing on
you as well. There are fewer hooks and the genre-exploring style is slowly
getting out of the way: Family are still a very psychedelic band, and a
very folksy one, but there are fewer jazz and blues elements on Entertainment,
and another problem is that there are way too many compositions not going
to the 'Whitney/Chapman' duo. While I don't have anything against Ric Grech
as a multi-instrumentalist, his two compositions on the album are undoubtedly
among the weakest ones. For instance, not only does 'Second Generation
Woman' seem absolutely unfit for inclusion on the album, as it's a rather
straightforward, unexperimental rocker, but it's also plain weak: the supposed
hooks, including a loud roaring out of the title in the refrain, are clumsy
and stick out like a sore thumb instead of making the song flow along perfectly.
Blah. The guitarwork is good, though. And the psychedelic shuffle 'Face
In The Cloud' looks like it's been mainly included onto the album in order
to have at least one number with the sitar taking a very prominent
position. But why does it seem like a rip-off of 'Norwegian Wood', then?
It's pretty and atmospheric, but I don't see a lot of effort in the song.
A couple of numbers are credited to Whitney alone, and they're better than
Grech's, but still not up to the standard. For me at least, 'Processions'
never really picks up steam and is hardly distinguishable from an average
Donovan or CSN song; there'd be no need for Family to actually be formed
if ever they'd make an accent on these kind of numbers. 'How Hi The Li',
however, is another matter: any song that begins with the wonderful lines
'And we'd like to know/If Mr Chou En-Lai he gets high/With all the tea
in China' deserves a special mention in my book. Hippy-dippy anthemism?
Ooh, I love hippy-dippy anthemism if it's catchy, weird, melodic
and atmospheric. Wait for that beautiful bassline, too. Oh, and am I right
in thinking that parts of the song were later borrowed by Jethro Tull?
I'd swear some of the vocal melodies were later reprised in some of Ian
Anderson's Chateau D'Isaster exercises. But that's another story.
Still, the best stuff all stems from the C/W duet. 'Observations From A
Hill' perfectly convey the lazy, melancholic atmosphere of a person sitting...
sitting on a hill. 'Hung Up Down' sounds particularly nasty and disgusting,
just like the title would have been suggesting, with Chappo exterminating
his throat over peculiar pseudo-martial rhythms. 'From Past Archives' is
a wonderful synthesis of medieval balladry with classic jazz, a beautiful
listening experience for the true eclecticist. 'Dim' seems to rock softer
than 'Second Generation Woman', but actually it is much tighter and much
more involving, even if the main instruments are just a banjo and a harmonica.
If the line about 'my eyes are dim I cannot see' doesn't grip you by the
throat, I don't know what will. You probably have no throat. And finally,
'Emotions' is still a nice ending piece, even if, like I already said,
I'd easily have swapped it with 'Weaver's Answer'. The Moody Blues-ish
chorus is memorable and stately, and the multi-instrumental coda is a very
well thought-out lead-out segment. (Certainly influenced by 'Salt Of The
Earth', particularly because Nicky Hopkins breaks in with a piano pattern
very similar to the one he played on that Stones song, but somewhat different
never the less).
It's a terrible shame this record never made the big time, either - 'Weaver's
Answer' has gone on to become Family's trademark song, but that wasn't
enough to guarantee sales or universal recognition. There ain't exactly
any huge leaps forward here, as the band pretty much opened all of its
cards from the very beginning, but it does show that Family had hit upon
an extremely fruitful formula that was far from exhaustion. I mean, what
the heck, they were one of the first, if not the very first, band, that
took rootsy music and showed the world how you could mess around with it
in an extremely creative manner. I suppose, though, that since most of
the listeners were purists ('a sitar in a folk number? Get on widya!'),
this didn't exactly account for a large audience. Ah well. At least they
have me. Am I worth a dozen purists? Purists, I challenge ye!
Hung up down? Mail
your ideas!
ANYWAY
Year Of Release: 1970
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
Half live, half studio - half wild, half gentle. Perhaps more 'interesting'
than 'entertaining'. But perhaps not...
Best song: PART OF THE LOAD
Anyway was released at the 'turn of the century', in 1970, and
it manages to capture both the 'older', 'weird' side of Family, and their
newer, more 'normal' look. The album itself is divided into a live and
a studio part, and the differences in style are clearly seen. The record
opens with a trademark 'classic Family' track, 'Good News - Bad News' that
has it all: begins with a chunky-chunky clicky-clicky riff, evolves into
some softly strummed acoustic guitarwork and then tends to alternate tender,
introspective verses with rip-roaring, power-chord-full choruses with Chapman's
best 'goat' impression. The song is drawn out a bit too long - I me would
edit Poli Palmer's vibes solo and give a bit more space to that Whitney
guitar one, but you might probably prefer just the opposite. A good composition
anyway. 'Strange Band' also has the band's signature - a rambling, psychedelic
'jam' with Chapman howling out the romantically-tinged verses rather than
singing them. Do not, however, forget the magnificent John Weider violin
line that holds up the whole song. When Chappo bellows out 'strange looking
band were we-e-e-e-e-e-e' and Weider accompanies him with those otherworldly
sounds, it really resembles nothing else. That said, there's way too much
dissonance lying around that whole track for it to truly become a Family
classic.
