what about family?

Leicester's own and somewhat neglected/ignored by the mainstream rock brigade - perhaps because Chappo (does he still front the Streetwalkers or Chapman Whitney or  a band under his own name nowadays?) has decamped to Germany and appears to have a huge following there. Dolls House was always said to be one the English psychedelic classics. However, most albums after that tended to be mostly straight early 70's English rock (yes, blues rock) and with some tunes in the 3 to 4 minute range enabled  the band to release singles making the European charts - nobody should forget Burlesque or Weavers Answer - Chapman had/still has the best bleat in the business. Check out The BBC Radio 1 In Concert recording of Family (recorded january 1973, but releases by Windsong in 1991), there is little there to suggest prog, much more to show a hard driving, tight British rock band.

Anybody checked out Paul Weller's Wild Wood? When I first came across it, I was  only  aware of some of Weller's  Jam recordings, so  I was surprised when somebody played Wild Wood to discover how retro-rock the music was, with Weller  revealing his pre-punk influences. Something few other people have suggested, is there are touches of Chapman (the Weller bleat helps) and a sort of 90's twist on Family in some of those tunes. BTW I never understood why Weller's music (i.e. Wild Wood and his album before) was supposed to be Traffic-like - as some of the professional critics claimed.

Personally, I love Family, though I've only heard two albums.  I think Fearless is one of the best albums of its type.  But it's not prog.

Family is basically blues-rock (or rock-blues, if you prefer), with some possibly Canterbury-like elements.  However, not only are none of their albums "prog," but - in keeping with the tacit requirement that in order for a band to be considered "prog," the majority of its output must be prog - they would not qualify as prog anyway.

You are, of course, always free to "argue" your position in this thread so that Max can see the arguments.  But I'm pretty sure he would not agree with you.

Peace.

I think they should be included. I mean, if Radio Head are included this band should be included definately. I think I'm also going start a poll to decide whether Alvin and th Chipmunks should be included. There are so many bands in the archives which are without a doubt prog which recieve little or no attention. If I had the time I would be writing reviews for these neglected bands as much as possible. Some examples are Octopus, FRUUP, Guru Guru, Omega and other from Europe. How many reviews do we need of Dark Side Of The Moon before we go off the deep end? Does anyone actually read these reviews? I am going to try and make some time to fill in some blanks we have with some bands on the site within the week and write some biographies.

If Radiohead is in the archives then where is Babe Ruth?