More Love

Description

More Love is the sole full-length album by the British bluesy female singer and session vocalist Mo James, released in the UK on Marshalls in 1982. The album was recorded by Mark Williamson and Colin Owen both in the US (at Glaser Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee) and in the UK (at Chapel Lane Studios in Hereford and at Old Smithy Studios in Worcestershire, England); with Greg Nelson producing for Primacy Productions. Mixed by Ray Nenow and John Pac.

Featuring vocals by Mo James backed by a session band consisting of Alan Steinberger and Mitch Humphries on keyboards; Kenny Mims, Brent Rowan, and John Goin on guitar; Larry Paxton on bass; and Joe English on drums (basically the same musicians who played on Joe English’s 1980 solo album, Lights in the World. Joe English Band did actually also play on Adrian Snell’s Midnight Awake, another album released by the Marshalls label). Background vocals provided by Bonnie Bramlett, Anne Ulrey, as well as Mo James.

Mo James (? – 1999) was the sister of Iona founder Dave Bainbridge, and is as well remembered as a backing vocalist in Martyn Joseph‘s Sold Out band.

In the ’70s Mo James had sung on the cabaret and club circuit before becoming a Christian and switching to Christian music as a solo artist, session singer, backing vocalist and administrator with UK CCM independent Ears & Eyes Music. This release from 1982 was Mo’s only album and its birth is rather curious. The backing tracks were recorded by the Joe English Band who were enjoying success at the time and a different artist released it in the USA. Mo was handed the master tapes and made it her own by recording her vocals in a Worcestershire studio. ‘More Love”s origins explain the rather stylised American feel of the whole project and it’s credit to Mo that her bluesy smoky vocals work as well as they do. A gifted singer, she makes some of these songs her own and although they haven’t travelled well production wise, there are still some standouts to enjoy. I always enjoyed the guitar-driven «The Rock Was Rolled Away» and «Which Side Are You On» as well as the poppy «Child Of The Father». Elsewhere the title cut, «Jesus Once Again» and «In Your Love» sound a bit sappy in the 21st century. Despite a strong Greenbelt performance and Mo’s skill as a live performer the singer wasn’t to find the success, or the recording opportunities, her talent deserved. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, March 2011]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Rest In Your Love”
A2. “The Rose”
A3. “The Rock Was Rolled Away”
A4. “Child Of The Father”
A5. “Set Me Free”

Side Two
B1. “More Love”
B2. “Which Side Are You On”
B3. “In Your Love”
B4. “Spread Your Love Around”
B5. “Jesus Once Again”

Note: Mo James also released a two-sided 7-inch vinyl single on the Ears & Eyes label in 1983, featuring two non-album tracks: “All For The Love Of You”, b/w “Magdalene”. (“All For The Love Of You” was co-written by Mo James and her brother Dave Bainbridge.)

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