Peter Viney's Blog

Roger Chapman, Family & Friends

The Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne, Dorset
Wednesday, 29th January 2020

Special guest: Edgar Broughton

SET LIST

Hey Mr Policeman
See Through Windows
Prisoner
Who Pulled The Nite Down
Midnite Child
Moth To A Flame
Run For Cover
Habit of A Lifetime
Hung Up Down
Burlesque
Shadow On The Wall
Shortlist
Spoonful
Help Me
Toenail Draggin’
Shadow On The Wall

encore
The Weaver’s Answer
My Friend The Sun

BAND
Roger Chapman – vocal
Poli Palmer – vibes
Geoff Whitehorn – guitar, vocals
Nick Payn – saxophone, harmonica, vocals
Gary Twigg – bass guitar
Paul Hirsh – keyboards, vocals
Henry Spinetti – drums

Family are one of the perennial puzzles of British rock. The puzzle is why they never became megastars. The answer is said to be as simple as pissing off American promoter, Bill Graham. Roger Chapman had that trademark of swinging the mic on a long lead over the audience. I was there several times and never saw anyone get brained, but if Bill Graham told you not to do something, you didn’t do it. Chappo did, and allegedly threw a mic stand in Bill Graham’s direction which was held to be deliberate. When you’re blacklisted in America, you’ve had it, as The Kinks also found.

Chappo was a vocalist as dramatic and dynamic as you’d ever seen. It was said even Jimi Hendrix was wary about following him. Chapman’s unusual vocal is a base prog style too. The wailing and wavering extended notes are very English- if you consider, they are also characteristic of English folk music, but not Celtic folk music. His vibrato has been described as an impassioned goatish bleat. In the nicest possible way. Family even had a novel written about them, Jenny Fabian’s Groupie.

I saw them dating right back to 1967. In the days when I really couldn’t afford to buy albums, Music In A Doll’s House was one of my very few LP  purchases at university. Produced by Dave Mason of Traffic and Stones producer Jimmy Miller. Arrangements by a very young Mike Batt. This was a fierce rocking band that could go right down to flutes and violin.  If you’d asked me in 1968 or 1969 which two bands would be remembered in fifty years time from a list of Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Family and Spooky Tooth, I’d have chosen Family first, Spooky Tooth next. And I saw them all. So much for my opinion, then. I’d have placed Blossom Toes, featuring future Family member Jim Cregan higher than Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd too.

Family were huge favourites at Hull University, and a 1968 gig that sticks in my memory is when their van broke down at Doncaster. They managed to get to Hull by 9 p.m., their gear didn’t. They used the support band’s gear (The House of Lords)  and I remember seeing the support watching, tears in their eyes as first one mic got thrown across the stage, then their other precious Shure mic spun in circles over the audience. They also didn’t have multiple mics, so the saxophone was virtually inaudible and Jim King picked out the sax line on The House of Lords’ Hammond. A great gig nevertheless.

Boom Bang

Family were one of the first bands to get their own “custom artist 45 sleeve” from Reprise, a major accolade. A custom sleeve design? That was Beatles level. The sleeve continued to be used after they launched their own label, Raft.

In 1971 my friend, the late John Wetton, joined them. I love those two albums with John, Fearless and Bandstand, and having an extra powerful vocalist changed their sound. John’s bass work was incredible and he added second guitar … both John and Charlie Whitney used twin neck guitars. John’swas bass and 6 string, Charlie’s was 6 string and 12 string. Poli Palmer (on tonight’s show) was in that line-up. They did very different things, like Larf and Sing too.

John left for a combination of reasons … he realized they were screwed in America after the tour, but mostly his saw himself as a songwriter and lead vocalist, and as he said, Family already had two great songwriters, Roger Chapman and ‘Charlie’ Whitney and there was no space for a third. John stayed friends and played and sang on Chapman-Whitney Streetwalkers album too. One day he saw the LP  It’s Only A Movie at my house, and said he was sure he’d played on one track uncredited when he was visiting them. We played it through and he noted his own bass. John also frequently got requests to play Burlesque on live shows because of its hugely memorable bass guitar work. He never did, saying, “That’s Roger’s.” I haven’t seen Roger Chapman live since John left.

