First three tracks taken from the Family Style Band's brand new CD "Live in Nottingham" now available from this site. The copyright of  all recordings is owned by the Family Style Band. © 2005 the Family Style Band, all rights reserved. "Looking for a Woman" Streaming Realaudio | Low Fi | Hi Fi | "Walking Blues" Streaming Realaudio | Low Fi | Hi Fi | "Body Painter" Full download Click here (Windows Media File) Next three tracks taken from the Family Style Band's album "Walk". Recorded April 2002.    The copyright of  all recordings is owned by the Family Style Band. © 2002 the Family Style Band, all rights reserved. Franco Limido: Vocals Marco Limido: Guitar Davide Bianchi: Bass/Backing Vocals Michele Fazio: Piano Gigi Biolcati: Drums/Backing Vocals "Chaplin" Streaming Realaudio | Low Fi | Hi Fi | "Get Rid of You" Streaming Realaudio | Low Fi | Hi Fi | "My Baby She's Grand" Streaming Realaudio | Low Fi | Hi Fi | For Broadband users here's a full 55 minute video of Family Style's 2002 Polish tour. This video file is 60 Mb's long and has been put up on the Movinmusic website as our first experiment in providing Broadband content. It's been encoded in the streaming Realvideo format and therefore needs Realplayer to view. Click here for the full Polish tour video!

Live in Nottingham Family Style Band's album, Live in Nottingham, £12.99 inc p&p, for all orders in within the UK.& Click here for Sterling Cheque Orders Click here for Credit Card Purchases Buy Walk Family Style Band's album, Walk, £12.99 inc p&p, for all orders in within the UK.  All cheque payments must be made in £'s sterling. Send a cheque payable to Movinmusic to: Movinmusic, PO Box 38 Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 3YD Click here for Sterling Cheque Orders Click here for Credit Card Purchases

LIVE IN NOTTINGHAM REVIEWS

It is still a rare occurence for Continental blues acts to garner much of a following in Britain but thanks to some excellent live shows this Italian outfit has etsablished a strong reputation in the UK over the last couple of years. Similarly, the Running Horse in Nottingham is now well known as a venue for first-class blues. Put the two together and the relust is a rtelease worth investigating.

Dating from 2004, when Family Style was celebrating its anniversary, this hour long CD opens with “Lookin’ For A Woman”, a very fine Chicago styled number with somer exemplary musicianship – a wonderful start. The band’s respect for the British blues sound comes over loud and clear on the cover of Peter Green’s “Looking For Somebody”, with Franco Limido’s vocals and subtle harmonica work, Marco Limido’s impressive and expressive guitar work and the rhythm section of bassman Davide Bianchi and Gigi Biolcati on drums all combining to create that eldritch feel that was the trademark of vintage Fleetwood Mac at their best. The original “Pocket Full Of Nothin’” is a heavy, Howling Wolf inflected slab of muscular blues-rock, which contrasts strongly with the subtle T-Bone Walker-ish original “Body Painter”.

There are no poor performances here but space constraints limit me to mentioning that elsewhere there are echoes of Robert Jr. Lockwood, Junior Wells, Freddy and Albert King, Sonny Boy “Rice Miller” Williamson, and on “Easy”, the final bonus track, recorded in Belgium, Walter Horton of course – to name a few, but also there is plentu of Family Style. Note too that the longest track clocks in at just over six minutes, so throghout things are tigh and focussed.

Have I any criticisms to make? Well, omitting the audience participation number “I Walk All Day” would not harm the CD and I do find the over-growly vocal on “Diving Duck Blues” a little off-putting. Even in this latter case though, there is some compensation offered on the same number by the presence of some exquisite Jimmy Reed styled high register harp playing.These guys do know their stuff.