The other two live songs are softer, certainly more acceptable to the normal-minded
audiences, which - note - does not mean they are 'conventional': Family
were not yet at a stage where they would bring themselves to offer something
'conventional'. 'Holding The Compass' rocks out a little, based around
some sharp, solid, extremely ear-pleasing riffage which is actually played
with amplified acoustic guitars (maybe that's the secret of the song's
hidden charm); but, of course, it's just as erratic as anything else. And
the softest of all is 'Willow Tree', a pretty, jazzy ballad with Poli Palmer's
piano as the main attraction this time. In other words, nothing outstanding,
but, after all, 'tis the only Family live album (half-album) in existence,
so it does deserve some special attention if you're ever planning to dig
into the band. This stuff is so weeeeeird... man, I think I need a good
dope here. Let's get to the studio tracks, all right? I can smell the joints
already!
Oh. The studio part. The studio part has 'Part Of The Load'. Ever heard
that one? Now there's one really mean song! A harsh, but rhythmic bass
line, syncopated drums, sharp, precise piano and guitar 'hits' and that
singing - disjointed, distorted, yet quite carefully structured verses:
Traffic never reached that power that lay concealed in the best Family
material. 'We're out on the ro-oa-oa-a-a-a-d! That's part of the loa-oa-oa-oa-aa-a-a-d!'
Gee, I don't know if you can actually appreciate my written impression
of Chappo's vocals. Perhaps one day I'll bring myself to put down some
extracts in MP3 here. Right now, though, you just gotta believe me this
one's a hell of a good song, although it sure as hell takes a lot of time
to get used to. There's also the title track, of course, but that one ain't
no big shakes - mostly it sounds just like the band having fun in the studio
with different production techniques; it's monotonous and tedious, and
Rob Townsend's use of exotic drum instruments only makes matters worse.
Fortunately, the record picks up steam again with a brilliant instrumental
('Normans'), where Weider shines on violin once again and gives the tune
an exotic feel, somewhere in between an Eastern-style drone and a country
waltz: Family getting 'conventional' (yeah, right). And the album closer
is nothing short of brilliant, too, a powerful anti-war statement that
might seem a bit too straightforward lyricswise for Family ('you being
masters of war/you never knew your fathers, that's for sure' and all that
stuff), but otherwise it's a strong, compactly performed two-part 'suite'
with multiple little wonders, such as that tasty fuzz guitar line that
imitates Roger's voice in the final section. Suitable ending!
Now when I said 'Part Of The Load' was the best track on here, I wasn't
really thinking of the bonus tracks, otherwise I'd have to give the honour
to the single 'Today'. Oh, it ain't that interesting melodically (just
a nice little jolly happy pop ditty), but it features some of the most
gorgeous slide guitar lines I've ever heard on any song! Whitney really
gets it on with that instrument - I can only think of George Harrison as
a person able to do something more gentle, tender and fairy-talish. The
B-side, 'Song For Lots', is bouncy and rhythmic, but kinda fluffy; 'Today',
however, is simply a masterpiece from start to finish - I feel like I'm
basking in the glow of that guitar every time it comes on. Undoubtedly,
this would be one of the best choices were you ever to wish to addict some
mistrustful friend of yours to the innocent charms of that genre we the
labelists call 'folk rock'. There's also an 'edited' version, but it's
just that, and kinda excessive, in theory. In real life, though, I often
end up listening to it twice, and I really haven't yet regretted.
To conclude, I must warn you that Anyway isn't really treated with
enough respect by the critics - it's widely considered to be a letdown
in the Family catalog. It's definitely far from their best, with too many
songs lacking catchiness and too much uncertain experimentation going around
with very mixed results, but since the band was so friggin' consistent,
always venturing just a few steps ahead of mediocrity but never really
crossing the line, I don't really care - my general reaction is positive,
and while you should never start here, songs like 'Part Of The Load' or
'Good News Bad News' are vital for understanding the band's development.
Part of the load lies
on you, too: mail your ideas
FEARLESS
Year Of Release: 1971
Record rating = 9
Overall rating = 11
A band that goes mad before your own eyes. Mad folk songs getting
progressive arrangements? Whoopee, now we're talking!
Best song: SAVE SOME FOR THEE
"Curiouser and curiouser", like good old Alice would say.
