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Fearless (Family album)

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Untitled

Fearless is the fifth album by the British progressive rock band Family, which was released on 29 October 1971. It was known for its innovative layered-page album headshots of the band's members melding into a single blur.

Reception

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."[1]

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."[2]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Robert ChristgauB[4]

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."[3]

Track listing

All selections are by Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Between Blue and Me"5:02
2."Sat'd'y Barfly"4:00
3."Larf and Sing" (Palmer)2:45
4."Spanish Tide"4:02
5."Save Some for Thee"3:42
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Take Your Partners" (Whitney, Chapman, Palmer)6:27
2."Children"2:19
3."Crinkly Grin" (instrumental;  Palmer)1:06
4."Blind"4:04
5."Burning Bridges" (Whitney, Chapman, Palmer)4:46

Personnel

Chart positions

  • Highest chart position (UK) - #14[5]
  • Highest chart position (USA) - #177 (Billboard)*

(*This was Family's first appearance on the Billboard charts in the U.S.)

References

  1. ^ Creem, Vol. 3, No. 11; April, 1972. Review reprinted in full at http://www.familybandstand.com/press/articles/article-fearless-review-creem
  2. ^ Crawdaddy, April 1, 1972. Review reprinted in full at http://www.familybandstand.com/press/articles/article-fearless-review-crawdaddy
  3. ^ a b "allmusic ((( Fearless > Overview )))". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  4. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: The Family". Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  5. ^ "Chart Stats - The Family - Fearless". www.chartstats.com. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
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