It's been 33 years since The Family was released. Yesterday was 34 years since "The Screams of Passion" was recorded.



From Princevault:

The Family is the first album by The Family. While Prince was only credited with writing Nothing Compares 2 U, he wrote seven of the eight songs and played almost all the instruments on the album (Bobby Z. wrote the remaining track, River Run Dry). Vocals were provided by St. Paul Peterson and Susannah Melvoin.

This album was the first Prince-related release to feature saxophone by Eric Leeds and string orchestration by Clare Fischer.

Recording took place in late June and the first two weeks of August 1984. High Fashion, Mutiny, Mazarati (later renamed Susannah's Pajamas), and Desire were the first tracks recorded for the album in late June 1984. Nothing Compares 2 U was recorded in mid-July 1984.

Lisa (later renamed Yes) and River Run Dry were recorded in early August 1984 while The Screams Of Passion followed in mid-August 1984 (a year to the day before the album's release). Vocal overdubs by St. Paul Peterson were added in late 1984 or early 1985. Orchestral overdubs by Clare Fischer also took place in late 1984 to early 1985, and mixing taking place in April and May 1985.

Other tracks recorded for the album include Feline (recorded in mid-July 1984) and Miss Understood (recorded in the second week of August 1984).

An undated early work-in-progress configuration of the album is known to exist, tentatively titled Hi Fashion, which also included Paisley Park (an instrumental song different from the Around The World In A Day song of the same name), and a track titled BMW (thought to be an interim title of Susannah's Pajamas).

An acetate, dated 28 May 1985 was made of the final configuration of the album. The songs are in the same sequence as they were ultimately released, although the instrumentals Yes and Susannah's Pajamas (listed on the acetate as 'Susannah’s Clothes') are each listed as being some 30 seconds longer than they were released. However this was down to errors in writing down the timings, the versions on the acetate are exactly as released.

The album produced two singles, The Screams Of Passion and High Fashion.

There was little other promotion for the album, as Jerome Benton and Susannah Melvoin flew to France with Prince to film the Under The Cherry Moon movie at the time of the album's release, and St. Paul Peterson was taking acting and dancing lessons in Los Angeles to prepare for a future (undetermined) Prince film project.

As such, a planned tour and other promotional activities were put on hold. The Family played only one show at the time of the album's release, on 13 August 1985 at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Perhaps due to the lack of promotion, the album reached only number 62 on the US Billboard Top Pop Albums Chart, and number 17 on the US Billboard Top Black Albums Chart.

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Where does this rank in your associate acts list? For me, it's one of the top 2, the other being Jill Jones. I'm not a huge fan of the instrumentals, so JJ sometimes edges it out, but that in no one diminishes the perfection that is The Family.

There are long time 0rg-famous orgers who never even bothered to listen to this album. They are seriously missing out.

Cinny said:

There are long time 0rg-famous orgers who never even bothered to listen to this album. They are seriously missing out.

Makes you wonder why they're here at all.

I know that my knowledge of The Family in the actual nineteen-eighties was when MuchMusic used "Screams Of Passion" during a commercial bumper, and played St. Paul's schitt when he went solo.

But just knowing this has Clare Fischer strings, and really, pre-UTCM visuals (French vibe, black and white) should really perk up the attention of anyone who likes Parade.

The CD was never easy to come by, but I found the cassette and vinyl quite easily locally.

Cinny said:

There are long time 0rg-famous orgers who never even bothered to listen to this album. They are seriously missing out.

That statement just scares me deeply. As a Prince fan, no matter what, we would listen to any an all Prince songs. Songs from Prince's own collection or songs from other artist or bands.

*sigh* One of the many albums I gave away in an earlier conversion fit. I loved it at the time. Some associates I skipped, but I had this one. I miss my original collection.

So much love 4 this album and throught this album

In light of the Prince 1995+ releases, I went to iTunes today to see if the bootleg Family download is still there. It isn't. Don't know when it came down but I recall checking earlier this summer and it was still there. FDeluxe live is for sale but I haven't decided if I want to download it yet.

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Hopefully, these Apple Music re-releases will eventually include the Family, Apollonia 6, and Mazarati.

One of the best, if not THE best associate albums, if only for the complexity of the arrangements and sophistication of the music while still retaining much of the MPLS sound. I think it's also the most lyrically creative.

This is definately an album that deserves a re-issue. A new re-master including extra tracks Feline and Miss Understood wud b cool. The photo of Susannah on the cover reminds me of Jami Kertz from The Lost Boys movie.

jungleluv said:

violetcrush said:

One of the best, if not THE best associate albums, if only for the complexity of the arrangements and sophistication of the music while still retaining much of the MPLS sound. I think it's also the most lyrically creative.

I was never able to get a physical copy of the album and was glad that it was available on streaming services for a while. Hopefully there will be a re-issue eventually.

pinkcashmere23 said:

violetcrush said:

One of the best, if not THE best associate albums, if only for the complexity of the arrangements and sophistication of the music while still retaining much of the MPLS sound. I think it's also the most lyrically creative.

I was never able to get a physical copy of the album and was glad that it was available on streaming services for a while. Hopefully there will be a re-issue eventually.

I'ts pretty to easy find ori vinyl.

and htenyou can make mp3s of it.