Family – Bandstand (Expanded Edition) (2023)      


Review:
This new expanded edition has been newly remastered from the original master tapes and also includes ten bonus tracks drawn from the single ‘The Rockin’ Rs’, unreleased studio out-takes from May 1971 and a BBC Radio session from October 1972. Released in September 1972 the album was the second to feature a line-up vocalist Roger Chapman, guitarist John “Charlie” Whitney, drummer Rob Townsend, bassist and vocalist John Wetton and multi-instrumentalist John “Poli” Palmer on vibes, keyboards and flute and followed the success of the album ‘Fearless’ released the previous October. The album featured such classic tracks as ‘Burlesque’ (a UK Top 20 hit single), ‘My Friend the Sun’, ‘Glove’ and ‘Coronation’. The recording sessions also featured guest vocalist Linda Lewis on the powerful ‘Broken Nose’. — cherryred.co.uk

***

Kicking off with the wickedly salacious “Burlesque,” Bandstand was the best of the late Family recordings. For a band that for the most part eschewed riffs and hooks, both are in plentiful supply here. More important, by the time of Bandstand‘s release, Family had reconciled the war between their art-rock and hard rock tendencies; that is to say, there is more of the latter and less of the former. So, the record doesn’t have the internal stress of their earlier releases, but what it does have is Chapman shouting like he could take on the world and Whitney playing like he must have when he formed the Farinas in 1962. A corker from the word go. — AMG




Track List:
01 - Burlesque
02 - Bolero Babe
03 - Coronation
04 - Dark Eyes
05 - Broken Nose
06 - My Friend the Sun
07 - Glove
08 - Ready to Go
09 - Top of the Hill
10 - The Rockin' Rs
11 - Coronation (First Version)
12 - My Friend the Sun (First Version)
13 - Glove (First Version)
14 - The Rockin' Rs (First Version)
15 - Ready to Go (Live, BBC Radio 1, Bob Harris Show, 23 October 1972)
16 - Dark Eyes (Live, BBC Radio 1, Bob Harris Show, 23 October 1972)
17 - Burlesque (Live, BBC Radio 1, Bob Harris Show, 23 October 1972)
18 - My Friend the Sun (Live, BBC Radio 1, Bob Harris Show, 23 October 1972)
19 - Coronation (Live, BBC Radio 1, Bob Harris Show, 23 October 1972)


Media Report:
Genre: prog-rock
Country: UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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