Family: Bandstand - 1972

After several albums in which Leicester band Family struggled to create or impose any sort of identity - were they art rock, country rock, hard rock, prog rock? - this was their best-known and most successful release. For me, though, it has always been a bit disappointing.

Anyway, let's start with a big positive. They had decided to go more down the hard, gritty rock with a poppy edge road and nowhere was this better exemplified than on the album's hit single opener, the magnificent Burlesque. I remember back in 1972 a friend of mine had the single (we had to share singles around due to lack of money) and we played it endlessly. We loved its authentic, bluesy sound as well as its hooky appeal. Singer Roger Chapman had that earthy, Paul Rodgers-style rugged voice and his tale of a night at a Leicester bar called Burlesque rollin', tumblin', drinkin' and sinkin' with Rita and Greta (sung rhymingly as "Greeta") was a captivating evocative one. It was simply one of the early seventies' great, underrated singles. Its riff is a knockout one too - da da da da da da daaaah!

At the time, looking for a credible band to lock on to, I briefly chose Family, eagerly pretending to like their next single, the dreamy, bucolic My Friend The Sun. In reality, at thirteen-fourteen, deep down I knew that I wasn't fooling anyone. It wasn't really my thing. Nevertheless, the song's airy, acoustic hook has stuck with me throughout the intervening years, albeit mainly for nostalgic reasons.The single was not a hit, maybe unsurprisingly in those glam-dominated years, despite considerable radio play. 

Bolero Babe is in a bit of the same low-key style as My Friend The Sun, featuring some strings on the backing and another of those slightly fuzz, dreamy vocals from Chapman. After hearing him perform on Burlesque, though, I have to question whether his voice is not suited to this sort of material. He should be bluesily rocking out, surely? Coronation is in the same sort of vein - maudlin and with a touch of self-pity on the vocal. Coming after Burlesque's wonderful opening to the album, these two take the album down somewhat, I have to say. I do like the understated drum and organ backing on Coronation, however.

Dark Eyes is more wistful, backed by some Jethro Tull-style sounding flute, or maybe it is more like Traffic? Either way, at one minute forty-something seconds, the track just fades out way too soon. 

Talking of Jethro Tull, the album's pace picks up on the Tull-esque Broken Nose. The lyrics are pretty indecipherable, to be honest, buried under the tinny production, although it is supposed to be about social class structure. The same applies to Glove, a slow, string-backed rock number about giving a lady back a dropped glove, (I think). There is a muddiness to the production on much of this album that is simply not present on the dynamic Burlesque, for some reason.

A bit better is the muscular grind of Ready To Go. Along with the two two singles, it is the album's best track, and, as it only a run-of-the-mill number, that has to say something about the album, doesn't it? Top Of The Hill reverts to sleepiness once more, despite some fine bass from John Wetton (Roxy Music, King Crimson). 

I think some of my comparative negativity comes from the fact that it remains un-remastered - 16 bit/44.1 kHz. There is an un-bright, dull tone to the sound which makes it sound pretty unremarkable, which maybe, actually, it just is. An album of unrealised potential for me.