Just out from Hux Records in Britain and available on Amazon.co.uk - A new compilation of BBC radio perfromances from Family has been issued! :) These Radio One studio performances range from September 1968 through July 1969, with an extra edge only found in a live recording. Versions of "Drowned In Wine" and "The Weaver's Answer" not heard since the Beeb transmitted them, along with several songs performed before being commercially released, are represented by this compilation, along with a rare cover of bluesman J.B. Lenoir's "I Sing'Em The Way I Feel." The original lineup of Roger Chapman (vocals), Charlie Whitney (guitar), Jim King (saxophone, piano), Rick Grech (bass, violin) and Rob Townsend (drums) is represented, with the July 28, 1969 show featuring Grech's replacement, John Weider.

Want to learn more? Click here! (http://www.huxrecords.com/cdsales57.htm) :cool:

I just heard it tonight - it's great! :D The BBC album has far more surprises than last year's Live concert album issue!

One surprise is Rick Grech, whose bass playing is heavier and more upfront than usual. He was not only an accomplished bassist, he was classically trained on violin and cello, both of which he integrated into Family's rock sound flawlessly. :)

Sadly, Rick Grech is no longer with us. He died in 1990 after complications brought on by liver and kidney failure, a result of his heavy drug use in the sixties and seventies. :(

So let's discuss the tracks from the new Family CD one by one, shall we?

The first set of tracks were recorded for the BBC on September 3, 1968, for the Radio 1 show "Saturdady Club."

"See Through Windows" - Apart from a few lyrical changes, this version is identical to the arrangement offered on Music In a Doll's House. It's a good band performance, with some stunning psychedelic blues harmonica from Jim King.

"The Weaver's Answer" - I was hoping that this version of Family's signature song would be less in the style of the stately version on Family Entertainment and more in that of the heavy rock version that whipped the crowd into a frenzy at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival. No such luck; it's very much in keeping with the officially released version. It's still pretty good, though, and Roger Chapman's vocal has more punch here. Rick Grech's haunting violin never ceases to stir me.

"The Breeze" - Family mostly stayed musically faithful to the original arrangement with this Doll's House number, with its tick-tock metronome arrangement, but this version of "The Breeze" has completely different lyrics. More adventurous takes on their songs would follow. :)

Here's a shot of Rick Grech, concentrating on his music, during a recording session:

http://members.aol.com/fampics/circle/grech.jpg

Jim King was an orignal Family member and the group's original lead singer. He played saxophone (tenor and soprano), harmonica, and the occasional piano. One song from Family's catalog bears a King lead vocal - "Observations From a Hill."

http://members.aol.com/fampics/circle/king.jpg

(Jim King playing soprano saxophone during an outdoor concert, presumably a show in London's Hyde Park.)

In November 1968, the main focus of rock fans was the pending release of the Beatles's new double album, which was going to be named A Doll's House until Family issued its debut album. Family chose this time to release a new single that would be included on their second album, due out in February. And so, on November 11, the group played the new single and two cuts from the coming album (to be called Family Entertainment) for the BBC Radio 1 show Top Gear. Each song had a different lead singer, with Rick Grech, Jim King, and Roger Chapman sharing frontman duties. These November 1968 performances showed a confident band plowing full speed ahead.

"Second Generation Woman" - The new single, this Rick Grech song was a fast Chuck Berry-style rocker that recalled the Beatles's "Paperback Writer." It was wilder here than it was on record, with Grech's cheeky vocal and Charlie Whitney's stinging guitar carrying the day. Not on the single was a shout from Grech as the band went into the first of two instrumental breaks - "SOCK IT TO ME!" Grech clearly had a thing for Aretha Franklin! :)

Now you got me more interested in them!!! I wanna know what they sound like!!!:cool:

Originally posted by Captain ABlairica
Now you got me more interested in them!!! I wanna know what they sound like!!!:cool:

Al- RIGHT! :cool: Here's a site with two Family sound clips to check out - www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/4950/family.htm (http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/4950/family.htm). And for a full list of Family CD's for sale, go here (http://www.timelapse-records.co.uk/category_f.htm), and here (http://www.mysticrecords.co.uk) as well.

