Family Jams

Manson Family | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 22, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Aoroa
• ASIN: B00008EOJJ
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #294,930 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Gamblin' Man Come From Natchez

2. Ra-Hide Away

3. Die to Be One

4. The Fires Are Burning

5. Give Your Love (To Be Free)

6. The Young Will Overcome

7. Goin' to the Church House

8. The Fires Are Burning

9. I'll Never Say Never to Always

10. Die to Be One

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Ra-Hide Away

2. The Fires Are Burning

3. Die to Be One

4. No Wrong-Come Along

5. Get on Home

6. Is There No One in Your World But You?

7. First They Made You Sleep in the Closet

8. Give Your Love (To Be Free)

9. I'll Never Say Never to Always

10. Look at Your Love

See all 12 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Regardless of who wrote these songs and who sings them, this album is great., July 10, 2010

By 

J. Cook "Scabboy" (Buffalo) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Family Jams (Audio CD)

From start to end this album is great. Every tune has a great toe-tapping sing-along melody, great voices and even better lyrics.
At times Clem sounds a lot like Manson with his singing and singing in the background are Gypsy, Blue, Ouisch, Cappy and Brenda.

If you love Manson's music, this is essential. If you like 1960's anti-war, anti-establishment folk music, this even more essential.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantasitc Album, December 10, 2009

By 

Filmlover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Jams (Audio CD)

I am so glad this has made it to the mainstream, where it deserves to be. It's such a beautiful album and I'm glad more people are made aware of it and have a chance to listen.

5.0 out of 5 stars spirits from a black desert of tribal witches, January 11, 2012

By 

God is A.T.W.A - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Jams (Audio CD)

A very creative mix of hot, sunny, tribal desert and cold, misty, black woods witchy! A very eerie album.
It has a bit of a Black Sabbath feel & might well appeal to people with heavy/alternative musical tastes however i should add that there is nothing heavy about 'the family jams', no distorted guitars or heavy drums but rather cowboy-like folk songs(get on home) or psychedelic nursery rhymes(give your love to be free) or both(scratching peace symbols in your tombstone). Some feel more like tribal chants(no-wrong come-along) & gypsy's violin brings a slight hera-krishna style sometimes & a sad touch other times.

Mostly a happy, peace of mind, upbeat feel but with a twist of psychotic darkness all at the same time, the cover art completly captures the spiritual mood & magic of the music & the little skull in the cave(or whatever it is) seems to personify what i mean about a touch of psychotic danger.

The acoustic guitar in songs like 'ra-hyde away' can be very entrancing & the backing vocals is absolutly beautiful,
the girls vividly portray the wind howling through the trees & its as if their spirits are released from their bodies & become the wind, dancing with the stars to a full lunar & the witchy spirit of the ghostly sounds they emmit could only come from the hearts of free minded angels who truly appreciate nature & understand the air, water & earth is just as alive as plants & animals!

I would class this album as 'psychedelic' or 'stoner music' if i had to categorize it but it realy is original. The backing vocals are sometimes just as forefront as the male lead vocals & they switch about, this is what really makes it unique, the lyrics are very poetic, "Quicker, than quick-silver on the hand, its fast disappearing as the water on the sand", kinda like Marlyn Manson's style of poetry, & apparently all music & lyrics were written by Charles Manson(what a mind).

If you'v never taken taken any drugs before, you'r probably less likely to fully appreciate the spirit of the trance, like beatles fans who liked the 'boy meets girl' teeny-boper early stuff but "lost them" when they came out with the magical mystery tour, the inner light, lucy in the sky & within you without you. Generally its people who'v at least smoked marijuana that 'get it', however you might still appreciate 'the family jams' if you like yoga, meditation or dabble in astral projection! If on the other hand you like Eastenders, Sugerbabes, Obama, Coronation St, Mcdonalds, Lady Gaga & Deal or no deal & you think rock music is the devils work & Bill Hicks is evil & Alice in wonderland is crap then this album will likely hurt your ears & drive you nuts!

This album is art immitating the lives of the musicians & an understanding of how these people lived would probably help make sense of it, then again the music would likely give you an appreciation of how they lived even if you didn't already know.
I dont know where i get this opinion from but i don't think this album was intended to be sold or be anything big, i get the feeling it was more of a 'family thing', like how most families have photo albums or make family videos of hollidays & birthdays etc, & it seems to me like their way of recording their life to some extent, getting everyone together at the saloon & casualy capturing life on the ranch & out in death valley, being at one with nature & not conforming to the status quo, ignoring reality & living in the moment. When listening to it i really feel like i connect with their hearts & souls, like the spirit of their love is captured & reflected back for me to absorb, almost like im part of it. This might just be my interpretation, i dont know.
I dont think the family was quite as adept as Ray Mears at living off the land or as skilled in bushcraft as the native tribes but im sure it would have been their 'cup of tea' (since they sometimes ate from bins). Charlie grew up in prison, his father was the jailhouse, he was not a survival expert but certainly had the mind for it, if someone showed him how or the knowledge was made available, i think that would have made the link to completly free, indiginous living, cut off from the system & no recognition of money, not unlike the native Americans whom they remind me of. Their philosophy, spirituality & the values they hold are certainly more admirable than the egoistic, materialistic garbage many of us still have sewn deep into our psyche & instill in our children.

Unfortunately the band was never profesionaly recorded & although the music is great, the quality of the recording is quite poor, about the same as 'Lie: The Truth & Terror Cult'(mabey slightly better), the first few songs on disc 2 is even worse but then gets better(just slightly poorer than disc 1).
It truly is sad that they were suppressed & ignored by the industry & denied access to proper recording facilities
despite their unique talent, so i guess this album is just a taste of what Mansons music could have been had it even a fraction of the support some crappy pepsi sponsered bands get, its such a shame because the family members who made the albums voices have probably matured past their best & even if the songs were covered by like-minded, highly talented people(which would be amazing) it still could never be the same, so i guess this album is the very last remants of the original Family Jams, but hey, at least something was saved.

Steve Grogan delivers sure justice in standing in for charlie who was on trial at the time, (a mock trial thats outcome was controlled) & although charlie is not present, his mind & philosophy seems to be reflected by Grogan & on listening to Mansons music it becomes clear why the estableshment need him behind bars, now that the whole world knows who he is & young people are flocking to the ranch to join the family, he could have very well contributed to bringing down the criminal syndacite of estableshment power & helped save humanity from itself! The bare faced cheek of these genicidal manical pigs pretending to be passionate & using the tate-la bianche incident as a pretext for keeping this political prisoner jailed while they run drugs, debt scams & war-for-profit rackets killing & torturing millions directly & otherwise is one thing, & im not saying what manson did was justified or not (or even that he did it) but for satan himself to judge & condemn a man who hasn't commited a fraction of a microdot of their crimes & the general public actually buying it is a crime unto itself!.