Description
By Your Side is the third album by the British singer, songwriter, and worship leader Noel Richards, released on Kingsway Music in 1990 (as a part of the label’s The Worship Leaders series). The album was recorded June – August 1990 at ICC Studios in Eastbourne, England; with Les Moir and Howard Francis producing. Featuring Bryn Haworth on slide guitar.
In the summer of 1989 John Paculabo came across my path once again, at the De Bron music festival in Holland. I had first met John when I played support to his band Parchment in 1974. He had just joined Kingsway and over the next few years would become the MD of the company. Something of what I was doing must have connected with him because later that year he suggested that I record a worship album for Kingsway. He felt that my strength lay in writing worship songs and that this should be the direction for me to pursue. Very wise advice. In 1987 Tricia and I had written «All Heaven Declares» which is probably the most popular song we have composed. John commissioned me to go away and come up with a bunch of new worship songs, which we would record in the summer of 1990. In addition to «All Heaven Declares» I already had the title track, «There Is Power In The Name Of Jesus», «Our Confidence Is In The Lord» and «You Laid Aside Your Majesty». Over the coming months I wrote a further three songs. However, I was still short of the required 12 songs and that caused me to look around for good songs from other writers that I believed deserved wider exposure. This is something I have continued to do in all my recordings and hopefully it has served those writers well.
‘By Your Side’ was recorded between June and August 1990 at ICC Studio 2, Eastbourne and released in the autumn of that year. It is probably my most mellow album. In those days, the concept of a guitar-driven rock’n’roll worship album was a bridge too far! So it has more of a soft rock feel. It also features some great musicians and singers from the world of UK black gospel. It was produced by Les Moir and he produced the remainder of my albums during that decade. To this day, Les continues to advise me on my recordings and songs. Neil Costello played most of the electric guitar parts on the album. He and Les are close friends and have worked on many projects together over the years. Neil has played guitar on all my albums to date and continues to play in my band. While I was recording the album I was taken to a photographer’s studio in Eastbourne for the album cover shots. The images were included in the cover design but those were the days when not a lot of creativity was employed at Kingsway! The cover was so awful that we politely asked if it could be redesigned. This resulted in a multi-coloured patchwork cover which was not great, but a vast improvement on the first attempt. Eventually, in 1994, the cover was completely redesigned with a decent image. The album sold over 24,000 units. [Excerpt from the article “Noel Richards: Artist Output – The worship leader talks about his releases so far”, published by Cross Rhythms 17th September 2010]
It’s a long way from the church halls of mid-seventies South Wales to the release of his third album, but Noel Richards has “paid his dues” and has produced an album of which he can be rightly proud. The most significant change from ‘Danger Line’ to ‘Lionheart’ was the development of a more coherent band sound. That progression sees further improvement with the release of ‘By Your Side’. As befits the latest release in the Worship Leader series it’s a praise-oriented album that acts as a welcome antidote to the super-smooth production line output of certain US labels. Using some of the finest sidesmen in Britain Neil Costello (guitar), Les Moir (bass), Steve Thompson (keyboards), and Martin Neil (drums), Noel has put together a strong collection of largely self-penned songs that not only work well on album but will transfer to a local church setting. Under the watchful eyes of producers Les Moir and Howard Francis an old favourite like «You Laid Aside» rubs shoulders with soon-to-be classics like «There Is Power», «Blessed Be The Name», «Sing To The Lord» and personal fave the bluesy, Clapton-esque «Jesus Christ Is Lord Of This Nation». If any further recommendation is needed, the presence of Bryn Haworth on slide guitar sets the seal on an outstanding collection. [Jonathan Priday, Cross Rhythms, April 1991]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/by-your-side/1795954718)
CD tracklist:
01. There Is Power In the Name of Jesus – 4:21
02. Blessed Be the Name of the Lord – 5:05
03. Our Confidence Is In the Lord (He Is Our Fortress) – 5:17
04. Jesus Christ Is Lord/All Heaven Declares/I Will Seek Your Face – 11:29
05. Sing to the Lord Be Joyful In Praise (Glory to the Lord) – 3:09
06. Cast Your Burdens (Higher Higher) – 3:54
07. You Laid Aside Your Majesty – 4:34
08. Sovereign Lord I Am Yours (Living Sacrifice) – 3:40
09. Lord You Are Calling (Let Your Kingdom Come) – 3:43
10. By Your Side – 5:04
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Kingsway Music.
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