Rating: 8

Norman Darwen, Blues In Britain Magazine, April 2006

Family Style is a 4 piece Italian band that has been around the live music circuit for a number of years now. Already 2 CD’s have been produced, 1999’s live album "Live Style" and in 2003 the album "Walk". Now, in 2005 the live CD "Live in Nottingham" has emerged into the light of day. The band itself maintains a very nice and good looking website, in both Italian and English, and this “good look” carries over into the new CD “Live in Nottingham”. All the tracks on the CD were recorded during a gig at The Running Horse in Nottingham with as a bonus Walter Horton’s harmonica piece “Easy” recorded at Caproen, Bredene, Belgium on January 2004. On the album there are 7 covers and 6 original songs. The originals are mainly written by the Limido brothers, except "Cannonball" which is a Franco Limido song.

Indeed all the beautiful singing is all done by Franco Limido who is also responsible for the harmonica parts. The CD is filled with wonderful Jump & Jive songs with a real “Good Time Music” sound. This sound is mainly the result of the well arranged and very well performed bass and drums. No world shaking stuff, no experiments - this band wants to play music we can dance to, clear and simple! And, in fact, that is exactly what they do here. Family Style know their way around Blues, Boogie, Swing, Jive ...but before everything they are a band - therefore no endless solo’s or things like that by individual members. They are all good musicians who stay within the boundaries of the style and control their playing without an endless number of licks. Listen to some of the, in my opinion, most catchy songs such as: "Lookin' For A Woman" this is an ideal opener for a live gig with fine guitar playing and a harp that covers all of the song. After the Eddie Boyd boogie “She’s Real” there is another Fleetwood Mac/Peter Green song “Looking For Somebody“ a song the band plays at every gig because of their passion for Fleetwood Mac music. A passion that has led them to feature on a Fleetwood Mac tribute CD.

With the New Orleans rumba styled track "Get Rid of You" - its dance time again. To me this is one of the best songs the Limido brothers have written, with again excellent slide guitar by Marco. "Walking Blues" is an excellent song too, the perfect marriage of bottleneck guitar and Chicago harp, just grand! When Family Style sounds live as good as they do on this CD then this is a truly great band! In short: A drivin’ harp, flashy guitar, and a very steady rhythm section make this CD a feast for the ear and indeed one cries out for more! I think there will be another offering because without any doubt this band is one that can be categorized as “Hard Working”. Make them top of the bill of any festival and in my humble opinion you’ll need nobody else!

"Live in Nottingham" is with no doubt a success. A very professional CD with a very high Swing-Feel to it!

ROOTSTIME Belgium – April 2005

Franco Limido - Vocal and Harmonica
Marco Limido - Guitar
Davide Bianchi - Bass
Gigi Biolcati - Drums

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of being the initial contact in the UK with Italy's top Blues Band, Family Style. It was Spalding Blues Club's first venture in helping to organise a tour for a Blues Band. Now two years on and more tours in the UK now organised by that good friend of the Club, Mike Hellier of the Movinmusic Agency, we have the first "LIVE" CD from the Band; "Live in Nottingham", recorded at the "Running Horse" Club in Nottingham.

You could say this review is a sort of mix between a live review and review of a CD of a live performance as I was there on the night along with Richard and Cynthia Howell the co-ordinator's of the Spalding Blues Club Collective. What a night it was too, it was the first time I had been to the "Running Horse" Club, in fact the first time I had been in Nottingham. A privilege extended to us by our "buddy's" Franco, Marco, Davide and Gigi - "Family Style" by their kind invite to attend the recording session.

The "Running Horse" is well established venue on the UK circuit with great recording facilities, you could sense the atmosphere as you walked in and paid your entrance fee to Barry the owner, yeah! I was looking forward to a great night's entertainment. It certainly is a great venue with music every night of the week, with an emphasis on Hard Rock and Blues.

After hugs from the band a good chat and a drink, yes, these are a really friendly, genuine bunch of guys, steeped in Blues, they got down to business on stage. Marco the lead guitarist had travelled all the way from Arluno, (their hometown) near Milan with a broken leg, in constant agony throughout the whole of their UK tour, the guy deserves an award for his dedication and showmanship. In fact they all deserve an award as not only did they travel the length and breadth of the UK but they did a gig in Belgium the next day, another in Switzerland the day after then home to Italy driving all the way.... yeah man! I said driving, not flying as you might expect, but all the way by car!

