The Family Way (soundtrack)

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The Family Way
London (US)
ProducerGeorge Martin
The George Martin Orchestra chronology
George Martin Instrumentally Salutes "The Beatle Girls"
(1966) 		The Family Way
(1967) 		Yellow Submarine
(1969)

The Family Way is a soundtrack album composed by Paul McCartney, produced and arranged by

Roy Boulting and starring Hayley Mills. It consists of Martin's arrangements of music composed by Paul McCartney of the Beatles especially for the project. The record was preceded by a non-album single, again credited to the George Martin Orchestra, issued on 23 December 1966 by United Artists Records and comprising "Love in the Open Air" backed with "Theme from 'The Family Way'".[3]

"Love in the Open Air" won the

CD
in 1996 with musical compositions omitted from the original album, including the two tracks issued on the 1966 single.

Composition and recording

McCartney and Martin began collaborating on the project in November 1966, shortly before

Black Dyke Mills Band's instrumental "Thingumybob" in 1968.[9] Turner writes that, given the film's setting in northern England, the use of a brass band in the Family Way soundtrack might have been part of McCartney's inspiration for the fictitious Sgt. Pepper band, which McCartney termed "a bit of a brass band, in a way".[10]

A second composition was required for a pivotal love scene in the film.[8] Quoting Martin's recollection, Sounes says that he had to "pester Paul for the briefest scrap of a tune" for this piece.[7] Martin recalled that only after he had threatened to write the theme himself did McCartney comply, and that it was created on the spot at McCartney's home in St John's Wood, as Martin stood over McCartney at his piano.[11] Titled "Love in the Open Air", the piece was "a sweet little fragment of a waltz tune", according to Martin.[9]

McCartney, who had initially been enthusiastic about the project, likened his subsequent lack of productivity to a type of

church organ and tuba.[9]

Release

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[14]
Mojo[15]

Although The Family Way was released in January 1967, most commentators consider George Harrison's Wonderwall Music (1968), also a film soundtrack, to be the first solo album by a member of the Beatles. Unlike with McCartney's film score, Harrison directed and produced the recordings for Wonderwall Music, in addition to playing on the album.[16]

The Family Way was released on CD, in mono, in 2003. In 2011, a new remastered version of the soundtrack was released by Varèse Vintage. It featured the 1967 score in the original sequence, remastered from the first-generation stereo master tapes. It also included the unreleased stereo mix of "A Theme from The Family Way" as a bonus track. This piece was originally issued as the B-side of the 1966 UK/US single by the Tudor Minstrels.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Paul McCartney, arranged by George Martin.

Original 1967 release

Side one
  1. The Family Way
Side two
  1. The Family Way

2011 CD reissue

  1. Cue 2M1 / 2M4
  2. 5M1 / 11M3
  3. 6M4 / 7M2
  4. 6M2 / 1M2
  5. 10M1 / 6M3 / 4M1 / 1M3 / 1M4
  6. Love in the Open Air (7M3)
  7. 2M5
  8. 1M1
  9. 7M1
  10. 11M1 / 11M2 / 10M3 / 8M1
  11. 12M1
  12. 13M1
  13. 13M2
  14. Theme from The Family Way

References

  1. ISBN 0-345-25680-8
    .
  2. ISBN 0-7119-8308-9
    .
  3. ISBN 0-345-25680-8
    .
  4. ^ "The Ivors 1968". The Ivors. theivors.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Novello Award Winners Listed". Billboard. 4 April 1968. p. 38. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  6. ISBN 978-0-00-723705-0
    .
  7. ^ a b Sounes 2010, p. 159.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-06-247558-9
    .
  9. ^ a b c Turner 2016, p. 361.
  10. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 361–62.
  11. ^ Turner 2016, pp. 360–61.
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-0-912777-74-0
    .
  13. ^ a b Turner 2016, p. 360.
  14. ^ Ginell, Richard S. "The Family Way [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  15. ^ Male, Andrew (January 2012). "Soundtracks: Paul McCartney The Family Way". Mojo. p. 93.
  16. ISBN 0-9662649-5-9
    .
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