If you get just one Steve & Maria album make it this one.  A Better Day is a surprisingly outing, a good half  the songs giving you the guy/gal folk-pop duo of your dreams.  They still have their share of filler like ‘People Got To Be Free’ and ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing’, but originals like ‘Wonder Song’, ‘A Different Tomorrow’, ‘War Song’ and the title tune are all A-1 hip tracks, with electric guitar, organ and harpsichord providing subtle flower power touches.  On the whole I’d say rather groovy.      (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. People Got To Be Free

02. Wonder Song

03. A Different Tomorrow

04. Love Is Surrender

05. Think His Name

06. I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing

07. War Song

08. Bright New World

09. A Better Day

10. Trust Me Now

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These 6 gents are from Elizabeth, NJ.  This is a mixture of folk rock and gospel almost quartet sound.  Two original songs, but also 2 Andrae Crouch, 1 Omartian, and 1 Larry Norman, so this gives you an idea where they wanted the album to head.

One of the better songs is ‘Somebody Bigger’ which is done in that late ’50s early ’60s do wop sound.

Tracks:

01. Ask The Spirit

02. When He Set Me Free

03. To God Be The Glory

04. Somebody Bigger

05. Lost, Searching, And Found

06. Searcher

07. Jesus Made Me Higher

08. Medley-I Don’t Know Why & Oh Happy Day

09. Sinner’s Prayer

10. Medley-You Can’t Take Away The Lord & Sweet Song Of Salvation

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If you have not asked Jesus to come into your heart, I pray that you will ask Him to be the Lord of you life. “I’m not religious I just love the Lord”, Any parting comment are welcome. “Have you seen Jesus my Lord”, He has been here on this site.

Peace and Love in Jesus name.

God bless you one and all.

diakoneo ( to serve, to minister)

Under His Influence

Bobby has two additional albums on his website, which can be found here.

Raw and intense rural hard rock monster from Washington with underground west-coast guitar/psych feel similar to the Rainbow Promise album, yet even better and more consistent. Most of the twelve tracks feature just bass, drums, and two electric guitars (no keyboards) making for a good live homemade 4-track kind of sound. Great guitar work all over: growling loud on ‘Come Back To The Valley’, ‘Night Of Love’ and ‘What Does God Have For You’, soloing away rural style on ‘Say Yes To Jesus’, psychy and mysterious on the ballad ‘He Loves You’, boogie rockin’ on ‘Goin’ Out To Spread His Gospel’, summery jamming on ‘Master Plan’. About as rare as they come, too. Housed in a plain white cover with accompanying sheet of photocopied song titles and credits. Fairly exceptional I’d say.   (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. Joke’s On You

02. Truly Truly

03. He Loves You

04. Come Back To The Valley

05. Goin’ Out To Spread The Good News

06. Say Yes To Jesus

07. Night Of Love

08. Why Are You Crying

09. Master Plan

10. Till I Met You

11. What Does God Have For You

12. Setting Me Free

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Superior moody prog-laced British folk outfit masterminded by Society Of Jesus members Tom McGuiness and Jim Crampsey. Often similar to the dreamy ballad style of groups like 11:59 and Cloud while also revealing a gentle folkrock edge not unlike Water Into Wine Band. Very peaceful, hushed, somewhat melancholy tone, surreal and motionless at times. Some achingly beautiful melodies aglow with fragile atmospheric male/female harmonies. Plenty of electric guitar with some excellent soloing, even some fuzz on the title track and ‘The Road To Emmaus’ where it crescendos to one of the albums heavier moments. I especially liked the Jerry Garcia-ish lead guitar on the magical ‘Giver Of Life’. Other titles include ‘Ask The Father’, ‘Light’, ‘Bidding Prayers’, ‘The Best Gift’, ‘Holy One’, ‘Lamb Of God’, ‘Communion Song’, ‘We Thank You Father’, ‘Blind Man’, and ‘Pentecost’. Being a private press from England it understandably goes for some fairly big bucks. Comes with a booklet that includes lyrics, chords and commentary on each of the songs. See also Beyond An Empty Dream. (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. Ask The Father

