Family: Fearless (1971)
Family’s Music in a Doll’s House (1968) is perhaps one of the finest examples of psychedelia I know of. But of course, the band couldn’t stay on the psychedelic route forever. Between Music in a Doll’s House and this one, Fearless, the band had released three more albums, Family Entertainment (1969), A Song For Me (1970), and Anyway (1970). Also by this point, they were no longer recording for Reprise Records, but for United Artists.
The original LP to Fearless comes with a gimmick cover, and despite that, it’s not one of the more attractive album covers I’ve seen. Through all this time, it’s amazing that the band still consisted of vocalist Roger Chapman, guitarist Charley Whitney, and drummer Rob Townsend. The band did seem to have problems keeping bassists. By the time Fearless the band acquired John Wetton on bass. He was just fresh from a band called Mogul Thrash (a band that featured former Colosseum guitarist/vocalist James Litherland), and he would later leave Family to join King Crimson to become part of what is generally regarded as that band’s most influencial lineup.
Fearless is as I expect Family to sound like in the post-psychedelic era. They were exploring more acoustic folk-like songs, some prog rock, and boogie like songs. “Between Blue and Me” is the opener, which is largely acoustic and finds the band doing a somewhat more folky number. “Sat’d’y Barfly” is a rather cheery boogie number with the use of tuba and honky tonk piano. “Larf and Sing” features the band singing in harmony. This tends to be another laid-back number the band seemed to enjoy doing at this time.
“Spanish Tide” sounds scarily like how John Wetton’s 1980s band Asia might have sounded like if they existed in 1971. Same type of vocal harmonies, the great thing, is it lacks that slick, commercial sound of Asia. “Save Some For Thee” was one of the more hard rocking numbers on this album with almost a bluesy slant. “Take Your Partners” might sound like the band should get down with a hoedown here, but that’s very far from the truth. It’s in fact, the band’s idea of a prog rock epic, there’s even some space rock tendencies. Because it’s the longest song, it allowed the band to get in to a jam.
The next song is “Children”, which is a simple, effective, acoustic singalong. “Blind” really trips me out, because Roger Chapman really gives his powerful voice all he’s got. You’ll keep hearing these wailing sounds that were made from this plastic tube you whirl in the air and the faster you whirl it, the higher the pitch.
The last song is “Burning Bridges”, and you can be ever so thankful this isn’t a cover of a Mike Curb song. This is a Family original, and like “Take Your Partners”, this is another prog rock song, but isn’t as experimental and more sticks to the music. Although Fearless is still a fine album, I prefer Music in a Doll’s House so start there first.