As noted, Hux Records sells the CD I'm currently reviewing. You can access their Web site on the second post of this thread. :)

"Observations From a Hill" - This song is played with the same arrangement and the same energy as on Family Entertainment. Jim King's lilting vocal is complemented by a rich acoustic guitar. The one weak spot is King's harmonies with Chapman on the line "These are observations from a hill" - they sound like they stepped back from the mikes. More likely a BBC studio glitch than anything else.

"Dim" - As with the other songs from Family's upcoming second album, the band previewed it on the BBC with an arrangement very faithful to what they'd gotten on record. Clearly, this highly experimental band wasn't interested in toying too much with their new songs, especially when they were three months away from release. "Dim" is a strightforward country rocker, and it's performed here with a crisp finger-pickin' riff from Charlie Whitney. Roger Chapman is in fine voice; he's holding back on his trademark "electric goat" vibrato, which would get a real workout on the Beeb soon enough. Special mention should go to Jim King for his spirited harmonica; he may very well have been the best blues harmonica player in Britain, and maybe even the best white blues harmonica player ever, bar Magic Dick Salwitz of the J. Geils Band.

Richard John Whitney - you can call him "Charlie" - was Family's lead guitarist for the band's entire existence.

http://members.aol.com/fampics/circle/whit.jpg

While he wasn't as adept or as technically good as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, or Jimi Hendrix, Whitney could play six-string and and twelve-string with equal dexterity - hence his penchant for double-necked Gibsons - and he could make the strings on either neck roar ferociously when necessary. ;) Whitney's work on the acoustic guitar in Family's folkish tunes was nothing short of breathtaking.

Fronting Family was the maniacal lead singer Roger Chapman, known to his fans as "Chappo."

http://members.aol.com/fampics/circle/chap.jpg

Chapman grew up in Leicester listening to the blues and to rock and roll. His two idols were Little Richard and Ray Charles, and he employed his vibrato-laden voice to sound like a cross between the two. Instead, he ended up sounding like Roger Chapman.

Chappo's "electric goat" vocal style made Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant sound like a Vegas lounge singer, but he was equally adept at handling acoustic ballads and soulful tearjerkers. He continues to display his awesome talents today as a solo artist.

Unlike the Beatles, who had just been through the disastrous Get Back / Let It Be sessions, and the Rolling Stones, who would make an uneasy transition between Brian Jones and Mick Taylor, Family in early 1969 were one British band who seemed to have their act together. Family Entertainment quickly became their first Top Ten album in the United Kingdom (highest chart position: number six) and they were due to make their United States concert debut in New York in April, as the warmup act for Ten Years After. No one could have known at the start of March 1969, however, that Family would soon be in disarray as well by the following month.

But for now, though, Family were charging ahead with their innovative music and their BBC Radio 1 appearances. On March 3, 1969, they quintet taped a session for the program "Symonds On Sunday." Here they offered versions of Family Entertainment songs different from the ones their British fan base was already getting used to, plus a version of a song that hadn't yet appeared on an album which would bear no resemblance to the version that finally appeared. We deal with that first. :)

"Holding The Compass" - The only recording of this song that Family released while they were together was a live 1970 recording made after Rick Grech and Jim King both left the group. However, this BBC version, with Grech and King still in tow, was radically different from the acoustic, folkish 1970 performance. In addition to extra lyrics in the chorus, the BBC version of "Holding the Compass" has a heavier rock arrangement and fast, staccato tempo, with Roger Chapman delivering his voice accordingly. This was some of the toughest playing Family achieved on tape, and drummer Rob Townsend's precise timekeeping was well-anchored with Grech's bass. What really drives this track, though, is Jim King's jazzy tenor saxophone riffs, along with a breathtaking sax solo.