John Weider is out of the picture, replaced by the nearly sound-alike John
Wetton - yeah, the guy who was later to become the famous King Crimson
frontman. Wetton is not actually credited for any songs on this album,
but I don't think it's a coincidence that this is the place where Family
start getting more serious. They also get more diverse, exploiting style
after style and trying to fit everything into their bizarre, structureless
and mysterious pattern. Some say it's their absolute peak, in fact, and
it is indeed a strong recording; however, I still cannot speak out a definite
judgement, as there's much I still need to hear.
Mad and rambling, yes; but - a paradox - at the same time this record sounds
quite well-polished and precise. Even the 'jams', which is the part I like
the least about Family, are not really sloppy and spontaneous, but seem
to be carefully constructed to me. Considering the fact that Chappo mostly
evades the electric goat impersonations, this is perhaps the best way to
start with the band, for the uninitiated, although it is already a significant
step away from their basic image.
Out of ten songs on here, at least seven or eight are, in fact, quite recommendable.
And while none are particularly gripping, as 'Today' or 'Part Of The Load',
they are diverse and entertaining enough to guarantee you a good time.
The rockers pound and pump with moderate force and energy, particularly
the album opener 'Between Blue And Me' and the catchy, singalong-style
'Save Some For Thee'. The latter gets my vote for best song, but it is
not a stable decision - the album is quite an even one. Highlights include
respectively a great sparring guitar duet on 'Between Blue And Me' and
an odd war march at the end of 'Save Some', plus I love the way Chapman
and Wetton (both sing) stretch out on the final lines of the choruses.
The title of grittiest song, though, goes to 'Blind', a rather straightforward
protest song with Chappo at his most freaked out.
But rockers ain't the only thing you'll get on this piece o' plastic. There's
a nice, delightful acoustic ballad ('Children'): it was probably designed
as ax throwaway, but I feel totally at home with the bouncy rhythm, the
lines about 'children can you laugh me/all your young life's meaning' and,
of course, the way Roger and Co. twist the structure of the song to make
it as uncatchy as possible! At that point, in fact, I think that Chapman
was being influenced by Genesis and their songs, and in fact, the album
closer, 'Burning Bridges', sounds exactly like a Genesis song: a
slow, spooky, very medieval-sounding chant, emphasized by layers of sad,
melancholic guitars a la Steve Hackett, not to mention that Chapman
almost gives a Peter Gabriel impersonation - sometimes I simply mistake
him for the man. There's also some mandolin, some steel guitar... in other
words, all the prerequisites of a 'progressive' sound.
On the other hand: where in your life are you going to find a Genesis song
coupled with a Faces song on the same record? Why, on Fearless,
of course! 'Sat D-Y Barfly' is just the kind of song you'd expect to hear
from Rod Stewart - a barroom ditty, with loads of out-of-tune saloon piano
and Chapman singing in a blooozy, booooozy voice some stupid lines about
how he was going to drink gin with Louise and instead found himself drinking
red wine. There's some brass on the song, too, and in fact, the only things
that give it away are Poli Palmer's synth effects near the end of the song
and, of course, the verses' structure, which is so rambling and seems so
'intentionally unfinished' that it still goes to show the song is pure
Family. But boy, they must have been soaked...
Finally, for easy listening, there's 'Larf And Sing', John Wetton's main
vocal spot on the record, just a silly old pop song with weird harmonies
on the choruses. Now the other three songs I don't particularly care about:
'Take Your Partners' is a long and ultimately boring and pointless jam
(although it does contain the immortal lines 'God knows I'm hip/But I ain't
yours or his/Everybody's arse is up for kicks'), 'Spanish Tide' is one
of the band's least convincing stabs at pretentiousness, and 'Crinkley
Grin' is just a short throwaway instrumental. But you gotta have your percent
of duffers on a Family album, now don't you? With all the spaced-out experimentation
and dangerous messing with song structures, it's indeed a big wonder that
they didn't fuck up more of the material on here. As it is, the
record still stands out as a balanced, respectable effort, far from stellar
as it might be.
The CD issue adds two excellent bonus tracks: the band's biggest hit single
in the UK (reached number 4, actually), 'In My Own Time', and its B-side,
'Seasons'. It's typical Family: a catchy, but complex song structure, trademark
Chapman vocals, and interesting, but a bit obscure, lyrics. 'Seasons' is
probably the band's impression of Vivaldi or something - the lyrics are
ridiculously dated, but the melodical structure of the song is quite entertaining,
with different moods alternating to represent the four seasons, all over
the course of 2:20. 'Vivaldi for babies', I say.
Save some for thee and
mail your ideas
IT'S
ONLY A MOVIE
Year Of Release: 1973
Record rating = 8
Overall rating = 10
For the farewell banquet, our heroes disguise as intelligent cowboys.