Now on to the CD review:

It is a few months since their performance in Nottingham, I have been waiting to see how their recording had turned out after such an amazing live gig. I enjoyed the gig so much that I then and there volunteered to write a review for the recording. I am privileged to have received a preview copy in advance of the actual CD. There are 14 tracks, a great mix of their own numbers, some borrowed from the greats like Robert Johnson, Walter Horton and Peter Green and early Fleetwood Mac but all good rockin' Blues.

Track Listing and critique:

Track 1 - "Lookin' For A Woman" A great number to introduce the band, straight into the action, Franco on vocals and harp, Marco on guitar, Davide on bass, Gigi on drums playing Chicago style from the onset of this live album. Franco and the guys bringing audience participation from the start.

Track 2 - "She's Real" Franco showing his virtuosity on harp and vocals very competently backed up by the rest of the guys. The number bounds along. I really dig it.

Track 3 - "Looking For Somebody" A tribute to Peter Green and early Fleetwood Mac. A haunting blues melody, so sad so forlorn vocals by Franco. A fantastic guitar solo by Marco that really pulls at the heart strings. Don't stop.

Track 4 - "Diving Duck Blues" Down to Mississippi, down amongst the crocodiles, thats where Family Style take us with this mighty Swamp Blues.

Track 5 - "Pocket Full Of Nothin'" With a "pocket full of nothin" how can you lose? Well they don't lose, it's a real winner, great number.

Track 6 - "Get Rid Of You" Unusual lyric and rhythm portraying a sentiment we have all felt many times in our life. Superb guitar work by Marco.

Track 7 - "Walking Blues2 Marco with an Elmore James style slide guitar with Franco with really gutsy vocal for this legendary number by that instigator of Blues music, "Robert Johnson." Superbly done number, done as it should be.

Track 8 - "Body Painter" Slowing down the pace here with a swing blues, Franco's bitter sweet memory of his body painter.

Track 9 - "Cannonball" A resounding instrumental to please all you blues rockers, hit it guys.

Track 10 - "Thank You All" A verbal thank you to the band members and all the staff and production crew at the Running Horse, I second that.

Track 11 - "Jack Daniel" A great rock number written for Keith Richards and his favourite tipple to finish this amazin' gig by Family Style.

Track 12 - "Keep My Businness" After cries of "MORE" from the audience, Family Style really rock back on stage to enthral us all over again.

Track 13 - "I Walk All Day" Bringing in the audience Franco leads this catchy repetitive lyric with the band blasting away in between the chorus, you can hear Richard, Cynthia and yours truly giving our all with the rest of the audience in appreciation of a great band on a great night.

Track 14 - "Easy" (This track was recorded in Belgium at Zaal Caproen, Bredene, Belgium on Friday January 30th 2004. with Enrico Crivellaro on guitar) A really great version of Big Walter (Shaky) Horton's famous instrumental. Good friend of the Family Style band Enrico Crivallaro plays guitar on this one. Exceptional harp by Franco.

Review with thanks to Frank Skinner

Family Style did it again!

A couple of years ago the band produced a live CD, LiveStyle, later on there was the Walk CD, and now the band figured it was time for a new production. Being an absolute live band it was not too difficult to decide it be another Live album. So sometime ago we went to Belgium to witness a first attempt to record this beauty. Unfortunately guitarist Marco was not able to accompany his buddies on that occasion and Enrico Crivellaro came along in his place. Although the recordings were just grand, the band still had to do it all over again with Marco on the guitar. For the Belgian fans, present at the recorded concert, there is still a little light in the Dark. Easy, harmonicatune by Big Walter Horton and recorded at this Bredene gig is included on this CD. All other music and fun was recorded during the show in the Running Horse in Nottingham.

