Psychedelic Jukebox: [1967] Family - Scene Through The Eyes Of A Lens

In the autumn of 1967, as British psychedelia reached its apogee, an obscure single quietly emerged from the creative ferment of the Leicester-based band Family. Titled “Scene Through the Eye of a Lens”, this track has since become something of a historical curiosity: an ambitious, genre-blurring debut that failed to chart but marked the beginning of one of the most eclectic and uncompromising careers in British progressive rock. Though commercially unsuccessful and often overlooked in broader psychedelic retrospectives, the single was nonetheless an aesthetic milestone for the band—foreshadowing the sonic complexity and idiosyncratic vision that would soon define Family’s place in the UK underground.

By the time “Scene Through the Eye of a Lens” was released on Liberty Records in October 1967, Family had already undergone a series of metamorphoses. The band originally operated under the name The Farinas, an R&B unit formed in Leicester in 1962 by guitarist John "Charlie" Whitney and saxophonist Jim King. With the later addition of powerhouse vocalist Roger Chapman and multi-instrumentalist Ric Grech on bass, violin, and cello, the group began to evolve into something stranger and more ambitious. They briefly adopted the name The Roaring Sixties before finally settling on the more abstract and enigmatic "Family," reportedly a reference to their appearance in matching double-breasted suits and a sort of faux-gangster stage persona that belied their experimental intentions.

The band’s first single, “Scene Through the Eye of a Lens,” was recorded at a crucial cultural crossroads. It emerged in the wake of landmark psychedelic releases like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Pink Floyd’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, both of which had redefined the artistic possibilities of British rock. Family’s debut, while rooted in rhythm and blues and early mod influences, offered a markedly different take on psychedelia. It was darker, more chaotic, and vocally more aggressive than most of the whimsical or pastoral tendencies dominating the genre at the time. Central to this tone was Roger Chapman’s braying vibrato—a raw, untamed vocal style often likened to a “bleating goat” and wholly unique within the rock idiom. Chapman’s voice, equally soulful and grotesque, added an emotional volatility that contrasted sharply with the more ethereal or playful voices in 1967's British psych landscape.

“Scene Through the Eye of a Lens” is often remembered as the band’s earliest artistic statement rather than a fully realized single. Produced by Jimmy Miller—who was just beginning to gain renown for his work with Traffic and would soon produce The Rolling Stones—it is said to have benefited from a brief in-studio contribution by Steve Winwood, further connecting Family to the elite tier of British psychedelic rock production. Although little is known about the exact studio details of the session, the final result exhibits a murky yet dynamic texture, suggesting early use of layering, echo, and tape manipulation, techniques that would soon become standard fare in the burgeoning progressive scene. Miller’s influence, though fleeting in this particular case, laid groundwork for Family’s future sessions; he would return for parts of their debut LP the following year, although the majority of the album was produced by Traffic’s Dave Mason.

Musically, the track straddles the boundaries between early psych-pop and more avant-garde structures. It combines jagged rhythm guitar work from Whitney, a snaking, almost rubbery bassline from Ric Grech, and swirling keyboard and woodwind flourishes from Jim King. This instrumentation—eschewing the typical Beatles-esque sunshine melodies for something denser and more brooding—creates a sound that already hinted at Family’s eventual departure from conventional rock forms. There is no trace of bubblegum or toytown whimsy here; instead, the track unfolds with a dramatic intensity more in line with the theatrical rock that would soon emerge from King Crimson and Van der Graaf Generator. The arrangement, while not overtly complex, is layered and spatially aware, and Chapman’s voice shifts between anguished bellow and bluesy recitation, embodying the lens through which the scene is seen—distorted, emotive, and slightly deranged.

Lyrically, the song deals in impressionistic, surrealist imagery. Though the exact words remain elusive in most sources, the title itself suggests a commentary on perception, artifice, and subjective reality—themes resonant with the psychedelic moment, but rendered here with a more confrontational, less whimsical edge. There is little of the pastoral escapism or Lewis Carroll-esque fantasy common among contemporaries like The Move or Tomorrow; Family’s lens is darker, more urban, more fevered. In this way, the song already betrays the band’s inclination toward narrative ambiguity, mood over clarity, and intensity over prettiness.

The release of “Scene Through the Eye of a Lens” did not make a commercial impact, and contemporary press coverage of the single appears to have been minimal or altogether absent. However, the track did accomplish something crucial behind the scenes: it earned Family a contract with Reprise Records, making them the first British act to be signed by the label for both UK and US distribution. This was a significant coup for a relatively unknown group from Leicester, and it set the stage for their 1968 debut album Music in a Doll’s House, which would be received as a sophisticated and boldly eclectic entry into the progressive rock canon.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(band)
2. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/family-mn0000136312
3. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/family/scene-through-the-eye-of-a-lens-gypsy-woman/
4. https://www.discogs.com/master/645405-The-Family-Scene-Through-The-Eye-Of-A-Lens
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Grech
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_(band)