Pete Frame's Family of Rock
My Mom was a writer and my Dad was an architect. One thing they had in common was music. Late in both their lives they turned their love of music into a couple of indispensible books on Broadway show tunes and Hollywood musicals. These books, both published by McFarland & Company Publishers, are "Who Sang What On Broadway, 1866-1996," and "Movie Song Catalog: Performers and Supporting Crew for the Songs Sung in 1460 Musical and Nonmusical Films, 1928-1988." To be honest, my Mom did the heavy lifting on these projects, while my Dad was more of a cheerleader. But they made a great team: who doesn't need a cheerleader? A successful architect, my Dad had an unbelievable mind for minute facts and relationships while my Mom put it all down beautifully on paper!
Why am I telling you this? Well, they did alot of research and owned alot of books, many of them on music. After they passed away, one of the books that I kept was only peripherally related to their work together, 'The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock." A British paperback that was updated periodically - I have the Fifth Edition from 1986 - the book is a nicely illustrated reference, one of those useful volumes that you can dip into over and over again. But the best part of the book are the Rock Family Trees that are interspersed throughout.
I love looking at these family trees - see above - but until tonight I never looked into who was behind them. It turns out there is a guy named Peter Frame and he really IS the Family of Rock.
That is to say, his website is: http://blog.familyofrock.com/
Family Trees are fascinating but especially when the families are rock stars! Pete Frame's diagrams trace the lineage from one band to another. It is how I often discover a band I have never heard before - I see that the bass player from band A left to start his own Band B and brought along the drummer from Band C....etc.
He also makes ALL of these by hand and he has nice block printing.
As an architect, I'm a sucker for good block printing.
But, even more so, I'm a sucker for systems that explain the world. Pete Frame's Family Trees explain the world of rock in ways that articles and books can't or don't. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. As Frame himself said in an interview in 1990:
"As a rock journalist, I was finding it difficult to write about all the personnel changes and connections between other groups - and one day, after I had interviewed Al Kooper in summer '72, I just thought it would be easier if I drew out his musical history in a family tree design. It appeared in Zigzag 21 and also in my book More Rock Family Trees. As you can see, it was very primitive... but I started doing more and more family trees in Zigzag - Jack Bruce, Stoneground, Fairport Convention, etc - and made them more and more detailed. Jac Holzman, the boss of Elektra Records, wanted to do a book of them but then left Elektra - so I did a deal with Omnibus Books in London and have been with them since 1980."
For the whole interview: http://www.cloudsandclocks.net/interviews/PFrame_interview.html
Paul,
I can't tell you how many memories the Pete Frame family trees brought back. Back in high school, many moons ago, I had the softback Pete Frame family tree book. It was a huge influence on me for discovering new music. I remember the King Crimson/Roxy Music, Deep Purple, Genesis, and CSN&Y ones in particular.
In the days before the internet, well actually the days before PCs, books like this were a great way to find out about similar bands that you might like. Then you could go to the Record Graveyard or Garbage (Jerry's) Records in Oakland and pick them up cheap. Long before the days of mp3s that was my way of sampling different music.
I wish I could tell you that I still had it but I'm betting that my Mom pitched it. Not all of the family trees that were in the published edition are online. I just may have to pick up a copy on eBay or Amazon.
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