Second Generation Woman

Family's third Reprise single, released 8 November 1968 and notable as the first Family A-side written entirely by Ric Grech — a driving fuzz-rocker often compared to Paperback Writer — backed with the Chapman / Whitney folk-psych ballad 'Hometown'. Produced by Glyn Johns and John Gilbert, both sides featured Grech on lead vocal. The single failed to chart. The A-side would later reappear on Family Entertainment in March 1969. Released in the UK, France and Greece; promo copies exist from the US and Argentina.

Interview context — Ian Middleton, Record Mirror (December 1968, 'Family's Changed Ideas'): Grech on the single's role: "'Second Generation Woman' only shows one facet of what we're doing. We're trying to reach a larger public. But we didn't go into the studio just to make a commercial record — it just happened." Chapman pushed back on the wider selling-out question: "I don't think it matters if people do write something that is commercial. It's all a matter of feeling. I don't put someone down if they do something out and out commercial. If it pleases the public then it's fine with me. I used to be a snob in music, like I didn't like the pop scene. I went for R 'n' B and blues when I was 14 or 15. If people enjoy what I do now — fine." Chapman's parting characterisation: "'Second Generation Woman' is really what we're all about. It's about people who've grown up from the rock era." (See Press Archive: Family's Changed Ideas.)