Family Man in Bloomington, MN

Black Flag
's most experimental album,
Family Man
features one LP side of
spoken word
performances from
Henry Rollins
and another of instrumental music from the late-
Flag
lineup of
Greg Ginn
(guitar),
Kira
(bass), and
Bill Stevenson
(drums). Although occasionally chilling in its intensity, the
material, much like the between-song recitations of fellow Californian
Jim Morrison
(with whom
Rollins
sometimes shares a vocal similarity here) on the live
Doors
albums, mostly sounds juvenile and dated after the fact. That said,
's
tracks, along with
Jello Biafra
's recordings with
the Dead Kennedys
, can largely be credited with bringing "alternative"
to a larger audience who were either unaware of, or could not relate to, the
Patti Smith
/downtown New York scene. Unlike the solo
tracks, the instrumental music is still challenging and vibrant. Although sounding at times like a high-school garage band attempting to perform
Rush
covers,
Ginn
and company play with a sense of desperation and
punk rock
fury that makes much of the music positively electrifying. Similar in spirit to the less poppy tracks on
Huesker Due
's contemporary
Zen Arcade
, side two of
is characterized by its emotional purity.
reveals himself as a refreshingly and brilliantly free improviser and his playing should serve as an inspiration and lesson to later "
punk
" bands who value technical proficiency over rockin' out. Overall,
is an essential, if atypical, part of the
canon and should appeal to fans of
Sun Ra
,
Ornette Coleman
, or the New York "
noise
" scene as well. ~ Pemberton Roach