"Processions" - Charlie Whitney was the sole composer of this song, an anomaly for Family as most of their songs were jointly composed by Whitney and Roger Chapman. A light, midtempo song from Family Entertainment about a boy spending time at the seashore (brightened on record by the late session piano ace Nicky Hopkins), it's even slower here, dreamily carried by Jim King's saxophone and Rick Grech's subtle bass with a little bit of Grech's violin playing thrown in for good measure. Chapman enunciates more freely here than on the album, and Whitney's soft guitar moves the melody along. A fine performance.

"How-Hi-The-Li" - This Rick Grech composition is rather dated, becasue of its sixties "peace and love" message and its references to Chinese prime minister Chou En-Lai (who died in 1975) and the Eastern Communist bloc (you know the story about that). Nevertheless, it's still a pretty good song, especially with the coy references to Chou En-Lai smoking pot ( :eek: ) and the risque line about politicians spewing "verbal diarrhea." ( :eek: :eek: ) Although the BBC version ostensibly follows the Family Entertainmentversion, Chapman's vocal is less restained here, Grech's bass is more upfront, and Rob Townsend's drums are far more pronounced. This version of "How-Hi-The-Li" is undeniably rougher than what Family got on record, and quite intriguing. ;)

Here are two pictures showing Rick Grech in live performance on the instruments he distinguished himself with, violin and bass -

http://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/images/grechbiog2.JPG

The cover of Family Entertainment depicted circus performers - an obvious but clever ripoff of the cover of the Doors's Strange Days - but the original edition of this LP also included a giveaway poster featuring the band with the circus performers. Rob Townsend can be seen humorously sitting in a skinless drum, while Roger Chapman has his arm around a naked lady! :rolleyes:

http://www.collectable-records.ru/images/GROUPS/family/entertainment/poster.jpg

(Family and friends! Left to right: Jim King, Rick Grech, Charlie Whitney, Rob Townsend, Roger Chapman.)

Like John Kerry, I try not to read into things, but note that Grech and King, both of whom would no longer be in the group at the end of 1969, stand apart from the other three here.

A mere eight days after their "Symonds on Sunday" session, Family returned to the Radio 1 to tape an appearance on Top Gear. The group was in a pretty productive phase at this time, and they clearly wanted to display their creativity as much as possible. And so for this March 11, 1969 session they played two original songs destined for their next album and a cover of an old blues number. As it turned out, this would be the last BBC session Family would do before Rick Grech left for (and on) Blind Faith.

Their next album, A Song For Me, would come out in January 1970, and it would include the two new songs played in this BBC session - "Love Is A Sleeper" and what became the title song, "A Song For Me." But both had been written and arranged with Rick Grech's bass style and Jim King's saxophone and harmonica in mind, and by the time they were properly recorded, both Grech and King were gone, and both songs were dramatically rearranged. These two songs are featured on the BBC album the way they were originally meant to be played, by the original group.

"Love Is A Sleeper" - As heard on A Song For Me, this tune is an exquisitely produced but still steamy and intense progressive blues-rocker. But here, Family stripped the song to its essence, than stripped it some more. Jim King's harmonica is raw and throaty, Charlie Whitney's guitar darts through the mix with a ferocious bite, and Rob Townsend thrashes his way through on the drums while still keeping time. (Any possibility that Townsend inspired a young drummer from Toronto named Neil Peart? :D ) Roger Chapman's lead vocal feels like an electrified wire strained to the limit and ready to break. :)

"I Sing 'Um The Way I Feel" - Unlike the Beatles, who recorded several pop and rock standards for both their albums and their BBC appearances, Family mostly stayed with original material in both cases. (In fact, Family only recorded one non-original song for an album - Dave Mason's "Never Like This," which Mason gave to the group while he was producing their debut album.) But old blues and soul classics had been a part of Family's live repertoire back in Leicester, when they were stilll known as the Farinas, and they occasionally returned to them once in a blue moon (mostly onstage) as contracted recording artists.

