Sacred Journey

Description

Sacred Journey is the seventh album by the American vocal trio First Call (Marabeth Jordan, Bonnie Keen, as well as Marty McCall of Fireworks fame), released on Myrrh Records in 1993, a division of Word. Also manufactured and distributed by Epic, a division of Sony Music. The album was produced by Darrell Brown, David Batteau, and First Call.

If you’ve read our feature on this ever-evolving trio, you know that the title of this album is taken from a Frederich Buechner book, whose central theme is one of the sanctity of all of life for the believer. It’s an idea that works well for First Call, for whom the journey has been challenging, both personally, as members and artistic goals have changed over the band’s eight-year history.

‘Sacred Journey’ can almost be seen thematically as part two of a project that began with ‘Human Song‘, the trio’s first with Marabeth Jordan. It is perhaps the more positive of the two, with many of the lyrics emphasising the redemptive nature of God in our circumstances. Musically though, this Journey is quite different from either the Michael Omartian-produced ‘Human Song’ or ‘God is Good‘ (produced by Keith Thomas) that preceded it.

Were it not for the inclusion of a few electric instruments, this could’ve been ‘First Call…unplugged’, ’cause the accent is on the vocals more than ever this time ’round, and arrangements are stripped down to a minimum, with a mostly acoustic approach. The results are tasteful and impressive, with all three Call-ers singing not only like they mean it, but like they love it. In fact, there’s so much youthful enthusiasm that I had to remind myself that I wasn’t listening to the first album by the 2nd Chapter of Acts.

‘Sacred Journey’ succeeds, both in its concept and its execution, with smart ideas and strong musical performances (including contributions from legendary Stax/Volt guitarist Steve Cropper and bluegrass fiddlewondergirl Alison Krauss). «Lazarus Unwound», an a capella number (with a vocal arrangement by former Take 6-man Mervyn Warren) states the case well with lyrics like these: “Follow the voice of my salvation/ I’m still ties up from head to toe/ God send me brothers and sisters/ To loose me and let me go/ Like Lazarus unwound…” Forget “unplugged.” Maybe contemporary Christian music could benefit from a series of album projects built around the concept of “Unwound.” Now that would be something. [Thom Granger, CCM, August 1993]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/sacred-journey/1165955872)

CD tracklist:

01. Wanna Be – 3:01
02. Freedom – 4:52
03. Thank You Lord – 4:37
04. Box Of Glory – 3:59
05. Lazarus Unwound – 2:21
06. Evidence Of Love – 4:35
07. Reasons – 4:21
08. Under The Water – 4:41
09. Just Can’t Help Myself – 4:14
10. When You Fall – 4:05
11. Timothy’s Burden – 3:23
12. Sacred Journey – 6:12

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Myrrh Records.

A full-page advertisement for First Call’s Sacred Journey was featured on the back cover of the July 1993 issue of CCM Magazine.