Music in a Doll's House

Family | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 4, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: See for Miles Records (UK)
• ASIN: B000001198
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #345,052 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Chase

2. Mellowing Grey

3. Never Like This

4. Me My Friend

5. Variation on a Theme of Hey Mr. Postman

6. Winter

7. Old Songs and New Songs

8. Variation an a Theme of the Breeze

9. Hey Mr. Policeman

10. See Through Windows

11. Variation on a Theme of Me My Friend

12. Peace of Mind

13. Voyage

14. Breeze

15. 3 X Time

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trip the light fantastic, September 4, 2001

By 

loce_the_wizard "loce_the_wizard" (Lilburn, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Music in a Doll's House (Audio CD)

Sometimes you need to go back and experience what was to wonder what could have been. No other debut album from a band can match the force of this one from Family, and for more than 30 years, this work has remained a testimony to what rock music should be about: creative, mind-bending, pulsing, twisting, strange, engaging, and even failing. The CD is full of gems, but the crowning glory may be "Old Songs, New Songs." Chappo's unearthly delivery of the main vocals contrasted with the falsetto of reedman Jim King's vocal on the chorus could stop traffic. Charlie Whitney offers up one of the coolest wah-wah pedal-powered solos toward the last minute of the song against the rock solid drums of the great Rob Towsend and the bass line of the late Rick Grech.

Be warned, however, if you cut your teeth on what has been on commercial FM radio for the past 20 years, you may experience osmotic shock when listening to Family. Had Family achieved the popularity it so deserved, then maybe today folks would know that the best rock band to ever feature violin, saxophone, guitar, bass, drums, and vocals may very well have been Family, not the Dave Matthews Band.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Debut of Family stuns thirty years on., August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Music in a Doll's House (Audio CD)

Beautiful to have this original work lovingly remastered after a couple of decades of very worn vinyl. What made Family innovators was the songwriting team of Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney. Be it psychedelia or British music hall, folk or straight up rock, there was no confusing Family with any other band of it's era. Listen to producer Dave Mason's (Traffic) headphone ready mix on classics The Chase and See Through Windows, to see how this album holds up thirty years on. The lone Ric Grech tune ,Hey Mr. Policeman takes on a new melancholy with his passing. Enigmatic as this band was, the real mystery was how strong an impact they had on the Isles and how unjustly this recording was ingnored on this side of the Atlantic. Yet timeless is timeless and here's your opportunity. Highly recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars intense def defying ear wax meltin' music, October 5, 2001

By 

allismile0 "allismile0" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music in a Doll's House (Audio CD)

This is the type of music that makes people call for their mommy. Just kidding... but this is definitely some wonderfully challenging music without being pretentious or distant and difficult. This album does not have a bad track and each song fits into the other quite well although "Never like This" is a bit out of place (only song not written by a family member, that goes to original Traffic member and producer of this album, Dave Mason) but that is not to say that it's not a bad song. I highly recommend this album on the wings of songs like THE CHASE, MELLOWING GREY, SEE THROUGH WINDOWS, THE VOYAGE, THE BREEZE, and 3 X TIME.