So, what can you tell about this band and their music? Well, that's, as Walter Horton said: Easy. They're a bunch of nice guys, with a great sense of humor and they know their way around in bluesmusic. The show brings a lot of good music, and big laughs as well. The main man, Franco, does not only play a very skillfull harmonica, he is also a good singer and has no problem making a real entertaining performance.

Opener Looking For A Woman is played as sort of a warming up for both band and audience. Good job on the guitar and harmonica. Eddie Boyd's She's Real boogies all the way and makes one dance along, willing or not. Looking For Somebody, a Fleetwood Mac - Peter Green song, is a regular on the setlist. Family Style also contributed to a Fleetwood Mac tribute CD, and still plays some of their songs, being real fans of this bands music. Not strange the song is also in this live recording. With great guitar and harmonica parts. Diving Duck Blues, a Sleepy John Estes song, takes us down to Mississippi, as Franco tells in the announcement of this beauty. Steady rhythm, deep voice singing and again nice sounding guitar and harp parts.

Pocket Full Of Nothin'. Being a Tom Waits fan, Franco wrote this song as sort of a tribute, while waiting all night for the early train home, on the Florence trainstation. The sound makes one think of the early Waits and if played with a little less tempo it could well have been one of his originals, sounding mean and dark. Included in the song is a fine solo on drums by Gigi "Luigino" Biolcati.

Get Rid of You speeds up things even a little more. Original Family Style tune and very well danceable. On with Walking Blues, with the finest slide I've heard in a long time.

Body Painter, a song about the love for..., well....., a body painter. Ups and downs of a relation. Put on nice music with a guitarsolo in a different - slower - tempo and a grand finale. Cannonball is an instrumental tune by Marco Limido with a main part for the guitar. Up Tempo and a full sound, building up towards a grand solo and then returning to the opening theme.

Jack Daniel, a tribute to Keith Richards. Another Family Style original and played with a lot of power, making me wonder if there's any JD's involved (lol). Rice Millers Keep My Business, sets off with a good harmonica. Steady beat, R&R tune. The band finishes the gig with I Walk All Day, choir needed. The choir, being the audience, does a good job. There's some real talent walking 'round in Nottingham!

Last tune on the CD is the above mentioned Easy, by Big Walter Horton, recorded in Bredene - Belgium, with Franco giving a great show on the harmonica.

In short: An excellent Live CD. It's been around in the car and the house for a couple of weeks and the music really makes me feel good!

The band:

Franco Limido - vocals, harmonica; Marco Limido - all guitars; Davide Bianchi - bass (Crazy Legs when needed); Gigi 'Luigino' Biolcati - drums, impossible percussion.

Blues Cruisers Website

Walk CD

This album is part of a journey through life, a blues life, a way of life, Family Style. Early beginnings of this journey start with Cooper Terry, a black American Bluesman settling in Italy after as a young teenager getting himself into a bit of trouble Stateside. Marco Limido was his electric guitarist in his band 'The Night Life'; at the age of 16, his younger brother Franco saw the band and was so impressed by Cooper, he decided then and there that he wanted to be like him. So we have it, the foundations of a really great band, following in the footsteps of their Mentor, the late, great Cooper T'. They have journeyed to many places, from Dublin to New Orleans, from Warsaw to Milan and on to Spalding in England and even Rotterdam. Journeying with them, their cousin Davide Bianci and their buddy Gigi Biolcati, gathering many friends along the way, sharing lifes experiences, it's ups and downs, giving inspiration to this albums superb content. 'Walk' is part of lifes journey.

So on to my analysis of this album, track by track.

1 - My Baby She's Grand (F Limido - M Limido)
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica
Marco Limido - guitar
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums

Family Style burst into this album with a great up tempo number, I am sure Franco's lovely girlfriend Leila was the inspiration, I have seen her photo, "She's Grand". Equally fine solo's from Franco on 'harp' and Marco on guitar backed by that tight rhythm section of Davide on bass and Gigi on drums. Grand number.

