Fearless | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 29 October 1971 | |||
Recorded | 1971 | |||
Studio | Olympic Studios, London | |||
Genre | Progressive rock, psychedelic rock | |||
Length | 38:06 | |||
Label | Reprise (UK), United Artists (US) | |||
Producer | Family, George Chkiantz | |||
Family chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Christgau's Record Guide | B [2] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [3] |
Hi-Fi News & Record Review | A:1/2 [4] |
Uncut | [5] |
Fearless is the fifth album by the British progressive rock band Family, which was released on 29 October 1971, on Reprise Records in the UK and United Artists Records in the US. It is known for its innovative cover design by John Kosh, using layered-page album headshots of the band's members melding into a single blur.
After completing their second US tour in mid 1971, John Weider left the band and was replaced by John Wetton on bass and vocals. The band's direction was notably changed with Wetton bringing along his trademark propulsive performance style, as evidenced on the album opener "Between Blue and Me". [1] After only a year and one more album, Wetton left to join the latest line-up of King Crimson and was replaced by Jim Cregan. Fearless was the first Family album to chart in the United States, reaching #177 on the Billboard 200 in March 1972, and staying on the charts for 7 weeks. [6]
A three-disc expanded edition was released in September, 2023. It includes tracks drawn from the ‘In My Own Time’ single, period BBC Radio sessions (Bob Harris, Top Gear) and a BBC Radio One In Concert performance recorded on Dec. 28, 1970.
Writing in the US rock magazine Creem, reviewer Ed Ward, after admitting that he hadn't liked Family, called Fearless "a good, strong album, loaded with some of the most intense, high energy British rock and roll being made these days", but still rated it "not quite as good as Anyway" (which hadn't been released in the United States at that time, anyway). He dismissed tracks "Spanish Tide" and "Children" as "filler", but concluded that "what's left is fine indeed." [7]
Jack Breschard, writing in Crawdaddy, went further and declared the album to be "nothing less than brilliant." He singled out Side One for particular praise, "being the catchiest album side I've heard in a very long time." He thought that much of the album's strength lay in "the multi-instrumentality of the band", adding that although the band's range was wide "no-one gets hung up in a bunch of musical pretensions." [8]
AllMusic deemed the album "uneven", but noted that it had some strong highlights, such as "Spanish Tide", "Save Some for Thee", and "Take Your Partners", the last of which saw "the bandmembers maneuver their interaction with an aptitude and skill that would arguably best any jam-based aggregate of the day." [1]
The New Musical Express authors Nick Logan and Bob Woffinden termed the album "peerless" among the competition of 1971, and their best since the 2nd album, Entertainment. [9]
All selections are by Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney except where noted.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Between Blue and Me" | 4:58 | |
2. | "Sat'd'y Barfly" | 4:02 | |
3. | "Larf and Sing" | Palmer | 2:45 |
4. | "Spanish Tide" | 4:00 | |
5. | "Save Some for Thee" | 3:45 | |
6. | "Take Your Partners" | Whitney, Chapman, Palmer | 6:25 |
7. | "Children" | 2:20 | |
8. | "Crinkly Grin" (instrumental) | Palmer | 1:05 |
9. | "Blind" | 4:02 | |
10. | "Burning Bridges" | Whitney, Chapman, Palmer | 4:44 |
Chart (1971) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums (OCC) [10] | 14 |
US Billboard 200 [11] | 177 |
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Starless and Bible Black is the sixth studio album by English progressive rock band King Crimson, released in March 1974 by Island Records in the United Kingdom and by Atlantic Records in the United States. It features most of the personnel which appeared on the group's preceding album, Larks' Tongues in Aspic, with only percussionist Jamie Muir not returning, and is the band's final album with violinist David Cross as a member, although he would appear on one track on Red. Much of the album was recorded live and edited together with studio recordings and overdubs. The album includes multiple fully improvised pieces.
Larks' Tongues in Aspic is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock group King Crimson, released on 23 March 1973 through Island Records in the UK and Atlantic Records in the United States and Canada. This album is the debut of King Crimson's third incarnation, featuring co-founder and guitarist Robert Fripp along with four new members: bass guitarist and vocalist John Wetton, violinist and keyboardist David Cross, percussionist Jamie Muir, and drummer Bill Bruford. It is a key album in the band's evolution, drawing on Eastern European modernist classical music and European free improvisation as central influences.
John Kenneth Wetton was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. Although he was left-handed, he was known as a skilled right-handed bass player and had a booming baritone voice. He was a member of the band Family in 1971 for a short time, before joining King Crimson in 1972. After the breakup of King Crimson at the end of 1974, Wetton played in a number of progressive rock and hard rock bands, including Roxy Music (1974–1975), Uriah Heep (1975–1976), U.K. (1977–1980), and Wishbone Ash (1980–1981).
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The World Is a Ghetto is the fifth album by American band War, released in late 1972 on United Artists Records. The album attained the number one spot on Billboard, and was Billboard magazine's Album of the Year as the best-selling album of 1973. In addition to being Billboard's #1 album of 1973, the album was ranked number 444 on Rolling Stone magazine's original list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The title track became a gold record.
Family were an English rock band, active from late 1966 to October 1973, and again since 2013 for a series of live shows. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, as their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles such as folk, psychedelia, acid rock, jazz fusion, and rock and roll. The band achieved recognition in the United Kingdom through their albums, club and concert tours, and appearances at festivals.
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The Electric Light Orchestra is the debut studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released in December 1971 in the United Kingdom by Harvest Records. In the United States, the album was released in March 1972 as No Answer, after a misunderstood telephone message made by a United Artists Records executive asking about the album name; the caller, having failed to reach the ELO contact, wrote down "no answer" in his notes, and this was misconstrued to be the name of the album.
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"My Friend the Sun" is a song by the British rock band Family. It was written by Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney for the band's 1972 album Bandstand. The single did not make the UK Singles Chart.