Customer Reviews

Anyway

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If "Good News, Bad News" does not convince you that Chappo had the best chops of any singer from the '70s, clean out your ears. He makes Robert Plant and Joe Cocker sound like choir boys. This remastered CD, half live and half studio, provides a rare glimpse into the power and majesty that characterized Family. Held in high esteem in Europe, particularly rural areas, Family brokered no compromises. It was about the music.

Sure "Strange Band" will strike most folks as, well, strange or arcane, but what would you expect from a band that delivered molten waves of sound? And Charlie Whitney delivers some of the finest most understated lead guitar work ever. "Holding the Compass" showcases Charlie's amazing versatility. Avoid this CD at all costs if your tastes run to '80s fluff, techno trash, or top 40. This is the essence of rock: gruff and gritty waterpipe theatrics, a lasting testament to the greatest band of its time.

The bonus tracks, while nice to have, are not essentials and likely will appear on subsequent from the vaults releases of Family's live performances.

... doesn't necessarily mean Anyway is actually *weak*

It just means Anyway doesn't deliver with the consistently awesome songwriting that made the first few Family albums so dog on terrific.

Actually to be honest, making the album half live and half studio was a pretty poor idea on the part of the band members.

This is because the sound quality on the live side leaves me somewhat annoyed. Chapman is such a terrific singer and yet, not only is it hard to understand his words, it's actually hard to even hear his *vocal melodies*. Everything sounds so dated and muffled. Not very good.

The good news is that "Good News Bad News" is a pretty good song. The bad news is that it falls short in comparison to previous Family songs because the songwriting isn't good enough, and it definitely doesn't warrant being 8 minutes long.

"Willow Tree" is an interesting track in that it took me SEVERAL listens to even remember a small part of it, haha. However it does improve with repeated listens and might possibly be my favorite of the live selections here. It's a beautifully sung jazzy melody.

"Holding the Compass" contains another quality and heartfelt vocal melody from Roger Chapman. He's seriously one of the more underrated singers from the early 70's. The amount of emotion he expresses in each performance is quite spectacular, and that's one thing that elevates this entire album from what SHOULD be a 3 star rating, to a 4.

Other tracks however, such as "Strange Band" and "Anyway", are clunky and uninspiring filler. There's nothing even remotely interesting about these particular songs if you ask me. "Part of the Load" is a good early 70's bluesy rocker.

The best song on the entire album is a toss-up between the beautiful violins on "Normans" and the lovely vocal melody on "Lives and Ladies". I honestly have a hard time choosing between these two amazingly good songs, so I won't pick which one is better. Too close to call.

Overall, Family finally releases a semi disappointing album, so I recommend going with the previous albums by the band before delving into this one.

"Anyway" was the Family's second album released in 1970. Despite the departure of two original members in 1969, "A Song For Me", the group's first album in 1970, was both a commercial and an artistic success. In addition, the group had a nice single-hit with the excellent single "No Mule's Fool".

The group thought that more of their numbers had not come out quite right as studio recordings, and they found it a good idea to release a live album. "Anyway" came out as as only half a live album:one side of the original album consisted of four brand new tracks, recorded live, and the other consisted of four new studio tracks.

From the live-side "Good News, Bad News" shows group from the most heavy side. It's a rather long track which borrows elements from the great "Weaver's Answer" from "Family Entertainment".

"Willow Tree" is more subdued, a number that could almost be described as a jazz ballad.

"Holding the Compass" is the live side's absolute peak. A folk-inspired song that has a great guitar hook and a very catchy melody. The number was for a long time a part of the group's live repertoire. Pity that this fine number was never released in a studio version. This happened with the last track on the live-side. The dramatic "Strange Band" was even released as a single.

On the studio side the group's shows its blues roots on the track "Part of the Load" which could have been a number by Free from the Paul Kossoff period.

The acoustic title track is evocative, but not as catchy as the group's subdued numbers often were.

"Norman" is a comprehensive instrumental with elements from many genres.

The album ends with another of the group's finest songs. "Lives and Ladies' contains much of the best of what the group stood for. Fine tune, strong vocals and fine musicianship.

The album is expanded with three live recordings from the same period.

"Strange Band" in an alt version and both "Part of the Load" and "Lives and Ladies" are included in the fine live versions

From one album to the next, you could never be sure what you'd get from these guys -- but they never sounded like aynyone else. Anyway was released as 1/2 live & 1/2 studio, but all new material. The live tracks are mostly excellent songs (I could do without "Willow Tree"), well performed, but the recording quality is mediocre. Given the paucity of live Familiy recordings, it's best not to quibble.

The studio tracks from the original release almost flow together as a suite of the unusual, challenging but very rewarding songs that typified Family. If there is a quintessential Family song in the unreal variety of their work, that song may be the title track of Anyway. The vocal and instrumental backing seem to be going in 2 different directions, both complex, with an unusual rhythm to boot. Yet it does hold together beautifully. Lots of violin (apparently John Weider) touches, a bit of vibes & Roger Chapman alternatively bellowing & crooning.

All in all, certainly one of my Family favorites. No one who enjoys Family should be without this one.

Now...not so good. If you're still into this type of thing (Robert Plant having a seizure vocals, heavy guitar, cowbell, long, meandering songs, pretentious '70's hard rock lyrics), hey this ranks right up there. Take the worst of Deep Purple and Mountain and add a singer that sounds like Ronnie James Dio crossed with a billy goat and you get Family. For '70's hard rock completists only.

This is a good band and the singer is interesting but its not s 5 star Album by any means I good LP but thats it