2 - Brand New Blues (F Limido - M Limido)
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica session
Marco Limido - guitars
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums and shaker
Slawek Wierzcholski - harmonica solo

An equally fine up tempo number, given more depth by Gigi adding a shaker and a great harmonica solo by Slawak that great 'harpist' from Poland. Adds a new dimension.

3 - Get Rid Of You (F Limido - M Limido)
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica
Marco Limido - guitar
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums and udu

Great start with Franco on 'harp', Marco on guitar and Gigi on udu. Unusual lyric and rhythm portraying a sentiment we have all felt many times in our life. Superb 'harp' break by Franco in the middle. Franco my Buddy you are in fine voice.

4 - Body Painter (F Limido - M Limido)
Franco Limido - vocals
Marco Limido - guitar
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums

Slowing down the pace here, Franco leads with an even more unusual lyric about possibly a former lover? Unusual Lady! Probably fun while it lasted, probably better in the past where it belongs, a bitter sweet memory.

5 - Jack Daniel (S Wierzcholski)
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica
Marco Limido - guitar
Tony McPhee - slide guitar and backup vocals
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums
Slawek Wierzcholski - rhythm guitar, backup vocals

A great drinking song written by Slawek, the usual four band members plus that great British Bluesman Tony McPhee on slide guitar and Slawak again this time on rhythm guitar, both providing the backing vocals. I would love to be included in this round, sip it slow to appreciate.

6 - Easy (W Horton)
Franco Limido - harmonica
Marco Limuido - guitar
Stefano Franco - piano

Breaking from their own numbers, just two of Family Style this time, Franco on Harp and what a superb piece of 'harp' too, a fine tribute to 'Big' Walter 'Shaky' Horton. Ably backed by brother Marco on guitar and Stefano Franco on piano. A fine, slow, drawling piece of honky tonk.

7 - Walking Blues (R Johnson)
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica
Marco Limido - slide guitar
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums

Marco changing to an Elmore James style slide guitar for this legendary number by that instigator of Blues music, I whisper in reverence "Robert Johnson". Great gruff vocal by Franco. Superbly number done as it should be.

8 - Pocket Full Of Nothin' (F Limido - M Limido)
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica
Marco Limidi - guitars
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Bioclati - drums and shakers

Great start by Gigi on drums and shakers soon expanded into another unusual number by all the guys, with a "pocket full of nothin" how can you lose? Well they don't lose the plot, love it.

9 - Chaplin (M Limido)
Marco Limido - guitar
Michele Fazio - piano
Luca Tonani - bass
Gigi Biolcati - whitewash brush and drums

The pace slows down again with this gentle instrumental written by Marco, really sound guitar from Marco, equally by Michele Fazio this time on piano, a change of bass also by Luca Tonani. And whats this as well as drums, Gigi on whitewash brush, it certainly adds a thud to the rhythm. A well written piece of jazz blues, well done.

10 - Someone To Blues About (F Limido - M Limido)
Franco Limido - vocals
Marco Limido - guitar
Davide Bianchi - bass and backup vocals
Gigi Biolcati - drums and backup vocals
Michele Fazio - piano

Looks like Family Style have written a lyric to a previous instrumental from an earlier CD, no doubt inspired by a great relationship that has it's ups and downs. Well Leila, Franco certainly loves you babe, his "someone to Blues about". Just great guys, best number.

11 - I Walk All Day (Just To Find My Way) (F Limido - M Limido)
Patrick McGinley - vocals
Jim Mercik - vocals
Franco Limido - vocals and harmonica
Marco Limido - guitar
Davide Bianchi - bass
Gigi Biolcati - drums and cajon

Bringing in that great Irish American vocalist Patrick McGinley, and young Jim Mercik to join in this catchy repetitive lyric with Franco, this number with the band blasting away in between the chorus, what a really great number for audience participation. Thats it! get a round in for all the guys, they deserve it.

Family Style start their Benelux tour on Friday 6th June 2003, they are also lining up further tours to promote this CD, they will be in the UK in 2004.

With thanks to Spalding Blues Club for this Review.

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