It must be weird. Family broke up FORTY-SEVEN years ago, but they still cast a giant shadow over Roger Chapman’s stage work. There were Family reunion gigs in 2012 and 2013.

The audience profile at The Tivoli is overwhelmingly my generation. Other “legacy” artists attract younger people, but there were very few here. I was surprised at the lack of a concessions stall, so often an important addition to earnings on the road. No CDs, no vinyl, no T-shirts. I needn’t have gone to the cash machine just before.

Compliments on doing the obligatory 90 minutes BEFORE doing the encores.

Chappo looks great. For someone at 77, really great. His voice has deepened, more suited to the R&B / white soul stuff. The powerful vibrato or “impassioned bleat” has largely gone too. I would have mixed his voice higher- he sounded fabulous when the band were quieter in a couple of numbers.

I didn’t like the mix. I was sitting stage left side, but close to the mixing desk. From my seat, I couldn’t hear nearly enough of Poli Palmer’s vibes stage right, but neither could I hear enough from the keyboards on my side. The very loud and vigorous drumming of Henry Spinetti, plus the guitar and saxophone dominated (swamped?) the mix.  I’ve seen Nick Payn with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings … great sax player. The bass was soft in tone and too low in the mix too. I’d guess bass and vibes were relying on their own amps rather than a central mix then. While Geoff Whitehorn is a great guitar player and personality in the band, the solos are a tad too 80s guitar hero in style for my personal taste. I’m reminded of a comment on the 2012 reunion … if Charlie Whitney’s not there, it’s not Family. Not that this claims to be. Roger Chapman has a huge catalogue and much is unfamiliar to me

The set started out with two from Music In A Doll’s House, Hey Mr Policeman and See Through Windows. Both heavier than Family did them, and I was wanting to hear Poli Palmer, and couldn’t.

The third was Prisoner, very much the white soul era and a Chapman-Whitney song. I had to ask. It dates from 1981 and Hyenas Only Laugh For Fun.

Who Pulled The Nite Down is from Chappo (1979), and this was the most popular album of the night with three selections. Right back then … ouch, forty years ago, the band on Chappo had Henry Spinetti on drums and Geoff Whitehorn on guitar. Poli Palmer played on the album too, though not these tracks. So what we’re getting is pretty much the originals … especially as drums and guitar dominate the mix! The other Chappo songs followed right on … Midnite Child and Moth To A Flame. the ELT teacher in me grumbled about “nite”. In both the UK and USA it’s more an advertising sign spelling than a regular one. Henry Spinetti’s busy drumming is a force, and a dominant one, shown off to its best in these three. Perhaps his presence inspired this Chappo mini-set.

Run For Cover is from the highly rated Streetwalkers album Red Card (1976).

Habits of A Lifetime. I’m not sure where this first appeared but it’s on Kiss My Soul from 1996. It was around here – maybe the one before – where he did a small aside on Brexit (a fucking mistake) and added ‘But then he’s a c*nt,’ referring no doubt to Boris Johnson. Well, I laughed if not enough of the audience did. Of course, on stage effing and blinding probably wouldn’t have helped with US Promoters either. Earlier he’d had a short diatribe against the brightly lit auditorium clock next to the stage which he said was creating the wrong mood. They turned it off.

Hung Up Down took us right back  to Family Entertainment, their second album.  At this point they brought on a chair for bass player Gary Twigg. He needed it for the next song.

Burlesque

The big one Burlesque. Now that song was a hit (UK #13), from Bandstand, and is notable for the combination of Roger’s voice and John Wetton’s bass guitar, which becomes the lead instrument. A friend recalls asking Nick Lowe about the point when you know you’re a great bass guitarist, and he said ‘When you can play Burlesque.’ I’m sure Gary Twigg was playing the notes well enough, but the attack, vibrancy,  fierceness, rumble, timing and sheer volume was not that of John Wetton at age 23. The audience loved it. I thought the backing flaccid because of the bass – great drumming though.

