Family (Official Thread)

[Sox]

1966-1973 a British band with an original sound, Roger Chapman, Ric Grech, Jim King/ John Whitney ... They hit their own progressive groove with a mix of jazz, folk, psychedelia, rock and vocals which will certainly leave an impression one way or another.

Studio albums ...

1968 Music in a Doll's House

1969 Family Entertainment

1970 A Song for Me

1970 Anyway

1971 Fearless

1972 Bandstand

1973 It's Only a Movie

Burlesque

 

[Sweaty]

Re: Family

Saw Mr Chapman a couple of years ago, very good, Music In A Dolls house is meant to be a great album, keep meaning to buy it but not got round to it yet.

 

[Magic]

Re: Family

Not knowing this band I decided to look them up and give a couple albums a try. I have discovered they are very similar in sound to the Yardbirds and Traffic. Their sound is kinda artsy and psychedelic.

This band definitely is worth looking into. It is such a shame they went into oblivion.



Scene Through the Eye of a Lens

Gypsy Woman

Peace of Mind

 

[gratefulfunk]

Re: Family

Famous "White Album" of The Beatles was originally intended to be called "A Doll's House".
But Family was the first to name their debut album, so The Beatles had to drop the idea.
Family's album was co-produced by Traffic's David Mason.
Congratulations Magic

Bass players of Family used to play violin too (Rich Grech, John Wetton...)
This was Rich Grech who played violin on Blind Faith's Sea Of Joy (together Clapton, Winwood and Baker.)
Family's performance at the Isle of Wight 1970 was incredible.
Try to listen to Weaver's Answer.

 

[joe]

Re: Family

Music In A Doll's House is one of the first prog albums and was very influential in the development of progressive rock. Roger Chapman's vocals are somewhat of an aquired taste. Thier second album, Family Entertainment isn't as strong as thier first as they also incorporated some blues rock tracks as well.

Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney formed the Streetwalkers after the demise of Family in 1975 with four hard rock albums in the last half of '70's as they left thier progressive rock with Family.

I place Music In A Doll's House in the "lost classics" category.

 

[Damocles74]

Re: Family

Roger Chapman is a straight lunatic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVreMCXLxqY

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Family

O.K., so I checked out the whole album Again while doing my 70's thread:



I already gave Sox my opinion of the lead singer sounding like a cross between:

This


And

This




Well, the kicker is regardless the singer goes all out and the band kicks ass! I ended up going to being like this is really cool. In the same way one does when they hear Joe Cocker's sloshy drunken Englishman voice and hear the passion in it. The vocalist just shouts like a madman and the music moves with the same intensity and insanity. It grows on you as something really cool to listen to.

The arrangements are creative, heavy and intense, the guitars explosive and every note of this band is full on. They really are a gem to be uncovered because no other band sounds like them. Here are the three gems I like most:

Good News, Bad News


Strange Band


Lives and Ladies

 

[Sweaty]

Still need to get this album

Music In A Dolls House

 

[Regent45]

Progressive rock, also known as prog rock or prog, is a rock music subgenre that originated in the United Kingdom and that is my favourite.

 

[Bonham'ssqueakypedal]

Music in a doll's house is a great album. A true unsung classic imo.

Family Entertainment is a better sounding album but it's tough to beat their debut. FE is still very good though.

I don't know anything else by this band though but hope to change that at some point. I've heard that their last album is pretty crappy though and maybe that's why they broke up.

I would say they were more like an art rock band or a proto progressive band rather than a full blown prog band. This is based on what I know about them.