**1/2 The Family Stand

CONNECTED

(East/West)

FFollowing a gliding slope away from the guitar-driven, turbo stance of Scorpio Moon (Family Stand's last record), the Family drift over crooning soul and R&B grades on their fourth full-length. Shades of Parliament funk, delicate psychedelia, and Sly tint an otherwise slick contemporary groove, where at times too-sleek production slips the soul right out of the mix. Each band member -- Jeffrey Smith, Peter Lord, Jacci McGhee -- sings his or her heart out against a backdrop of '70s pop-funk bass and, on the title track, orchestral strings. There's a cool sincerity in this kind of slickness, and it's supported by lyrics that address all orders of connection, from the graphic intentions expressed on "More and More" and the honeyed love jive on "Butter" to the plaintive broken heart and sweeping social awareness of "What must I do now?" Although they were rumored to have broken up a few years ago, the Family Stand have eased into a bittersweet reconciliation that, apart from some hoky synthetic digressions, is conveyed lushly and earnestly.

-- Chesley Hicks