Family - Bandstand CD (expanded)
SKU
23-Eclec 2850
“This new expanded edition has been newly remastered from the original master tapes and also includes ten bonus tracks drawn from the single ‘The Rockin’ Rs’, four unreleased studio out-takes from May 1971 and a BBC Radio session from October 1972. This new expanded remastered release also features an illustrated booklet with a new essay.”
How to explain Family's 6th album (1972) 30 years later? Take a idiosyncratic vocalist, who, like Peter Hammill or Don Van Vliet you either grow to love or hate (Roger Chapman) combine his talents with a standard guitar-led rock format, but add a multi-instrumentalist who plays vibes/piano/flute, a great bassist (John Wetton!), and have the guitarist add mandolin at the right times. Stir this wild and creative mix of hard rock and and folk and shake it all up with a lot of thought and experimentation, while still keeping it a 'song format' based album with almost all of the songs being well under 5 minutes, and you have this great album! Over the last few years I've gotten extremely fond of this band and of Chapman, but it's an acquired taste for sure, so this is conditionally highly recommended! Sadly, this was pretty much the end of the line for Family. One more (not very good, contractual obligation) album followed.
- LabelEsoteric
- UPC5013929485099