Hey, Mr Policeman

Family had a six or seven year journey from the height of London's flower power, through roots and prog rock and onto... somewhere entirely unique.

I've played my favourites amongst their albums to many, many people and the majority think they're either awful or dull. This mainly lies with Roger Chapman: his voice can be grating - a mixture of heavy vibrato and bluesy growl - and his lyrics sometimes verge on the neanderthal. But the weird thing for me is that they are the only blues influenced rock band that I really love. Others from this era (Led Zep, The Who, et al) have moments that I like but never really captured me like Family did and still do.

In the end it all comes down to Charlie Whitney's concise, elegant songwriting and the easy playing style of the musicians.

"Music In A Doll's House" is a small psychedelic gem with typical late 60s sonic inventiveness and a hint of the playfullness that they used throughout their career. None of the other albums sound remotely like this and so it's not one that I come back to very often. But the 3 or 4 standout tracks make this as good as many of the more fancied releases of the time like The Zombies "Odyssey and Oracle".

mp3: See Through Windows

I've missed out tracks from the next 3 albums (Entertainment, A Song For Me and Anyway) because this period of the band doesn't excite me much at all. They play in a rocky progressive style that I always regarded as sub-standard. You should know, however, that these are the albums that made Family big in the UK, especially the song 'The Weavers Answer".

Bassist John Wetton was what initially drew me to Family. His muscular playing in King Crimson was one of the highlights of that band for me and so I had to check out his previous career. "Fearless" was the first album he performed on and he seems to have changed their slightly dirge laden earlier style into something much more melodic and perfectly arranged.

mp3: Save Some For Thee

"Bandstand" is often stated as the band's apex but, although it has some of their very best songs, the quality fades out too much towards then end. Poli Palmer's up front synth lines were another reason I wanted to buy one for myself.

mp3: My Friend The Sun
mp3: Bolero Babe

Wetton and Palmer left after "Bandstand" but the core of the group played on until their final release "It's Only A Movie". They were augmented with more good musos including Tony Ashton, who would have some fame later for his part in the hit "The Resurrection Shuffle". I actually think this is a better album overall than "Bandstand" but don't tell the fans that.

mp3: It's Only a Movie
mp3: Boots 'n' Roots

Buy their albums:
Doll's House +
Fearless
Bandstand
...Movie