FEARLESS

With the release of this album, "Fearless" perhaps their finest line-up was the first of two studio albums to feature ex-MOGUL TRASH phenom bassist/vocalist John Wetton, and the efforts here exceeded expectations. The music here is not as experimental as prior efforts, but yet the overall power of WETTON's bass seemed to revive the band, and finally showed the band's exuding the harshness of their live setting in studio.

On "Fearless" is shows the perfect compliment of the Family formula, the power riff laden tracks shows the brilliance of the highly underatted "Charlie" Whitney on guitar stunning solos. Multi-instumentalist "Poli" Palmer showing his worth to the band with his dexterity complimenting the band with his synthesizers, reeds, Vibes, giving the band a different look such as on the off-beat instrumental "Crinkly Grin".

Other highlights also include cool tracks like the rag-time "Sat'dy Barfly", the brilliant "Spanish Tide" the blistering power driven funkiness of "Take Your Partners", "Larf and Sing" which features a lovely accapela sung break (that obviously had a big influence on Peter Gabriel on his debut solo album) and the album's closer "Burning Bridges" which is just astounding.

The British Art-rockers Family might have turned off die-hards with each release since their Psychedelic opus "Music From A Doll's House", but the band seemed to be searching for a way to show the balance of the creativity of their studio work but also the power the band was known for on stage, and on "Fearless" the band finally showed that promise on this release, and would finally break them in (albeit minor) success in United States.

Charles

Four 1/2 stars