Description
The Torchbearers is the sophomore album by the American garage rock group The Holy Ghost Reception Committee: #9, released on Paulist Press in 1969. Production and Musical Supervision by Elmer Jared Gordon. All songs copyright 1969 Missionary Society of St. Paul The Apostle In the State of New York.
On The Torchbearers, the band continues in not glossing over life’s difficulties with a “smile, God loves you” kind of approach. In fact the cover photo shows them seated in a vacant trash-filled lot with faceless expressions. The Torchbearers is even heavier than their debut in joining raw garage band enthusiasm with that jangled ‘60s electric Byrds sound. There’s some straightforward Jesus folkrock here such as «Walk Across The Waters» and «Rise Up» (both in a lively classic Byrds style), but they also tackle issues like compassion and poverty («Know They’re You», where clashing garage and fuzz guitars meet up against heavily echoed vocals) and segregation (the garage-rocking «Them’s A-Comin»). Nice bass action and fast electric strums on «Hey Lord». Other cuts: «You Think Differently», «Magnificat 70», «Jesus H. Clown» and «What Do You Ask Of Me?». Dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King – the title ballad alludes to them with the words “we’ll take up your fallen cross and fool the world; because the killers really think that they have killed you.” Not afraid to ask some probing questions along the way and include a touch of Ecclesiastes in the lyrics (the back describes their statement as “one crying out for a concerned Christianity”). Best to scour flea markets for these ones, as they both tend to hover in the $300+ range. Re-issued by the Void label in 1996 on black and white vinyl, followed by a CD re-issue with both LPs on one disc. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th Edition]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Walk Across the Waters” – 2:20
A2. “Know They’re You” – 3:15
A3. “You Think Differently” – 3:20
A4. “Them’s a Comin” – 2:48
A5. “The Torchbearers” – 3:20
Side Two
B1. “Hey Lord”
B2. “Magnifcat ’70”
B3. “Jesus H. Clown”
B4. “What Do You Ask Of Me?”
B5. “Rise Up”
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