Description
The self-titled debut album by the American pop/rock duo Pratt/McClain (Truett Pratt and Jerry McClain) was released on ABC Dunhill Records in 1974. The album was recorded by Phil Kaye at ABC Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California; with Michael Omartian and Steve Barri producing. Arranged and conducted by Omartian.
Featuring “Here I Am (Song Of The Anti-Christ)” written by Michael Omartian as well as “Did You Ever Wander” and “Don’t Let The Pieces Fall” co-written by Omartian and Mark Tulin of The Electric Prunes fame.
“Here I Am”, which was released as a single, was recommended by Billboard Magazine according to their Billboard’s Top Single Picks feature, July 6, 1974 (along with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s single “Sweet Home Alabama”, among others).
The self-titled debut album by the duo Pratt/McClain, who later went on to record the theme for the “Happy Days” television sitcom, is made up of progressive pop songs enhanced by the production of Michael Omartian. The Omartian-written lead-off track «Here I Am (the Antichrist song)» captures the eschatological focus of the era from the perspective of the imminent rise of that “man of lawlessness.” The album also features a cover of the Byrds’ «Turn! Turn! Turn!»
If you’re old enough to remember the Happy Days sitcom of the ’70s which featured a pretty naff recreation of 1950s rock’n’roll culture you’ll probably be less than impressed with the information that Pratt & McClain provided the “Happy Days” theme song, surely one of the corniest hits (number five in the US singles chart in 1976) ever. But two years before their breakthrough, Truett Pratt and Jerry McClain, along with producer Michael Omatian, were making some excellent Jesus music of which «Here I Am (Song of the Anti-Christ)» is their best known song. A powerful piece of pop rock with some biting electric guitar and a rapid-syllable vocal hook very reminiscent of the kind of thing Omartian used on his own album for ABC in 1974 ‘White Horse‘. The lyric is, of course, a warning against a world leader who will one day hoodwink a godless world (“I built my kingdom on a pot of gold”). Powerful stuff. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, 24th August 2017]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Here I Am (Song Of The Anti-Christ)” – 4:02
A2. “We Had It All” – 2:57
A3. “When My Ship Comes In” – 2:51
A4. “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season)” – 5:52
A5. “Spirit Of Love” – 2:54
A6. “America (The Lady Of The Harbor)” – 5:10
Side Two – Love Suite
B1. “Did You Ever Wander” – 2:45
B2. “Don’t Let The Pieces Fall” – 1:59
B3. “Sacred Heart” – 5:05
B4. “I Remember” – 2:56
B5. “Lay Me Down By The River” – 0:56
B6. “Shine On” – 5:26
Note: Simultaneously released on 8-track tape and 12-inch vinyl LP by ABC Dunhill. “When My Ship Comes In” was released as a 7-inch vinyl single by ABC Records, b/w “Spirit Of Love” (both were album tracks). Re-issued on CD in 1995 by Sonrise Music Company as a part of the compilation album Omartian, Pratt and McClain: Like Brothers, minus tracks A3, A5, and A6.
“Here I Am (Song of the Anti-Christ)”, written by Michael Omartian and released as a single, was recommended by Billboard Magazine according to their Billboard’s Top Single Picks feature, July 6, 1974. The single version of “Here I Am” is available on Sonrise Music’s multi-artist sampler The Rock Revival, Vol. 2: Remembering the Future (the single version is slightly shorter edit of the original LP track).
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