One such tune was bluesman J.B. Lenoir's "I Sing 'Um The Way I Feel," recorded for the Beeb and now on this album. Family tears through the song with great ferocity and a tight, carefully thought-out arangement. Rob Townsend offers a thunderous drum solo for the intro, and the song takes off as soon as the rest of the band joins in. Notable here are Charlie Whitney's sharp guitar riffs and piercing solos, Roger Chapman's equally piercing and unmistakably rough vocal, and Rick Grech's fluid bass. The music is heavy and nasty, brewing with an intensity and a zest that belies the idea that all blues songs sound weary and despondent. Everyone gets in their licks on this track, but Family, unlike other British bands that attempted to cover blues songs, doesn't wander off into the wilderness; they stay connected to the Lenoir song, and they play like a real, honest-to-goodness group rather than a bunch of blokes soloing and showing off. Not a moment is wasted here, and the effect is a strong, credible performance.

"A Song For Me" - As recorded on the album of the same name, "A Song For Me" was a spellbinding piece of prog-metal with everything including the kitchen sink thrown in. As performed by Family's original lineup on the BBC's Radio 1, though, the tune is more tightly arranged and performed at a faster tempo with some tough saxophone riffs from Jim King. "A Song For Me" was based on a chord progression from a Howlin' Wolf number, and it's hard not to miss the connection in this arrangement. The song starts here with a trainlike rhythm, and Rick Grech and Rob Townsend offering an intense bass-and-drum combo. Charlie Whitney fuels the nasty melody with some gritty guitar notes, and Roger Chapman perfects his trademark "electric goat" vibrato. The music abruptly drops off, leaving Grech's overamplified bass on its own. Townsend comes back in to set the course for the rest of the performance; everyone follows his lead, with the sound and Chapman 's voice building and growing more intense. (Grech puts down the bass for a minute or two to offer up some clever violin playing.) Soon, Townsend's drums are crashing and punching left and right. By the end of the song, Family almost goes over the edge, but they pull back, give King a jazzy sax solo, and bring the song to a fit conclusion. As writer Mick White explains in this album's liner notes, the boundaries of rock, soul, and blues melt away here.

Bluesman J.B. Lenoir was a favorite of the original Family personnel.

http://www.lapsus-gil.de/pix/jb_lenoir.jpg

While Lenoir could do party songs and sexual blues tunes, his main forte was social commentary songs like "Korea Blues," "I'm In Korea," and "Eisenhower Blues" - showing that folk singers like Malvina Reynolds and Pete Seeger weren't the only ones raising questions about fifties conformity in their music. Lenoir's tuens were so overtly political, the U.S. government reprotedly tried to get Chess, for whom he recorded, to censor him. Naturally, he was more popular in countries Great Britain and Sweden than he was here.

Lenoir died in a car crash in Illinois in 1967. :( His music has since been (re)discovered in America.

As Family's drummer, Rob Townsend was an incredible presence in the group.

http://members.aol.com/fampics/circle/town.jpg

(Rob Townsend, as he appeared in 1971.)

The only real virtuoso player in the group, Townsend could produce major full-frontal assaults on his modest Ludwig kit, and he could just easily guide the band through slower songs. Townsend could anchor a song so perfectly, he was able to gel with four different bassists in Family (including John Wetton). He deserves to be recognized as one of rock's greatest drummers, right up there alongside Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, Keith Moon, and John Bonham.

Everything seemed to be coming together for Family as winter turned into spring in 1969 - a Top Ten album in their homeland, respect from the critics, and an upcoming U.S. tour as the warmup act for Ten Years After. Then the roof caved in! :eek:

In early 1969, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood decided to form their own band, Blind Faith. When the time came to select a bass player, Rick Grech was their first, last, and only choice. Naturally, Grech accepted the offer from Clapton and Winwood to join Blind Faith, and he told just about everyone he knew that he was leaving Family and joining Clapton and Winwood's new band (which also would include Ginger Baker on drums).

Grech, however, forgot to tell four people - his Family bandmates!

