Here is a trivia question for you: Who started contemporary Christian music? Who took Rock and Roll, and put words to it that glorified God instead of sex, drugs, and violence? Who brought drums back into worship of God? (Well, okay, I guess the answer to that last one has to be "The Salvation Army," but you know what I mean...) Just like in the secular music business, the Christian music industry tends to have a short memory. What counts is who's been released this month, not who started the whole game.
Well, now is the time to rediscover the origin of the species. Larry Norman finally released his trilogy on CD a while ago, and now Love Song comes out with a reunion album, Welcome Back, twenty years after they released Final Touch. If you don't know Norman and Love Song, you just don't know CCM. These are the people who redefined the ways in which it was possible to sing about God.
There's a weakness to a lot of "Best Of" or reunion albums. Songs which worked beautifully as simple arrangements are over-engineered until they sound like Mantovani after way too much caffeine. It's an understandable temptation. Artists who have done the same song hundreds or thousands of times in concert want to do something new and different with it, rather than making it sound "just like" it did the first time they laid it on vinyl. Thankfully, Love Song resists the temptation. Granted, they are working with session players this time around (most notably Phil Keaggy), so there is a smoothness and depth to the arrangements that wasn't there the first time. But the work does not come across as slick or glib. Comparing it to the original tracks is something like comparing a studio album to a live album. All the same riffs are there, they're just a bit smoother on the new album. If anything, the new arrangements sound a bit "rockier" (or, in some cases, "bluesier") than the originals.
So, if you've never heard Love Song, what do they sound like? They sound like what they are: a '70's California Folk-Rock band in which the members just happen to be saved. There are some definite Beatles influences there, but translated into the laid-back California style. There is no mistaking the message, though. One song title, "Jesus Puts the Song in Our Hearts" pretty much sums it up. Every track presents the Gospel in some way or another.
What's included? All the songs any Love Song fan could want: "A Love Song," "Little Country Church," "Let Us Be One," "Two Hands," "Freedom," "Feel the Love," "Changes," "Front Seat, Back Seat," "And the Wind was Low," and "Welcome Back" from their 1972 album Love Song, and "Little Pilgrim," "The Cossack Song," and "Jesus Puts the Song in Our Hearts" from their 1974 album Final Touch. All of these became anthems of the Jesus People movement in the '70s. In particular, "Little Country Church" expresses the need for acceptance which we all have, and "Two Hands" is a gentle evangelistic piece. Also included is the previously-unrecorded "Take No Chances." It is a lovely bluesy piece, which adds to the project.
Welcome Back is a recording to help fans of early Christian music remember those days, and could be a great opportunity for those who are unfamiliar with CCM roots to get acquainted with them.
