Family - Strange Band (1973)

Family are another great band who never really got the acclaim that they deserved until they'd broken up. Their debut album 'Music From A Doll's House' was a classic of the psychedelic era, and the first three songs from their second release 'Family Entertainment' were as good as rock music ever got in the 70's. Roger Chapman's idiosyncratic vocals could take a bit of getting used to, but once you embraced them he was a stunning frontman, and the rest of the band provided a musical backing which more than lived up to their talents, including during their lifetime such luminaries as John "Charlie" Whitney, Ric Grech, John Wetton, Jim Cregan, Poli Palmer, and Tony Ashton. Their debut single 'Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens' was produced by Jimmy Miller, but failed to make an impact on the charts, and so it wasn't even included on their first album, although these days it's heralded as a superb example of British psychedelia. As they progressed through their career they subtly changed their sound to include a folk element on their 'A Song For Me' album, although never overbearingly, and by the time they released their penultimate, and in my opinion their finest, album 'Bandstand' they'd moprhed into a great hard rock band. Along the way they issued a number of non-album singles, and also recorded some songs for use as exclusive b-sides, and so this album collects them all together so that fans of the group don't miss out on any of the music recorded by this 'strange band'. 

Track listing

01 Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens (single 1967)
02 Gypsy Woman (b-side of 'Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens')
03 Home Town (b-side of 'Second Generation Woman' 1968)
04 No Mules Fool (single 1969)
05 Good Friend Of Mine (b-side of 'No Mule's Fool')
06 Strange Band (single 1970)
07 Today (single 1970)
08 Song For Lots (b-side of 'Today')
09 In My Own Time (single 1971)
10 Seasons (b-side of 'In My Own Time')
11 Rockin' R's (b-side of 'Burlesque' 1972)
12 Stop The Car (b-side of 'Boom Bang' 1973)
13 Drink To You (b-side to 'Sweet Desiree' 1973)