Family Doll Music

The first time I heard Family was a few years back on a radio show in my area. This show was famous for playing Progressive Rock and other spacey music that I have never heard before. I was glad to hear it too. It was not like music I have heard before. Furthermore if this was Progressive Rock then the songs were not that long at all. On the other hand the music was lush and odd like Progressive Rock. It was odd, but I liked it and that was good enough for me.

About a few months after hearing them I was reading a music about lost Progressive Rock music. This magazine devoted in finding the classic gems that we barely remember when we were young and shaped them into a great issue of stuff I was dying to find out more about. The magazine was pretty cool adding a CD that had some of these lost gems on it. It was a good way to find new, old music that I would love to hear. It was a great issue because at the end it gave the best Progressive Rock albums. Before looking at the list I said to myself that I would know all of them because since I am a fan of the genre I should have them all. At the end of the list of forty I had thirty-four of them. Shocking to most of my friends, but true. I knew the artist they picked but had no idea about the album. The funny thing about Family was that what I heard in that brief moment was somewhat groundbreaking, but to this magazine it was much more then that. 

Not the original line-up of Family 1970 Version 

In the magazine this what they said that caught my eyes. "Family's fully fledged 1968 debut was progressive in the truest sense of the word. While studio trickery-phasing, backwards masking, musical interludes linking track-placed them in the Psychedelic camp, some creative arrangements, making the best of the unusual combination of reeds and violin opened up whole new visits... and unique vocals agenda holding everything together." Furthermore, it stated that it was critically a hit and paved the way for other Family albums that deserve more reappraisal. Well, that was enough for me. 

It took me a while to find some of their stuff, but about two months after reading that I found the album they were talking about in the magazine. This is the same album I am mentioning here. Music In A Doll's House. It is quite unique for music goes, but it is still quite a gem. It includes a famous bass player/ violin player who played in Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker. This man's name is Ric Grech. Later on the lineup changed a bit and added was another famous bass player by the name of John Wetton. If you know who that is; he played in the band Asia, King Crimson and another cool short lived band called U.K.

At first listen you might not get it, but after a while you can see why I like this album. The music is quite different then all the rest and it really wants you to pay attention. The music does not have stand out tracks, or long songs like other albums. It is just really great music that has a good touch and a really a mark of a band that was truly ahead of their time. When I mentioned at the beginning of this blog about music that was different or beyond. This is what I am talking about. Enjoy and give it a try it might be really unique and for me that is good enough! Enjoy!