Description
Lamb II is the sophomore album by the American Messianic folk-rock duo Lamb (Joel Chernoff and Rick “Levi” Coghill), independently released on their own Messianic Records in 1974, and later re-issued on Sparrow Records.
According to a note published in the September 6, 1975 issue of Billboard Magazine “Messianic Records has signed a pact with Myrrh Records’ Jubilation Group, a division of Word Inc. for distribution of product.”
Lamb II adds some fast «Hava Nagila»-type minor-key folk-rock, revealing skillful guitar interplay on brisk selections like «Clap Your Hands» and «Shu-Vee». In contrast are slow mournful songs like «Clay» and the almost motionless «Yeshua Hope Of Israel», the latter grafting in viola and cello. Titles like «Jerusalem Ascending» along with the harder-edged «Engraved Invitation» and «Who Will You Blame?» show that Lamb had matured into one of Jesus music’s top rock acts. Closes with the piano ballad «Comfort Ye My People». The original release comes in a brown embossed gate-fold cover. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/lamb-ii/460828732)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Who Will You Blame?” – 2:42
A2. “Come Back, Come Back” – 2:25
A3. “Yeshua Hope Of Israel” – 3:40
A4. “Clay” – 4:56
A5. “Clap Your Hands” – 3:22
Side Two
B1. “Engraved Invitation” – 3:46
B2. “Jerusalem Descending” – 4:21
B3. “Shu-Vee” – 2:56
B4. “Comfort Ye My People” – 5:20
Note: Simultaneously released on 8-track tape, cassette, and 12-inch vinyl LP by Messianic Records.
Yeshua In View
“With the household of Israel our elders and young ones, linking and bonding the past with the future, we heed once again the divine call to service.”
So begins the text of the new Seder, A Passover Haggadah, suggesting the purpose and history of the night ceremony that is to follow. Unwittingly, it also speaks for the theme of the two phono releases from the Messianic Jewish group “Lamb” entitled Lamb and Lamb II (Messianic Records, Box 37100, Cincinnati, Ohio 45222: see The Refiner’s Fire, November 8 issue, page 27). “Lamb” – the group – is Rick “Levi” Coghill, who is the arranger and producer as well as vocalist and guitarist, and Joel Chernoff, who does the composing and lead vocals along with background vocals and instrumentals. (Coghill is also the producer for the Jews for Jesus musical group, “Liberated Wailing Wall.”)
The two records complement each other. Side one of Lamb provides the background, using the image of God as «The Judge» and the woman who cannot forget her nursing child in «Hateesh-kach». The song combines a cantor-like chant in English and a reiterated response in Hebrew quoting Isaiah 49:15 and 16 in a way suggestive of the cantor-choral interplay of the synagogue. The rest of side one affirms the Jewish hope for Messiah and unabashedly proclaims that Yeshua (Jesus) is he. Side two strikes a missionary note, as in the lead-off song «Time Is Running Out», which uses a woodblock to tick off the minutes remaining to “bring in the children before their doom.”
In the sequel to the story, Lamb II questions and indicts the Jewish nation and pleads with it to consider Yeshua. From the hard-driving «Who Will You Blame?», which demands that the listener “make your choice today: will you be in heaven or …
[Excerpt from “The Refiner’s Fire: Music and Film”, Christianity Today, January 17, 1975 ]
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