I wondered if anyone here had bothered checking out their album they did a few years ago... are they worth checking out?

MattyJam said:

I wondered if anyone here had bothered checking out their album they did a few years ago... are they worth checking out?

If you like Susannah Melvoin, Eric Leeds and Paul Peterson -- yes.

big YES

I really like them, Gaslight is not quite up to the standard of the original Family album but it's definitely a great continuation in that vein, although there's maybe a few too many slow songs towards the end. Their live album is great as well, that might be the best place to start actually as it's a nice mix of the old Family material and their newer stuff played really well. Haven't listened to AM Static yet but by all accounts it's great. Hope I get to see them live one day.

suomynona said:

MattyJam said:

I wondered if anyone here had bothered checking out their album they did a few years ago... are they worth checking out?

If you like Susannah Melvoin, Eric Leeds and Paul Peterson -- yes.

And Jellybean on drums or guitar

They are great! Remember that Eric Leeds had a LOT to do with the sound on that album.

What they do with Mutiny is worth the price of admission and the music from Gaslight is pretty damn good as well.

Worth your time.

definately worth it. What they are doing pays wonderful respect to Prince (1985) vision.

yes

Yuuuuuuup

MattyJam said:

I wondered if anyone here had bothered checking out their album they did a few years ago... are they worth checking out?

I only have gaslight but it rocks and I'll get the rest eventually

They are ok. Sort of grown up funk/rnb played by middle aged white folks. Nothing wrong with that. But perhaps not terribly exiting?

[Edited 6/18/16 11:48am]

paulludvig said:

FUCK YES!

Gaslight is a project of love, talent, and it's The Family grown up. These guys have talent that went unappreciated. There is not one bad song on Gaslight. Eric even has his own instrumental, "Leed Lines". Their cover record from a couple of years ago, AM Static, is a pretty amazing take on some old classics you may or may not have heard of before. I will say their remix album wasn't a favorite for me.

The album is exactly where The Family left off, with a lot of life experience in between. I followed Paul & Susannah as they livestreamed studio sessions back then, and when they put out a demo of "@8". A lot of us fans were with them the whole way, and even helped in the funding. Thank God for Questlove putting them together for that one-off gig. That happenstance spawned them working together again.

Gaslight, and The Time's Condensate came out around the same time. A great duo of Prince associates doing what they do best - make music. I would have loved to have seen fDeluxe open for The Time on some dates back then.

Get yourself a copy of Gaslight. Play The Family, then play Gaslight next. You're welcome.

paulludvig said:

They are ok. Sort of grown up funk/rnb played by midle aged white folks. Nothing wrong with that. But perhaps not terribly exiting?

Uhhh, hey bruh. C'mere a minute.



They're all middle aged. Prince was dead at a mere 57. You think everyone is eternally 26 and stuck in leather & lace circa 1984? If anything, their age and life experience has made Gaslight an even better record, than if they had immediately had a follow up in 1986 or 1987 at Paisley Park. Prince wishes he could have produced this wrecka!

TrivialPursuit said:

paulludvig said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Uhhh, hey bruh. C'mere a minute.



They're all middle aged. Prince was dead at a mere 57. You think everyone is eternally 26 and stuck in leather & lace circa 1984? If anything, their age and life experience has made Gaslight an even better record, than if they had immediately had a follow up in 1986 or 1987 at Paisley Park. Prince wishes he could have produced this wrecka!

It is what it is. Not really a criticism. [Edited 6/18/16 11:49am]

Paully Paully Paul

paulludvig said:

They are ok. Sort of grown up funk/rnb played by middle aged white folks. Nothing wrong with that. But perhaps not terribly exiting?

[Edited 6/18/16 11:48am]

Yeah that about sums it up. I didn't find it terribly funky. Lyrically it's a bit cringe worthy at times. Kinda sounds like a band trying to sound like the Family and coming up short. I'll always support their work and go to their gigs but Gaslight didn't do it for me.

MattyJam said:

Does Jellybean play drums or guitar when they do gigs? And if its guitar, whose behind the kit?

Jellybean usually stuck to guitar on this project when they played live. Oliver Leiber also played guitar at gigs, but he also worked on the albums; he also produced a lot of AM Static's tracks. Mario Lawson played drums for most shows, and was on their live album. Paul's nephew, Jason Peterson-DeLaire (J.P.) played keys.

J.P. is closer to my age, and is such a Prince fan. Paul said once that the sorta forgot what a legacy he was part of with Purple Rain, until J.P. said something like, "But uncle, you were in Purple Rain."

TrivialPursuit said:

MattyJam said:

Cool. Thanks for the info. Only just checked out The Family's debut after 20+ years of Prince fandom. Don't know why it took me so long, I guess the CD is pretty difficult to track down, but still, I can't believe I missed out all this time. I really love it, the vocal chemistry between Susannah and Paul, Erics involvement, the songs themselves and the classy art. I heard the title track from Gaslight on YouTube and dig what I hear, so will buy the album for sure. I'm a sucker for anything with Eric Leeds (I think he should receive a knighthood for his contribution to Power Fantastic alone).

Actually you can buy their CDs on their site, pretty easily. The CD accidentally went up for sale a few months before it was supposed to. I didn't know that, and put my order in, and got it. Then I saw them talking about release date. I finally asked Paul about it, and I guess I was one of only a few that got an order in early, and got the CD. It's still one of my favorite records. I was listening to it today while running errands around town.

Paul, Susannah, Eric, & 'Bean put themselves full on into this record. With Oliver Leiber's input, they have a wonderfully textured and beautiful record. It's grown folks music.

Eric Leed's Now and Again is also available on there.

TrivialPursuit said:

EmmaMcG said:

The Family is going for over 100 quid on eBay??? Wow. I bought it on CD only last year for 12.99 in a second hand shop. And at the time, I thought THAT was expensive...

Yup. If you see anymore it's worth buying them up just to put them on eBay.

I'm holding out to find a more reasonably priced copy, I love the album and all, but I can't justify spending £100 on a CD.

EmmaMcG said:

The Family is going for over 100 quid on eBay??? Wow. I bought it on CD only last year for 12.99 in a second hand shop. And at the time, I thought THAT was expensive...

I'm surprised you were able to find the CD at that price last year. I always remember it being very expensive--selling for at least $50 as far back as copies were available online.

Edit: For example, here is a ten-year-old thread quoting around the same ebay price for the Family CD back then: http://prince.org/msg/5/200922

[Edited 6/20/16 16:15pm]

sexton said: