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#Post#: 421--------------------------------------------------
Manson Family Sings Songs of Charles Manson and Family Jams
By: CEddy Date: May 26, 2022, 6:26 am
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I'm trying to make sense of the “The Manson Family Sings The
Songs of Charles Manson” and “The Family Jams” 2 CD release.
HTML https://www.discogs.com/master/390705-The-Family-Jams-The-Family-Jams
Are the multiple versions of the songs different takes from the
same session, or were there separate sessions? The songs seem to
clearly come from 2 different tape dubs.
Were all of these songs recorded for the Hendrickson
documentary?
Were all of the songs recorded at Spahn Ranch as previously
reported? It sounds like Disc 1 could be a studio recording and
Disc 2 could be from Spahn.
The recordings are without CM. Who is actually on the
recordings?
Thanks for any insight you all have.
Tracklist
Recordings made by the members of Charles Manson's extended
'family' shortly after his final incarceration in late 1969.
The Family Jams
Ra-Hide Away
The Fires Are Burning
Die To Be One
No Wrong - Come Along
Get On Home
Is There No One In Your World But You?
First They Made Me Sleep In The Closet
Give Your Love (To Be Free)
I'll Never Say Never To Always
Look At Your Love
If I Had A Million Dollars
Goin' To The Church House
Family Jams Too
A Gamblin' Man Came From Natchez
Ra-Hide Away
Die To Be One
The Fires Are Burning
Give Your Love (To Be Free)
The Young Will Overcome
Goin' To The Church House
The Fires Are Burning
I'll Never Say Never To Always
Die To Be One
Look At Your Love
I Can't Remember When
Goin' To The Church House
I Can't Remember When
Give Your Love (To Be Free)
London Bridge Is Falling Down
From:
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CxrVmryuLenoOR4ymqyoJPCxardPc_id/view
THE MUSIC OF
CHARLES MANSON & THE FAMILY JAMS
THE KNOWN SESSIONS
Jason Austin
Fall, 1970
Spahn’s Ranch - Chatsworth, CA
Steve “Clem” Grogan (vocals/ acoustic guitar)
Catherine “Gypsy” Share (violin)
The Family Jams (vocals)
Robert Hendrickson (executive producer)
Released on The Family Jams (Aoroa 02), 1997
Ra-Hide Away! #1 | The Fires Are Burning #1 | Die to Be One #1 |
No Wrong, Come Along | Get on Home | Is There
No One in Your World but You? | MEDLEY: First They Made Me Sleep
in the Closet/ I’m Scratching Peace Symbols
in Your Tombstone | Give Your Love (to Be Free) #1 | I’ll Never
Say Never to Always #1 | Look at Your Love #1 | If I
Had a Million Dollars | Goin’ to the Church House #1 | A
Gamblin’ Man Came from Natchez | Ra-Hide Away! #2 |
Die to Be One #2 | The Fires Are Burning #2 | Give Your Love (to
Be Free) #2 | The Young will Overcome | Goin’ to
the Church House #2 | The Fires Are Burning #3 | I’ll Never Say
to Never to Always #2 | Die to Be One #3 | Look at
Your Love #2 | Insane Train #1 | Goin’ to the Church House #3 |
Insane Train #2 | Give Your Love (to Be Free) #3 |
London Bridge Is Falling Down
A fascinating document that perfectly captures the Family’s
“Desert Music” sound, The Family Jams was recorded
live at the Spahn Ranch saloon– in stereo no less. The
performances, simply arranged around Clem’s acoustic guitar
accompaniment, do a fine job of demonstrating how far the
collective’s music had come during their time together.
The group is obviously rehearsed: Clem puts forth his best
Charlie impression on material like “A Gambin’ Man
Came from Natchez”, while the female backing vocals heard
throughout are particularly well-arranged, bringing to
mind the Mamas & the Papas on occasion. Of course the Mamas &
the Papas never sang any lyrics like, “When you
see the children/ X’s on their head/ If you dare to look at
them/ Soon you will be dead”.
