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