Description
Silhouette Segments is a double album produced and narrated by the American radio host and ordained Lutheran minister, John Rydgren (February 14, 1932 – December 26, 1988), released by ALC (The American Lutheran Church) in 1968.
Heading into the “Summer of Love,” Pastor John Rydgren was the crafty head of the TV, Radio and Film Department of the American Lutheran Church. Years before the words “Jesus” & “Freak” became joined at the rib, the straight-looking Rydgren created a daily radio show called Silhouette in which he became the reassuring, resonant-voiced Hippy for God. Rydgren wrote, announced and programmed Silhouette, taking his musical and cultural cues from The Electric Prunes, Herb Alpert and the cover of Time Magazine (“Is God Dead?”), with a vocal delivery that was straight out of the Tom Donahue/Scott Muni/Ken Nordine school of breathy baritone radio seduction. Silhouette dropped all the counter-cultural code words of the day into a heady mix of Peace, Love, Sex, Drugs… and Jesus. Not to mention fuzzy guitars…
About the album
With the exception of three of the narratives featured in the Silhouette Album, all of the material was written by Pastor John Rydgren. Pastor Rydgren narrates the productions written for Silhouette, the contemporary music radio program that reaches across the United States every week… and is heard throughout Vietnam.
Pastor Rydgren, known to millions of the twenty-five and under simply as “John”, is the Director of TV/Radio/Films for the American Lutheran Church. From studios which throb with the big beat sound of today’s music, comes not only Silhouettes but, over the last five years, hundreds of radio and TV programs resulting from the efforts and imagination of Pastor Rydgren and his assistant, Mrs. Dale Waddell, and Chief Engineer, Fritz Sinjuschkin. [Note printed on the inside of the gatefold sleeve]
Somewhere beyond the extreme fringes of Christian music lies the creative genius of John Rydgren. Did I say music? More accurately Silhouette Segments would fall into the spoken word category alongside works by Stewart Henderson and Pat Berkery. Stylistically the planet’s closest ally would be hip “word-jazz” artist Ken Nordine, though Rydgren’s vignettes clearly exist in a world of their own, unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. Pastor John Rydgren was director of TV/Radio/Films for the American Lutheran Church. This double album (housed in a wildly psychedelic gate-fold cover, complete with mod mini-skirted femme on the back) features material from his radio show Silhouette. Tall, thin, spectacled, short hair, receding hairline, coat and tie – it’s hard to believe that stuff this wild could possibly emanate from this gentleman. Titles include «Personality Doll Of The Week», «Hippie Version Of The 23rd Psalm», «Rinky Dink», «Search It Out», «Transistor Father». Thirty-one segments in all, ranging from the four-minute «Dark Side Of The Flower» (a poem over sitar music describing the disappointments of hippiedom) down to the twelve one-minute titles that comprise side four. Particularly striking is Rydgren’s otherworldly voice – incredibly slick, velvety, deep, hovering a mere fraction of a tone above Lurch. Equally important is the background music, culled from instrumental artists of the time such as Bob Crewe, The Brass Ring, The Tijuana Brass, The Electric Prunes, Cannonball Adderley, plus numerous snatches of unidentified incidental easy listening, psychedelic rock, crime jazz, lounge pop, and whatnot. The language is wonderfully dated, groovin’, happenin’, touching on topics like hippies, war, poverty, Christmas, the church, parents, even girl watching! Remarkable depth here including poetry, humorous skits, fake commercials, sound collages, interviews. «The Happening» even melds pieces of conversations with artists like The Association, Paul Revere, Peaches and Herb, 4 Tops, asking their opinions on the state of spirituality among youth. On the inside cover there’s a picture of him interviewing Peter Tork of The Monkees, but that segment apparently didn’t make it on the vinyl (bummer). Rydgren’s spiritual commentary is ever present in the grooves as well as in the liner notes, offering the hope of Christ in a fashion that is neither heavy-handed nor trite, but compassionate and creative. A single-disc “re-issue” appeared in the late ‘90s. Refreshingly unique and inspirational through and through! [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]
