Family - A Strange Band But One Of Leicester’s Finest

Introduction

My first exposure to Family was seeing them perform “In My Own Time” on Top of the Pops and was struck by the absolutely manic look and voice of their lead singer Roger Chapman. Their sound isn’t straight rock or progressive though the songs have reasonably standard formats with elements of folk and dissonance in there.

They had two particularly impressive album covers, “Fearless” with its layered band images and “Bandstand” which was in the form of a television and opened up to show the inner workings. The music on all their albums is very impressive.

Family were formed in Leicester and were active from late 1966 to October 1973, and again since 2013 for a series of live shows. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, as their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles such as folk, psychedelia, acid rock, jazz fusion, and rock and roll. The original line up of the band was John "Charlie" Whitney (guitars), Jim King (saxophones, vocals, harmonica), Rob Townsend (drums), Ric Grech (bass, vocals, violin) and Roger Chapman (vocals)

I thought I should do a playlist of some significant songs by the band as I do listen to them quite a lot and thought it would only be polite to share their music with you.

In My Own Time (A Single)

In the sixties and seventies bands released singles that did not appear on any of their albums (apart from compilations), and this composed by Chapman and Whitney is an example of that. It is the song that got me into Family and I love the dissonant intro followed by Chapman's voice which is then used as a framework to build the whole song on.

"Strange Band" from "Anyway"

This is almost their theme song and is the perfect introduction to the music of Family. Starting with Ric Grech playing a single note on his violin and sounding like some vicious insect before block chords and Roger Chapman's voice completely attack the aural sensitivities of the listener.

"No Mules Fool" from "A Song For Me"

This was not intended to appear on an album, but in the United States, United Artists Records placed it at the beginning of the U.S. edition of Family's 1970 album "A Song For Me".

This shows Family's musical variety being almost country based, a lot gentler that the previous two songs on this playlist.

"My Friend The Sun" from "Bandstand"

This is an absolute beauty from the album "Bandstand" with its television cover. When I first heard this I was sort of shocked because it has no discord or aggression, just a gentle arms round someone who needs comfort feeling. I think anyone who listens to this will immediately fall in love with it.

"Burlesque" from "Bandstand"

This feels a little decadent with the trademark Family sound, but more laid back that some of their songs. Makes me think of New Orleans for some reason but that is just me. Another classic single by the band but this also appeared on an album.

"Lives and Ladies" from "Anyway"

The UK edition of the album came housed in a plastic see-through sleeve with a gatefold non-pocket inner card design by Hamish and Gustav. The outer illustration was licensed from Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan and was titled 'Mortars With Explosive Projectiles' by Leonardo da Vinci. Lives and Ladies in a poignant anti-war song and was a particular favourite of John Peel's and he conrinued to feature long after the album had dropped out of the charts

Conclusion

This is a very brief dip into the music of this amazing band. I had never heard anything like them before and have not heard their like since. To me they still sound incredibly contemporary, but maybe that is just a sign of any good band.

I hope you listen to a few of these songs and find someting that you admire or love.