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Title: The album that broke the "punk" barrier.
Review: In 1982-1984 Black Flag would begin to make several very controversial moves. One would be growing their hair long, as it was a reaction to the dogmas of punk as much as confessions for their love of 70's hard rock and metal. Another was to incorporate a very "metal" and jazz influence into their music. Yet another was this controversial release, Family Man. Family Man is a weird album, made up of half Henry Rollins' spoken word/whacked out beatnik "poems", the other half Flag instrumentals. I found the instrumental portion to be far better than their "Process of Weeding Out" ep, and the poems are good- even if they're all very twisted (like for example "Salt on a Slug"). Both approaches meet in the middle with "Armageddon Man" which is both Rollins' spoken word with Flags music. An interesting concept, if not always a great album. Definitely P--ed off some punkers at the time, if not now. Buy it.
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