02. Light

03. Bidding Prayers

04. The Best Gift

05. Holy One

06. Lamb Of God

07. Communion Song

08. We Thank You Father

09. Giver Of Life

10. Blind Man

11. Mystery Maker

12. Pentecost

13. The Road To Emmaus

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Producer I. A. J. Twydell’s fingerprints are all over this wonderful British foursome’s custom lp. Solid Air’s style contains elements of several Twydell projects: particularly the driving keyboard rock of After The Fire’s Signs Of Change, but also some of the progressive folk of Waiting For The Sun and new-wave rock of Twydell’s solo lps. On numerous tracks you’d absolutely swear ATF’s Pete Banks was in here wiggin’ out with his loopy synthesizer grooves. Member Dave Palmer is the actual one fulfilling the keyboard role here, counterbalanced by Andy Balmer’s rocking guitar leads. Tim Burgess is on drums and Pete Dilley supplies bass. Mr. Twydell also contributes some extra backing vocals. Vibrant original songs featuring titles like ‘King’s Business’, ‘Open Door’, ‘Misty Skies’, ‘Feet On Solid Ground’, ‘City Of Gold’, ‘Sleep In Your Eyes’ and ‘Countdown’. Recorded at Profile Studios; in fact Rio Records shows the same address here as the Profile label. Nice simple black and white cover drawing with stencilled block lettering and silhouettes of the band members with their instruments.   (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. King’s Business

02. Open Door

03. Misty Skies

04. Smiling People

05. Speak Me

06. Prayer

07. Feet On Solid Ground

08. City Of Gold

09. Sleep In Your Eyes

10. What Can I Do For You

11. Countdown

12. Take A Little Interest

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Another lovely homemade British electric folk obscurity. The delicate male/female unison vocals, gentle acoustic guitar and overall dreamy presentation give these folks an edge similar to 11:59. And when they mix in such instruments as mandolin, violin, banjo and subtle electric guitar, they approach the beauty of Presence. Originality in lyric is revealed by titles like ‘All Creation Is A Prayer’, ‘The Heavens Cry’, ‘To Jesus, On His Birthday’, ‘We Sang Our Songs Upon A Hill’ and ‘To My Friend, A Disbeliever’, not to mention the unusual album title. Attractive solo vocals as well on ‘It’s Better That I Go’, ‘Creation Is A Failure’, ‘Fleur’s Song’ and ‘Sam’s Song’. No credits or much information of any kind on the sleeve, save that all proceeds go to Queen Mary’s Hospital For Children in Carshalton, Surrey. Cover is a photo of a child’s face, the top of her head replaced with a painting of flowers, trees and a bird in the sky, with several cut-out b&w photos in the background. See also St. Edmund’s Folk Choir.      (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. All Creation Is A Prayer

02. Like A Babe

03. The Heavens Cry

04. To Jesus On His Birthday

05. It’s Better That I Go

06. We Sang Our Songs Upon A Hill

07. To My Friend, A Disbeliever

08. Creation Is A Failure

09. Fluer’s Song

10. Sam’s Song

11. So Confusing, And So Clear

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Loud and fierce energy-packed Southern rock custom with mean Skynyrd kind of sound and killer guitar leads all over. So what if they’re from Jersey and the lead guitarist and songwriter’s a Nazarene reverend? – these guys sizzle! ‘Gospel’ kicks things off and sets the pace with its raging electric guitar action. Songs like ‘Love’ and the slow intense blues rocker ‘Damascus Road’ also set off an impressive array of hard guitar fireworks. ‘Prisoner’, ‘Messiah’ and ‘Sinai Mountain’ are all solid pieces in the Southern/classic rock tradition. But it’s the title track that takes the cake: eight minutes of heavy classic rock of epic Fraction-like proportions that begins with a wispy mysterious mood before building to an incredibly powerful climax (with some spooky reverbed apocalyptic Scripture readings in the middle). On the lighter side are the ballad ‘All I’ve Done’, the happy-go-lucky harmonica country rocker ‘Time’ and the brief closing afterthought ‘Jesus Loves Me’. No fluff whatsoever. Good production for a custom, not too clean, not too primitive. Makes a great companion to Damascus Road’s I Am A Light. From Oradell, New Jersey.     (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. Gospel

02. Time

03. Prisoner

04. Sinai Mountain

05. Damascus

06. All I’ve Done

07. Messiah

08. Love

09. This Could Be the Beginning

10. Jesus Loves Me

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The Cobblers are certainly one of the more interesting of the early British Christian bands, with one foot in the beat scene, the other in nightclub lounge.  Fortunately the lounge factor is minimized on this four-song EP, making it more consistent than their Warm Are The Sounds album.  There’s a solid beat alongside the bass and electric guitar, but it’s the (cheesy) organ that gets all the solos – pretty cool sounding too.  Side one contains a strolling cover of ‘Peace In The Valley’, followed by the lively ‘Tenderly He Watches’.  Side two has ‘There Is A Green Hill’ (to the tune of ‘House Of The Rising Sun’) and ‘Just The Same’ (to the tune of ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’).  Back cover says they started as a result of a Billy Graham Crusade in Manchester.  The group’s name was inspired by William Carey who was cobbler before he was a minister and missionary.      (The Archivist by Ken Scott, 4th Edition).

Tracks:

01. Peace In The Valley

02. Tenderly He Watches

03. There Is A Green Hill

04. Just The Same

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