The previous couplet stands out because its venom seems almost
out of place amidst this collection of gentle
ballads, mystical flights of fancy and the occasional good-time
jam. Overall, the main lyrical preoccupations of the
group seem to be spreading love and breaking free from parental
repression. As a representative example of the
“freak-folk” genre, The Family Jams is nearly perfect apart from
one unavoidable exception– Charlie was in jail
when it was recorded, so obviously he’s nowhere to be heard
here!
A 2-CD set, the first disc here seems to contain the more
“finished” recordings, while the second disc (which begins
with “A Gamblin’ Man Came from Natchez”) is chiefly comprised of
a live performance, with the group seamlessly
segueing from one song to the next. Despite the repetition of
many songs and the variable audio fidelity, the listener
is still encouraged to listen to the entire set. Variations
abound (“Die to Be One #3”, for example, contains Charlie’s
oft-quoted “How can one compete with the ocean?” lyrics), and
the album’s centerpiece– “Insane Train #1”-- is
inexplicably buried towards the end of the collection.
There is a timeless quality to songs such as “Look at Your
Love”, “I’ll Never Say Never to Always” and “The Young Will
Overcome” that– in conjunction with the authenticity of the
performances– sound like they could be a hundred
years old. Kudos to the late Robert Hendrickson for having the
wherewithal to capture the Family’s music for
posterity.
HTML https://archive.org/details/the-family-jams-the-family-jams
#Post#: 480--------------------------------------------------
Re: Manson Family Sings Songs of Charles Manson and Family Jams
By: mordekye Date: September 17, 2022, 4:50 pm
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i came here specifically to ask you about this record. although
i’ve long been a fan of charlie’s music, i just got into this
album recently—it’s really remarkable, isn’t it? the songwriting
showcases more sophisticated composition than most of charles’
pre-trial recordings. squeaky kind of alludes to this in
reflexion when she talks about the improvisation & spontaneity
of many of the earlier spahn sessions & says that at a certain
point writing & rehearsing became very important—there was a
message to get across.
anyway, i was hoping to find some more info on the recording
sessions as there is precious little written about them.
supposedly there was an initial session for this album as early
as “late 1969,” but, like so many other manson adjacent
recordings, they’ve been condemned to a vault. at least clem,
squeaky, sandy, gypsie, cappie, brenda, & ouisch are supposed to
have been included on the 1970 recording(s) & although i can
guess, i haven’t found any sources as to which voices belong to
each respective performer. my guess is that hendrickson recorded
disc 1 as a proper recording & may have done disc 2 w/ the
intention of having some live performances commuted to video as
there’s some footage of them playing music at the ranch at this
time.
anyway, any additional information would be greatly appreciated.
i’ve fallen in love w/ this record & i feel like it represents a
really important moment in time that manson focused his efforts
on more conventional songwriting structures. they’re just great
fucking songs. & although clem does a fair & sometimes uncanny
job of aping manson’s singing style & vocal idiosyncrasies, i
wish we could have heard charlie sing them.
thanks as always, christopher beach eddy, yr wealth of knowledge
is an asset to preserving the music.
#Post#: 481--------------------------------------------------
Re: Manson Family Sings Songs of Charles Manson and Family Jams
By: CEddy Date: September 19, 2022, 7:50 am
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I wish I had more details to share than what is above.
I assume that the main release on Disc 1 was recorded by
Hendrickson for the film, but don't have 100% confirmation.
I have no idea as to the source of the CD 2 bonus tracks - they
didn't appear on any other release and have different sonics, so
they may or may not be related to Hendrickson.
From what I gather a group insider may have provided the tapes
for the CD release, and I've contacted people to get a
background on the source tapes and sessions, but haven't
received any replies.
The album is certainly interesting, and a captured moment in
time. Compositionally, if it correct that 100% percent of the
songs were written by CM, it is an evolution of LIE and shows it
was composed specifically for the group and not solo CM songs.
Personally, I deeply miss CM's performance presence, and think
in some ways the context constrains what would be possible to do
to perfect and expand on the songs. I don't think even if
everything had been different, the group context was the best
for what CM could have achieved with his music and recordings.
The Family Sings is a great time capsule though.
Wish we know more about all of the details behind it. I don't
get the sense that the same attention to detail that might have
been paid to other artists and sessions in the recording biz
were applied here, and its kind of an amazing gift that any
recordings survive at all!
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