This Review Along With 500 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CLASSIC 1970s ROCK On CD - Exception Remasters
Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...Daft, I Call It..."
Family's back catalogue has
had its fair share of reissue go-rounds (See For Miles, Essential, Madfish and
more). But for me - these dinky Repertoire repro sleeves from 2006 - sporting
quality remasters and relevant bonus tracks - are just what I need.
The German reissue label
Repertoire re-released just three of these titles in March 2006 - each a
limited edition of 4000 non-numbered copies - 1970's "Anyway on Repertoire
REPUK 1082 (Barcode 4009910108222) - 1971's "Fearless" on Repertoire
REPUK 1083 (Barcode 4009910108321) and 1972's "Bandstand" on
Repertoire REPUK 1084 (Barcode 4009910108123). The barcodes were in fact only
on the shrink-wrapped stickers that accompanied each reissue - so many got lost
once that was ripped open.
As each original FAMILY
album (Reprise Records in the UK, United Artists in the USA) came in unique and
beautiful packaging - each of these seminal Rock-Prog albums have been ripe for
Repro Artwork fiends. Which brings us to one of their best albums - here are
the 'daft I call it' details...
UK and Europe released March
2006 (April 2006 in the USA) - "Fearless" by FAMILY on Repertoire
REPUK 1083 (Barcode 4009910108321) is a Limited Edition of 4000 Copies with
Full Mini LP Repro Artwork (flaps sleeve and red inner) and Four Bonus Tracks
(53:46 minutes):
1. Between Blue And Me [Side
1]
2. Sat'd'y Barfly
3. Larf And Sing
4. Spanish Tide
5. Save Some For Thee
6. Take Your Partners [Side
2]
7. Children
8. Crinkly Grin
9. Blind
10. Burning Bridges
Tracks 1 to 10 are their 6th
album "Fearless" - released November 1971 in the UK on Reprise
Records K 54003 and February 1972 in the USA on United Artists UAS-5562.
Produced by FAMILY and GEORGE CHKIANTZ - it peaked at No. 14 in the UK LP
charts and No. 177 in the USA.
BONUS TRACKS:
11. In My own Time
12. Seasons
Tracks 11 and 12 are the
non-album A&B-sides of a UK 7" single released July 1971 on Reprise K
14090 (peaked at No. 4)
13. Between Blue And Me
(Live)
14. Sing 'Em The Way I Feel
(Live)
Tracks 13 and 14 first
appeared on the February 2004 CD Reissue of "Fearless” on Mystic MYS CD
172 (Barcode 604388621729)
FAMILY was:
ROGER CHAPMAN - Lead Vocals,
Guitars and Percussion
CHARLIE WHITNEY - Guitars,
Mandolin and Percussion
POLI PALMER - Keyboards, Vibes,
Flute and Percussion
JOHN WETTON - Guitars,
Vocals, Contracts and Keyboards
ROB TOWNSEND - Drums, Paiste
Cymbals and Percussion
Guests:
The Ladbroke Horns
Both the UK and American
original vinyl LPs came in an elaborate 'flaps sleeve' with a Red Inner bag –
lyrics on one side, the other side blank. Repertoire have cleverly repro'd the
four-flap gatefold sleeve into a slightly-oversized 5”Mini LP carefully
including the 'daft I call it' bunny rabbit on the rear cover along with the
'this album is dedicated to all the people who have pulled strokes for or
against us, for they shall be called fearless' quote. They've put the lyrics on
one side of the red four-leaf foldout page with the blank side now filled in
with JOHN TRACY and his superlative liner notes (John did many of the booklets
on the early Decca and Deram CD reissues in the late 80s and early 90s – Savoy
Brown, Thin Lizzy, Them, Keef Hartley, Moody Blues, Cat Stevens etc). The rear
cover also states a 'Limited Edition' of 4000 (the barcode is only on the outer
shrinkwrap and not on the repro).
It doesn't say which
Remaster has been used or who did it – but I've never found any Repertoire CD
Reissue to be anything other than banging – and their 2006 version of
"Fearless" is no different (see my separate reviews for David
Clayton-Thomas, Merry Clayton, CCS and All Kooper/Shuggie Otis on Repertoire).
This thing sounds great. Let's get to the music...
It opens with "Between
Blue And Me" – a gentle acoustic strum intro soon becoming "...waves
of emotion, sea of joy..." as the big guitars dominate and Roger Chapman
lets rip with that utterly extraordinary voice of his. Even though I've heard
it so many times over the years - somehow it keeps growing on me - the drums
and bass are particularly prevalent in this transfer. Downtown cruisin' with a
diamond pin and a funky hat sees "Sat'd'y Barfly" get all barroom
leery with a barrelhouse piano and brass band (drunk as Hell and the band still
playing at 4 a.m.). Again it's another clever little bleeder of a song that's
actually better than its boozy beat. "...Losing sometimes means you
win...if you let the true you thru..." Chapman sings on the very Colin
Blunstone "Larf And Sing" - a strange little song with clever vocal
passages. "Spanish Tide" is a typically beguiling Family song - all
chopping and changing as it chugs along from its sweet clavinet opening -
Wetton's King Crimson influence showing in the complicated yet somehow
beautiful structure. Side 1 ends with the very Jethro Tull rhythms of "Save
Some For Thee" - and once again those brass moments punchy as a kangaroo
on crack...
The decidedly jagged
"Take Your Partners" is essentially a six-minute guitar work out
occasionally interrupted by a few rapidly sung verses - I've always honestly
found it hard work. The impossibly pretty "Children" is the opposite
- an all-melody acoustic ditty that feels like the carefree child that inspired
the song. Poli Palmer penned the short Colosseum/Greenslade keyboard-and-guitar
instrumental "Crinkly Grin" - the kind of Fusion Rock that feel like
it should have been allowed to play longer. The slide guitars and eerie
background soundscape to "Blind" make Family feel like Beefheart's
Magic Band chipping away in the background while the master growls his way
through 'pictures of people in pain' on the microphone. It ends on my personal
fave - "Burning Bridges" - a guitar builder that features amazing
vocal patterns and feels like Kevin Ayers swirling around images and sounds
over on Harvest Records. The inclusion of the superb July 1971 UK single
"In My Own Time" and its chipper B-side "Sometimes" feels
like the words 'Bonus Tracks' actually do apply here.
I'd admit that FAMILY would
not be everyone’s idea of musical Nirvana and parts of this lovely CD of "Fearless"
only hammers that home. But that doesn't stop this from being a very tasty
reissue in every department and there's nowt daft about that...