Shadow On The Wall was from Mike Oldfield’s Crises in 1983, where Roger Chapman sang. The single scraped the Top 100 in the UK, but was a major hit in Europe … Austria #1, Germany #3, Swtzerland #4, Spain #10, Netherlands #9, Belgium #5 (Thank you, Wiki).It blended into Shortlist, at least I assume that’s the title though I couldn’t find it.

I’m not sure if the section was genuine having fun, or intended. Chappo asked ‘What next?’ and Nik Payne suggested Howlin’ Wolf’s Spoonful. There was much discussion over lyrics, including mid-song and it was all wonderfully laid back. They ran it into Van Morrison’s favourite late set time filler, Help Me (Sonny Boy Williamson). If this is what pre-Family R&B band The Farinas sounded like, they were great. Then there was the bluesy rap, Toenail Draggin’ and back into Shadow On The Wall. Whenhe finished the main set, he said ‘You can turn the fucking clock back on now.’

The first encore was The Weaver’s Answer, the classic track from Family Entertainment. When John Weider was on bass with Family, he switched to violin on this one. When John Wetton replaced him …  the story’s on my Tribute article:

John got the offer to join Family. He told us on a Saturday morning in Bournemouth, and he told us the problem: he would have to play violin in The Weaver’s Answer, and he hadn’t played violin before, though he was cheerful enough: it’s got four strings. No frets, different playing style with a bow, but hey, it’s a musical instrument. He went over to Don Strike’s Music and bought a violin. That was mid-morning. We arranged to meet for the evening, as John intended to spend the day learning violin. When we got to John’s parents place, John said, ‘Is this OK?’ And proceeded to play The Weaver’s Answer on violin. Fast forward to Bryan Ferry’s solo album Another Time, Another Place, where John plays violin as well as bass. John first appeared with Family on 20th August 1971 at the Bilzen Festival in Belgium.

No violin tonight, but it is their live classic.

The second encore was the gentle My Friend The Sun, a second from Bandstand. Nothing from Fearless. My surprise was no version of the biggest Family hit,  In My Own Time.

A good show. Full of life.

EDGAR BROUGHTON

Edgar Broughton – vocal, acoustic guitar

SET LIST

1 (London Burning In The Twilight)
2  My Salvation
3  We Love & Breathe
4  Break The Dark
5  Six White Horses
7  The Sound Don’t Come
8  There’s A Hole In It

Out Demons Out, 1970

No, he didn’t play it. Nor Apache Dropout, that ingenious mash up of The Shadows and Captain Beefheart. I saw the Edgar Broughton Band a few times too. They were famous for having their mum as a roadie. They had the ultra-hippy counter culture image based on their hit, Out Demons Out, but I spoke to the two brothers backstage back then, and they were both pleasant and affable. He seemed the same tonight.

Forty five minutes. A longish support set. He spoke a lot and was entertaining. In most songs he goes up into a treble pitch at points. They’re mostly new compositions and unfamiliar to me but I liked him

The Sound Don’t Come was for Mick Farren, following a long and frankly unpleasant anecdote about Farren’s death. He said he never forgave Farren (who was the leader of The Social Deviants, as well as a Sci-Fi novelist and also a journalist) for describing the Edgar Broughton Band as “inane hippy nonsense.” While that was an unkind review, and I enjoyed seeing them at the time, it did have some element of truth. However, Farren had clearly not seen Principal Edward’s Magic Theatre. Now that was truly  inane hippy nonsense.

Broughton was quite right in saying that he could sing and Farren couldn’t, and the Edgar Broughton Band were vastly more popular than TheDeviants, as well as much more accomplished on stage.

Good to see he’s still around.