An ordained pastor within the American Lutheran Church, Brother John Rydgren’s contribution to Christian music and culture during the ’60s is a largely hidden one on account of his LPs ‘Silhouette Segments’, ‘They Say‘, ‘Cantata Of New Life‘ and ‘Worlds of Youth‘ being originally issued solely to church groups and radio stations. Central to this two disc collection is Rydgren’s wonderfully mesmeric baritone speaking voice that would have charmed and challenged the listener of the time to think about Jesus as the answer in favour of mind-altering drugs and other psychedelic flavours of the day. Whilst in the wrong hands this could easily have been something of a turn off for those tuning in, Rydgren’s sheer skill as a communicator shines through as he effortlessly connects with his target audience through the use of flower power language and hip patter set to a backdrop of fuzz guitars, groovy sounds and a sprinkling of avant garde. Cases in point include the self-explanatory and ultimately fun «Hippie Version Of The 23rd Psalm» and «Hippie Version Of Creation» whilst the likes of «Music To Watch Girls By», «Groovin’ On A Saturday Night» and «The Noise» effortlessly put across the Christian perspective in thornier topics such as sex, war and the pressures of everyday life with the kind of relevance that ought to make Rydgren’s work essential listening for today’s Christian communicators. Elsewhere in this collection, the daringly avant garde ‘Cantata Of New Life’ – a 1967 piece composed by Robert R Way with narration by Rydgren to mark the 450th anniversary of the Reformation – seems to pre-echo future works of the more out there artists of the time and gives further proof that some Christian music in the late ’60s was far from staid and uninspiring. Radio broadcasts originally collated in the ‘Worlds Of Youth’ LP and two previously unreleased ‘Silhouette Segments’ round off this supremely entertaining and enlightening release and help make Rydgren’s available body of work quite a trip. [Lins Honeyman, Cross Rhythms, September 2013]
John Rydgren (or Brother John, as he came to be known as an on-air DJ and radio personality) was an ordained minister in the American Lutheran Church, but his claim to pop history fame came in the 1960s and early ’70s when his syndicated FM radio shows, most notably the show called Silhouettes, were broadcast across the U.S. (and in Vietnam) between 1966 and 1968. A sort of “hip preacher” balanced between Christianity on the one hand and the emerging “Flower Power” generation on the other, Rydgren interspersed progressive and psychedelic rock tracks with his thoughts on spirituality, philosophy, and the changing times, all in a deep, sincere, and affecting baritone. He also released three LPs of these thoughts and musings laid over a backdrop of fuzz guitars, heavenly choirs, and sitar drones – Worlds of Youth (1966), Cantata Of New Life (1967), and Silhouette Segments (1968) – during this time period, and all three are collected here, along with additional tracks. Consider it an intriguing historical timepiece. [Steve Leggett, AMG]
2LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. Music To Watch Girls By – 2:47
A2. Personality Doll Of The Week – 1:20
A3. Mercy Mercy Mercy – 3:09
A4. Hippie Version Of The 23rd Psalm – 0:53
A5. Rinky Dink – 2:47
A6. An Offering Of Music – 2:34
A7. Disadvantages Of Life – 2:23
Side Two
B1. Hippie Version Of Creation – 3:40
B2. Search It Out – 1:32
B3. Transistor Father – 2:20
B4. Plea Of A Lonely Girl – 1:16
B5. To Sir With Love – 3:11
B6. The Happening – 3:10
Side Three
C1. Groovin On A Saturday Night – 2:56
C2. Dark Side Of The Flower – 4:07
C3. Dedicated To The One I Love – 1:25
C4. Christmas Montage – 2:38
C5. A Christmas Reflection – 1:48
C6. Portrait Of Christ – 2:13
Side Four
D1. Sweet Home – 1:00
D2. The Lord Is My Shepard – 1:00
D3. The Oil Painting – 1:00
D4. The Air Terminal – 1:00
D5. Butterfly – 1:00
D6. Here Lies The Church – 1:00
D7. Move Out In Style – 1:00
D8. A Simple Stroll – 1:00
D9. The Noise – 1:00
D10. Great To Build Something – 1:00
D11. The Disadvantages – 1:00
D12. A Beautiful Girl – 1:00
Note: Re-issued on CD in 2012 by The Omni Recording Corporation as a part of a double CD entitled Silhouette Segments featuring the Silhouette Segments 2LP plus the They Say LP, the Cantata Of New Life LP, and the Worlds of Youth LP, as well as extra tracks.
Gatefold Cover Artwork
The Silhouette Teaser
A 1967 TV segment on the Silhouette radio program of The American Lutheran Church, featuring John Rydgren.
An article entitled Lutherans Launch Rock Show (about John Rydgren’s Silhouette Show) was featured in the May 13, 1967 issue of Billboard Magazine. (“So a Lutheran pastor is the host of a top 40 program. I like it. I like the music. And it’s something new. I worked my way through part of seminary at the turntables of a rock station in Columbus, Ohio,” Rydgren said. He said that the church is merely following “Christ’s pattern. He went where the action was… where the people were.” This radio show goes where the teens are, he said.)
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