Grech only told his bandmates on the eve of their American tour with Ten Years After, and Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney were none too happy about the last-minute notice. The only thing they could do now was to do the tour and keep Grech until a replacement could be found. They'd have to find a new bass player and bring him into the group during the tour, because Grech was planning to leave as soon as possible.

On April 8, 1969, Family performed what must clearly still be the worst U.S. debut concert in music history - rock or otherwise. Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney were pretty wound up from Rick Grech's bombshell and from the visa problems that had plagued them, so when they performed at the Filmore East in New York, the band wasn't in the best frame of mind. (Grech was so stoned, he could barely stand.) The crowd was getting impatient for Ten Years After to take the stage, and Chapman - marking his 27th birthday on this day - got so disgusted, he tossed his microphone stand to the side of the stage in anger.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize he threw it in the direction of Fillmore East impresario Bill Graham.

Though Chapman was able to convince Graham that he wasn't deliberately aiming at him, the bad vibes had been set. Many people believe Graham used his influence to have Family blackballed by other promoters. As a result, they were forced off the tour, their record wasn't promoted, and despite later attempts at American stardom, they never made it big in the United States. So, because of fate and an airborne microphone stand, Family never became famous in the U.S., their albums never made it out of the bottom of the Top 200, and they only enjoyed a cult following here at best - which is why I'm the only chap on this board who posts anything on them! :rolleyes:

http://www.sfgate.com/traveler/postcards/bill-graham.jpg

(Bill Graham setting the marquee at the Fillmore in San Francisco. It was at his Fillmore East venue in the Big Apple where a microphone stand came between him and Family's Roger Chapman, altering rock history in unfathomable ways!)

In the middle of their partly scrubbed 1969 tour of the United States, Family found a permanent replacement for Rick Grech. Tour manager Peter Grant - soon to become famous as Led Zeppelin's manager - recommended a young bassist who had played with Eric Burdon and had replaced Mick Green on six-string guitar in Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. (In the pre-Beatles years, Mick Green became British rock's first guitar hero.) In addition to guitar and bass, this kid could also play violin, meaning that Family could still play songs dominated by Grech's violin, like the popular "The Weaver's Answer." And so, ironically, it was in America - probably Detroit - where Family debuted their new bass player.

His name was John Weider, and you'll be hearing more about him later. :)

For the members of Family, the summer of 1969 wasn't exactly the best days of their lives, but they recovered somewhat from their disastrous spring. They played all of the important U.K. summer festivals that year, including the second Isle of Wight festival, and they even opened for the Rolling Stones at their Hyde Park memorial concert for Brain Jones. (Blind Faith, meanwhile, played Hyde Park on June 7, 1969, and went on to tour America and promote their debut album. By the end of the year, Clapton and Winwood realized the band wasn't working out the way they thought it would, and the group broke up, leaving Rick Grech adrift before he reteamed with Winwood in Ginger Baker's Air Force and then a revived version of Traffic.)

Meanwhile, John Weider was proving to be an important part of Family's sound. Eager to charge ahead, and equally eager to preview some new material, Family taped another appearance on the BBC's Radio 1. And so, boys and girls, I direct you to next page on this thread, where we discuss the last segment of this CD. . . .

On July 28, 1969, Family recorded a BBC performance comprised of four songs, none of them previously released. Three of them would appear on A Song For Me, while the fourth, "No Mule's Fool," would become their next single. These songs were written with Jim King's instruments in mind, and King clearly stands out here, but only "No Mule's Fool" would feature King when it was properly recorded later that fall; not coincidentally, it's the only song here that even comes close to the version Family ultimately put out. King would more or less be asked to leave in October when his drug problem became rather severe. (He's still alive.)