Gee, what a show!
Best song: BOOTS 'N' ROOTS
I'm ill. I'm lying in bed and I hate the world. What's even more important,
though, is that right now I'm listening to It's Only A Movie - and
scribbling down this here review on my trusty laptop. And thank God that
I do; if I were in a better physical and psychological form, I'd probably
give it not more than a 7 or 8 on the overall scale. I mean, when I first
heard it, I just felt incredibly bored. For some unclear reason, on their
final, 'farewell' album Family decide to go country-western and release
an entire album of songs that range somewhere in between smelly bordello
pastiches and raunchy cowboy ditties. Whether this was due to the arrival
of new members Jim Cregan on guitars and Tony Ashton on keyboards (the
former later transformed into a Gangsta Rod Stewart accomplice), or Family
simply wanted to make a reverend and ironic gesture in the face of America
that had always refused them and shunned them, is beyond me; a fact is
a fact - It's Only A Movie is Family's take on the Wild West, slightly
twisted to suit their savage and boozy image, of course.
Which brings me to my original point: it's real hard to enjoy this record
if you're not in a relaxed, don't-give-a-damn mood. As such, I was finally
able to get the record's messy charm on third or fourth listen. I still
don't see any particularly strong material here, but most tracks still
do have something to offer. The title track, for instance, that starts
off the album, is based on a repetitive, somewhat sad and ironic-sounding
guitar riff, Ashton's saloon piano playing and lyrics that seem to denounce
life and its fakeness in general, despite the first impression of dealing
with exclusively 'country' imagery. 'Leroy' comes next, a totally stupid,
but incredibly seductive country ballad about a cool cat trying to get
his chick by boosting his automobile, and while there sure ain't no real
Family melody here (the song is probably just ripped off from some old
barroom ditty), it's simply charming, with layers of steel guitars, pianos,
harmonicas and tasty orchestration creating a warm, lush and totally homey
atmosphere: and on top of it all, come Chappo's thoughtful, caressing vocals
with not a sign of the 'electric goat' around. 'Leroy', to me, is proof
irresistible that Family broke off at the top of their game: they could
obviously tackle any genre in the world and make it sound genuine and well-meaning.
'Boots 'n' Roots' is the other highlight for me, an even more generic c-w
tune, this time emphasized by just some pianos and some moody brass popping
in and out. Chappo keeps whining about his vagabond image - 'boots 'n'
roots, there's so much I've got to see'. I would like to be able to sing
'n' play that one - so soothing and tender, and the lyrics are so coooool...
I probably won't be able to name any other highlights: most of the other
songs have far too many flaws to strike you as much as the tender ballads
here, but none of them are bad, except possibly 'Sweet Desiree' - Family's
take on 'Hey Negrita' (yay, I know this album precedes Black & Blue
by a good three years, but for some reason I think the average audience
would be better acquainted with 'Hey Negrita' than with anything Family
had to offer to us, so my comparison stands): actually, its something I
could only describe as a 'funky groove', but they really cannot keep up
the jam, and it ain't real sharp or funny in the first place, so I me would
trim it down from four minutes to two. Maybe to one. Hmm, I think fifteen
seconds would be just all right - as a short intro to 'Suspicion', another
so-so rocker. In fact, the only track here that rocks out with any conviction
at all is the album closer 'Checkout', where Whitney finally gets down
to playing some real electric guitar, though the song is anything
but hard rock - basically, it's just the same 'redneck-style' pattern they're
playing here, only with a little more speed and energy. It's good, though,
and might even cause you to tap a foot or two. Maybe even three.
Elsewhere, the slow, tuneless pieces like the quieter 'Buffet Tea For Two'
or the more raunchy, drunken 'Boom Bang' do not really thrill me, but like
I said, I'm lying in bed and I really don't care. I sorta like that sound,
sloppy and rednecky as it might be. In any case, this stuff is still much
too weird and unpredictable to be just your average country-rock: these
rhythms and strange chord changes are pure Family, ladies and gentlemen,
Family, Britain's most unjustly forgotten Underground band (and yes, there
was such a thing as the underground in the early Seventies, too).
Bonus tracks add one more slow, addictive country dance tune ('Stop This
Car') with delicate slide licks and a mandolin hanging in the background
(or is that a balalaika?), and the more rockin' 'Drink To You' which I
don't care that much about, but I think that, given some more energy and
force, it would have excellently passed as a Faces number.
In any case, as a swan song, this album is definitely not as bad as it
could be - although the concept is really somewhat weird for a farewell
album. The States didn't swallow it, of course, and it was probably never
released there at all. But if you have nothing against roots rock, grab
it if you see it lying somewhere in the corner, tattered and forgotten.
It will make a fine and adequate reminiscence of a truly worthy band.
Checkout this
review - then mail your ideas
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