Family - BBC Radio Volume 2 1971-73

[Steve M.]

Now out from Hux - the second volume of Family's sessions for BBC's Radio 1, covering the period from March 1971 to May 1973! There are some fine performances here, as the group weathered various personnel changes, but they always managed to stay rock solid!

By 1970, Family were already a different band from the one that stunned the U.K. with their landmark debut album Music In a Doll's House only two years earlier. With new members John Weider on bass and Poli Palmer on keyboards, flute, and vibes, the band from Leicester could tackle any kind of music - rock, jazz, country, blues, and even a little bit of classical - with great dexterity and authenticity! Weider's replacement, John Wetton (you might have heard of him! ), was especially adept at keeping Family's reputation alive with his economical bass playing. And the BBC sessions they undertook in the early seventies certainly bear all this out! Included here are killer versions of their classic songs "Part of the Load," "Save Some For Thee," "In My Own Time," and Between Blue and Me."

So without further ado, we have Volume 2!

[Steve M.]

Well, just link to it here!

[Steve M.]

Plus, you can go here for more information on this CD - from the Hux Records page itself!

[Steve M.]

With all of that out of the way, we pick up the story where we left off back in August! (Yeah, I know, I promised I'd be back in October, but hey, better late than never! )

Family spent 1970 putting out two classic albums, A Song For Me and the half-live, half-studio Anyway, playing at the legendary Kralingen festival in Rotterdam in June, and appearing at the third and final Isle of Wight festival in August. They even found time to play gigs here in the U.S. of A., and they went better than their disastrous April 1969 American debut at the Fillmore East. By the end of 1970, Family were one of the top progressive bands in Britain, and their fame extended to Germany, Belgium, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries. But the biggest prize still eluded them - making it big in America.

All of this activity in 1970 meant that Family didn't have much time for radio performances on the Beeb's Radio 1. They'd make up for that in the new year, 1971, a year that would also see them obtain a new bassist and record their greatest album.

[Steve M.]

On March 16, 1971, Family went to the BBC studios and recorded five songs for British broadcasting legend Bob Harris. While they tended to use their radio show appearances to preview new material, this time they did songs from their most recent album and even did a couple of tunes from the Rick Grech era. So here's the first of them:

"Strange Band": This autobiographically titled number was available in studio form as a single and in live form on Anyway. Powerfully delivered on the latter record, this BBC version is faithful to the group's original arrangement but sounds a little bit reserved. Nothing really wrong with this performance of "Strange Band" - certainly nothing wrong with John Weider's violin solo - but it lacks the rawness of the concert version on Anyway. But it's still Family as we know them, nothing to sneeze at. Least of all where Roger Chapman is concerned.

Poli Palmer's vibes stand out here, and Chapman cleverly melds the first half of one verse with the second half of another toward the end of the song.

[Steve M.]

"Hometown": Originally the B-side of Family's November 1968 single "Second Generation Woman," the studio version is a rarity. I've never heard it, so I can't compare it to this BBC version. The BBC version is quite compelling, though, as Chappo laments the desctruction urban renewal has wrought on his hometown of Leicester, with Charlie Whitney providing some solid acoustic guitar riffs and Rob Townsend offering up some lively bongos. The song picks up in intensity a little, and it ends abruptly with Chapman pretty much resigned to his hometown's fate. Strong, intense folk rock that almost rivals Fairport Convention alumnus Richard Thompson's best work.

[Steve M.]

"Medley: Processions / No Mule's Fool": This is an interesting experiment that Family had already tried before on a Belgian television appearance - melding a song from their second album with their first charting single, the chords of both being somewhat similar. (For details on these songs, see the BBC Radio Volume 1 thread.) The medley is played at a slow, dreamy, hypnotic pace; the childhood dreams of one song blend perfectly with the laid-back happiness of the other. John Weider provides a stirring violin solo, and Poli Palmer alternates between the vibraphone and the flute with amazing dexterity. Chapman takes it easy a bit, but he gets very emotionally involved in the words.

[Steve M.]

"Part of the Load": This is a crisp, driving variation on their song about toruing America, with Chappo in fine form and anchored by Poli Palmer's vibes and Rob Townsend's subtle drumming. The song is carried entirely along John Weider's sly bass line (Bmm b-bmm, bmm-b-bmm, bmm-bmm-m), but Charlie Whitney also gets in on the act with a sharp, biting guitar solo more developed than the one on the familiar version of "Part of the Load" from Anyway. And the end of this take, Family plays an extended instrumental passage, followed by a band repetition of Weider's bass riff. It gets softer and softer (a little bit softer now, a little bit softer now) each time, then the band plays it

REALLY LOUD

to close the song! (The tune fades out on Anyway.)