And so, the first of these four songs:

"Drowned In Wine:" A song celebrating nonconformity - appropriate from a band like Family - "Drowned In Wine" is a blistering rock performance on record, with heavy electric guitar riffs and an overamplified flute balancing out an acoustic guitar line. Here, however, it's a bit lighter, and Roger Chapman's voice (incendiiary on the record) sounds a bit weary, but the effect is actually more chilling. The acoustic guitar, presumably played by Charlie Whitney, is uncomplemented by an electric guitar; it stands out here rather hauntingly. Jim King's saxophone adds to the intense atmosphere with quick note sequences darting all over, plus some formless, avant-garde sax passages in the instrumental bars. John Weider's thick, heavy bass anchors the song with an omnious, foreboding sense of resignation. This is one of the group's best takes on "Drowned In Wine" I've heard, and I've heard three other live versions.

"Wheels" - This performance is considerably different from Family's recording on A Song For Me. It's performed more as a jazz piece on this album, while the A Song For Me take is more in the vein of Jethro Tull. Here, on the BBC take of "Wheels," Jim King offers a measured, jazzy saxophone solo while Charlie Whitney picks at his guitar in the style of Django Reinhardt or Bucky Pizzarelli. Rob Townsend offers up a distinctive tom-tom riff to go with John Weider providing a steady bass line. Roger Chapman, meanwhile, delivers a vocal more restrained and carefully enunciated than the one on A Song For Me.

"No Mule's Fool" - Soon to be issued as Family's fourth single, this BBC take previewed the record version by three months. The single would reach number 29 on the British singles charts - repsectable, but not good enough to be considered a bona fide hit in the U.K. at the time. (In Britain in 1969, a "hit" was a single that made the Top Twenty.)

The BBC version is rougher and harder than its single counterpart, with a thick bass line from John Weider and a distinctive thud from Rob Townsend's drums. Chappo, as always, is in fine form. Noticeably absent from this BBC version is the violin solo from Weider in the middle eight that would appear on the single.

The single recording of "No Mule's Fool" - a song about a boy and his mule taking it easy on a hot day - was the first Family release to feature Weider and the last to include Jim King, hence it was the only Family release to feature the group's second lineup.

"The Cat and the Rat" - Though they were English, Family's rockabilly was quintessentially American! This song, which was a pure mix of Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, is performed with great spirit and gusto. Charlie Whitney's guitar is heavy and rough, Rob Townsend's drumming is perfect timekeeping, and John Weider offers up an Appalachian-style fiddle solo the group inexplicably dropped when they properly recorded if for their next album, A Song For Me. The sound quality on this BBC recording is a bit muffled, but it's a fine track overall.

The American edition of A Song For Me, released in 1970 on United Artists Records, originally left "The Cat and the Rat" off the album. Incomprehensible! :o

Family released their fourth U.K. single, "No Mule's Fool," in a limited-edition picture sleeve. :)

http://members.aol.com/songforme/singles/mule.jpg

The B-side, "Good Friend of Mine," was a tuneful ballad about a poor man whose friend from school came into money and moved up in life. The poor man assumes - correctly - that his friend's new-found wealth will not change their relationship. It featured soprano saxophone from Jim King and vibraphone from the man who would soon replace him in Family. . . Poli Palmer. (We'll get to him on the thread discussing Family's second BBC Radio album. :) )

John Weider replaced Rick Grech on bass and violin in April 1969.

http://members.aol.com/fampics/circle/weid.jpg

Weider first made his mark as a guitar player in Johnny Kidd's backing group the Pirates, replacing the legendary guitarist Mick Green. A stint with Steve Mariott's Moments followed, then Weider joined Eric Burdon's "New Animals." In the spring of 1969 he got the call to join Family, where he stayed for two years.

Well, there you have it - the sixteen tracks that make up Family's BBC Radio Voulme 1 - 1968-69. Regrettably, I conclude this thread. But fear ye not - Volume 2, which picks up where we just left off, is due to be released by Hux Records on September 27. So we'll cover Volume 2 in October. I'll see you then! ;)

Meanwhile. . . ROCK ON!! :guitar: :drummer: :rock:

Link up to the thread for the second volume of Family's BBC sessions
here! (http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?s=&postid=2190009) :cool: