For The Family

Introduction

I thought it might be fun to create a playlist of family-related songs, possibly veering towards progressive, and artists who are my favourites. So it may be the song title or the artist's name, obviously Family have to be in there, though they have an entry of their own in my Beat stories here:

I will include a song of theirs that does not appear on that list.

Family - "Children" from "Fearless"

A gentle introduction to this playlist. Family produced some incredible music and their album covers were extra special. I have just ordered a copy of "Anyway", which you can find out about in the article that I shared above.

Dire Straits - "Brothers In Arms"

The gorgeous title track with what I believe was the first commercial CD release. I think that the tracks were extended from the vinyl copy, but I may be wrong about all this apart from the fact that this is a wonderful song.

Fleetwood Mac - "Sisters Of The Moon" from "Tusk"

"Tusk" was the follow up to "Rumours" and is a stunning album. Released when punk was at its height in the UK, even the NME said it was brilliant while it gave the record company execs heart attacks. It was an experimental double album everything that punk hated but anyone with any taste bought this album. I did.

Not only that, the band Camper Van Beethoven covered the whole abum and released it. I have both copies:

Manfred Mann's Earthband - "Father Of Day, Father Of Night" from "Solar Fire"

While Dylan's original is good, Earthband take this into a whole new dimension. It is an absolutely magnificent piece of music.

Greg Lake - "I Believe In Father Christmas"

While the main beautiful riff is taken from "Troika" by Prokofiev, the song, lyrics, and delivery are close to perfect for one of the greatest Christmas singles ever made.

Mike Oldfield and Maggie Riley - "Family Man" from "Five Miles Out"

I was surprised to see that Morris Pert was involved with this, as I know him from my first Stomu Yamash'ta album as a member of Come to The Edge:

The song does have an edge to it, and it features Oldfield and Pert, although it is more pop than progressive.

Roger Waters - "Mother" - Covid Collaborative Cover

A cover of his song from "The Wall" that was covered online during COVID. It is mostly an excellent song but full of Waters' darkness, so not a happy song to listen to.

Paul Simon - "Father And Daughter" from "Surprise"

This is an absolute beauty from Paul Simon, with that gorgeous descending guitar sequence, and I often share this song with my daughters. I think it was used in The Rugrats movie.

I'm going to watch you shine

Going to watch you grow

Going to paint a sign

So you'll always know

As long as one and one is two

There could never be a father

Who loved his daughter more than I love you

Hawkwind - "Children Of The Sun" from "XIN Search Of Space"

An acoustic piece from Hawkwind's second album, with that also had that amazon Baney Bubbles artwork. This becomes quite relentless once the lyrics fade and Nik Turner's flute takes over.

You can see the cover in the video with this piece that I wrote about album packaging.

Spirit - "Family" from "Son of Spirit"

This is a gorgeous and slightly silly song, but I love it, and it is the sort of song that I play again once it has finished playing, featuring the sadly missed Randy California.

Sister Sledge - "We Are Family"

OK, not progressive, but with Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers on board, this is pure class and sounds as good today as when it first came out.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading and listening and I hope you found something that you enjoyed.