[Steve M.]

"Lives and Ladies": This antiwar song, made more relevant these days by the conflict in Iraq, crackles with an electric arrangement, more so than the similar but less gritty version on Anyway. This take is centered more on Charlie Whitney's biting guitar than on the record, and Chappo economizes his voice, saving his heavier bleats for the more accusatory lyrics against the "masters of war" he addresses.

[Steve M.]

Bob Harris is the most important British rock deejay / presenter whose name isn't John Peel.


(Bob Harris, on the set of his TV show The Old Grey Whistle Test.)

A knowledgable expert on popular music, Harris was the first host of BBC2 Television's The Old Grey Whistle Test, which ran from 1971 to 1987. The series presented performances from the most artistically relevant popsters and rockers of the seenties and eighties. He was already becoming a broadcasting legend when he presented Family on BBC Radio 1 in the sprng of 1971.

Harris began The Old Grey Whistle Test in September of that year, and one of the first bands to perform on the program was - you guessed it - Family.

Today Harris hosts Friday and Saturday night programs on the Beeb's Radio 2, as well as a show on the high-tech station 6 Digital.

[Steve M.]

After a triumphant appearance at the Glastonbury rock festival in June 1971 (yes, they still had rock festivals as late as then!), Family suffered a setback when bassist John Weider left the group. They were not able to find a replacement right away, so in this July 1971 session for Top Gear they performed as a quartet, with Charlie Whitney playing occasional bass or Poli Palmer approximating bass lines on his synthesizer, Ray Manzarek style, to fill the bass guitar parts. On July 2, Family previewed four new songs, two of which would be soon released as a single; the other two would appear on their upcoming album, Fearless.

Here's the first song!

"Burning Bridges": Family's song about being taunted by spirits, which would close Fearless, gets a very rough reading here - the sound is grainy and almost claustrophobic - but key elements, such as Charlie Whitney's mandolin and the overall creepy vibe, were already in place. Whitney also creates some effectively moody slide guitar lines, and Poli Palmer throws in a few offhand piano flourishes that wouldn't make the final version. Roger Chapman sings as if he's still familiarizing himself with the lyrics, though, and he has yet to perfect the Peter Gabriel-style vocal that he would use to great effect on record.

[Steve M.]

"Save Some For Thee": On Fearless, this song would start up and slow down between verses, giving it what I call "pop style without the pop sound," and it was anchored by John Wetton's lead vocals and augmented by a brass ensemble. For Radio 1, with Wetton not in the band yet, Family offered up a distinctly different arrangement; the tempo is slightly quicker and more consistent, giving the song more of a spirited boogie feel. Roger Chapman sings a gruff lead vocal throughout, and Poli Palmer provides a bass synthesizer line along which Charlie Whitney plays guitar in a more pronounced fashion than the way he would on record. Rob Townsend, of course, keeps everyone on track with his perfect timekeeping. A good, steady performance all around.

[Steve M.]

"In My Own Time:" A difficult song to play and sing, Family nailed it on the Beeb with a performance as sharp and crisp as the single version. The arrangement is very close to what Family would achieve with it in the studio; this is one song the group didn't have to tinker with much. High energy from Roger Chapman on vocals complements Rob Townsend's steady drumming; Charlie Whitney plays the bass here with a steady hand. "In My Own Time" was Family's biggest hit single in Britain, peaking at number four.

[Steve M.]

"Seasons": This would become the B-side of "In My Own Time," and here Family performed a more upbeat version on the Beeb than the arrangement that would be used on record. It's a slow folk rock song, but still an enjoyable listen; Chapman croons (for lack of a better word) a lyircal cycle of the sesaons, from the beginning of winter to the end of autumn, with some moving music . Poli Palmer conrtributes flute, vibes, and piano.

[Steve M.]

Poli Palmer was neither a member of Family's original nor final lineup, yet in the three years he was in the group, he left an indelible impression on Family and contributed a great deal to their music.



(John "Poli" Palmer in an undated photo.)

Palmer played a wide array of instruments - piano, flute, vibraphone, synthesizer - and excelled at all of them. His mastery at several instruments and his high-cailber musicianship allowed Family to become more experimental and daring - which helped make 1970's A Song For Me and 1971's Fearless perfect albums from beginning to end.