Formed during the R&B boom of the mid-sixties, Family were one of those much beloved blues influenced hard rock outfits,who became part of the 'progressive' rock movement in the early seventies. That movement was album orientated. Not even Family would have ever thought of themselves as a singles band. The notable thing about Family's sound was Roger Chapman, with the distinctively rough and raucous bleating vocals. Not Top 10 singles material at all, pop pickers.
So it was with some surprise, not least to the band themselves, when one single In My Own Time became a huge hit in 1971, reaching No 4 in the UK. This was an atypical Family song, blues infused, hard rock and raunchy. The album that followed in 1972 - Bandstand proved to be both their musical and popular high point. They split the following year. Not before they released Burlesque as a single which reached No 13 in the UK.
One listen to Burlesque and its clear Family were not about to roll over, forget their roots, and sell their souls for huge commercial success. Burlesque opens with a convoluted, disjointed, ocassionally discordant guitar riff. The chord sequence leaping all over the sharpest notes, angular and avante garde sounding. All this before Roger Chapman even opens his mouth to sing - Rolling and tumbling aint done me no harm.The rest of the band stepping in, then lollop and loop in and out of this riff. Its certainly bluesy, funky but not as you'd generally know it. Even for Family this was one freaky, literally off the beat, track. Today it still sounds like nothing else from this or any other era, it has this timeless feel.
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