Description
Home at Last is a studio album by the American singer and songwriter Larry Norman, released on Benson in 1989, in co-operation with Solid Rock Records and distributed by Benson. The album was written and recorded in England, Germany, Israel, Africa, Russia, and the Good Ol’ USA. Mixed by Larry and Charly with Mark Heard at Fingerprint Studios, by Jellybean Jaquette at Studio Masters and by Brian Levi and Jeff Frickman at Clear Lake Audio. “Letters to the Church” mixed at Sounders with Jon Linn. Written, arranged and produced by Larry Norman for Solid Rock.
A decade after ‘Something New Under The Son‘ formed his musical peak, Larry Norman had wound down his career to numerous decidedly idiosyn-cratic albums. Now something has changed. Larry is back, and ‘Home At Last’ heralds a potential renaissance. With the blues haunting his lyrics again, with his sad, lifting voice turned up to full throttle, with a little help from his more influential friends, he has dropped his recent attempts at ‘new styles’ and given us 14 simple songs, (the sort anyone could write but doesn’t) – the result: an excellent album. If it all sounds too good to be true, one fault persists. Side one has all the most interesting songs. To add insult to injury, side two ends with the particularly cringeable, «Somewhere Out There», a ballad where true love lapses into sentimentality. Some listeners will also cringe at «Sitting In My Kitchen», yet another dig at Randy Stonehill. Still for Larry to be uncontroversial would be rather like you or I forgetting to put on our underwear in the morning. This is a very good album and I hope he is not too old in the tooth for it to sell very very well indeed. [Gerald Kells, Cross Rhythms, July 1990]
This could have been a great comeback album. It was Larry’s first album to be distributed to US bookshops since ‘Something New Under The Son‘ was released in 1981. Only «Country Church, Country People» had been heard before (excepting the few songs released on the very limited preview tape The Best Of The Second Trilogy’). Slack production and performances and the use of five vignettes (which fade in and out part way through the songs) take the edge of a good collection of songs which focus on personal issues close to Larry’s heart. ‘Home At Last’ was originally due for release in 1986 as part of the 30 Years series. Some songs were removed (e.g. a finished version of «Trinity») to make way for new recordings, «Somewhere Out There» and «Selah». Many of the songs are imbued with the kind of wisdom and maturity which comes from experience and a developed Christian worldview. One of the few Larry Norman albums to be criticised on its release for sounding sappy and dated. Anyone who has seen or heard Larry doing these songs with Q-Stone or on the accompanying video knows this could have been much better than it turned out. [Dougie Adam, Cross Rhythms, May 2001]
‘Home At Last’ came out during a 12 year period when I really couldn’t make a proper studio album. I had recorded most of the drum tracks for ‘Home’ in Sweden which was a bad mistake because they were played so listlessly that everything we recorded on top of them had a kind of malaise to it that couldn’t be overcome. And at the time I couldn’t identify what was wrong with it and correct the problem. Another difficulty is that it was an autobiographical album, but nowhere in the sleeve or in the CD booklet did it indicate that. The record company wouldn’t print any of that stuff. One critic called it ‘self-referential’, which of course it was supposed to be. People were listening to it thinking these were my newest songs, but the album starts out with compositions from the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies and ends up in the Eighties. So, no, these weren’t my newest songs and some critics said the album had no guts. My brother said, “If you release this album, it’s the end of you career” and of course I knew exactly what he meant. But it was too late to stop because I had contracted it to Benson. But an album just is what it is and some people decide that their favourite album is the one which you actually hate the most and I got more positive mail on that album than any album I’ve ever released. The subject matter of the album dealt with personal problems in life, not with spiritual victory, so people who were going through those kinds of trouble really identified with the songs. The album is about struggle and sorrow and I think most punters want entertainment that’s more assertively positive, escapist and commercial. There’s a lot of love and compassion on ‘Home At Last’, but personally I wish I had re-cut the drums and added more guitar. But that’s what the 12 years was like. Helpless and dazed. [Larry Norman, Cross Rhythms, May 2001]
> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/home-at-last/542807215)
CD tracklist:
01. Lonely Boy – 1:02
02. My Feet Are On The Rock – 4:56
03. Country Church – 4:52
04. Sitting In My Kitchen – 4:31
05. Camel Through A Needle’s Eye – 3:18
06. Nightmare #49 (Part One) – 2:45
07. Oh How I Love You – 0:24
08. Queen Of The Rodeo – 0:50
09. He Really Loves You – 4:48
10. Here Comes The King – 4:49
11. Letters To The Church – 4:21
12. We Three Together – 1:41
13. Somewhere Out There – 5:54
14. Selah – 1:35
Note: Released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl, and CD in Europe by Spark Music. Also released by Phydeaux Records in 1989 as a limited edition double album in a single white jacket with white label LPs, featuring additional tracks. The song “Country Church” was first released in 1983 on the Phydeaux Records LP The Story of The Tune (and as well featured on Royal Music’s version of Down Under (But Not Out), released in Sweden in 1986); here it has some additional overdubs.
A full-page advertisement for Larry Norman’s Home at Last was featured in the May 1989 issue of CCM Magazine.
[youtube_sc url=”” playlist=”-ATAKGJEpCA,PLO2y3PMIhs,SUFj5yBx7L4,gbgaDvZ70c4,zExr50fFjAY,7EAM-Omh6Bc,gU-b5A8RZsY,jgx9Q05-Suc,l14NiAtdMn0,gdkiSaKNSSo,2wfWLVDe69Q,20MwQDvVdKs,MmtbCMr_S6Y,65uuF0lFlp8″ title=”Larry Norman – Lonely Boy + My Feet Are On The Rock + Country Church + Sitting in My Kitchen + Camel Through A Needles Eye + Nightmare No 49 (Part One) + Oh How I Love You + Queen Of The Rodeo + He Really Loves You + Here Comes The King + Letters To The Church + We Three Together + Somewhere Out There + Selah” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]
2LP tracklist (Phydeaux Records, 1989):
Side One
A1. Lonely Boy
A2. My Feet Are On The Rock (New version, see “The Best Of The Second Trilogy” for the first release of this song)
A3. Country Church, Country People (From “The Story Of The Tune”, see notes)
A4. Sitting In My Kitchen
Side Two
B1. Camel Through A Needle’s Eye
B2. Nightmare #49 (part 1) (From “The Best Of The Second Trilogy”)
B3. Oh, How I Love You (From “Only Visiting This Planet”)
B4. Queen Of The Rodeo
B5. He Really Loves You (From “The Best Of The Second Trilogy”, but here it has a very short intro)
B6. Here Comes The King
Side Three
C1. Letters To The Church
C2. We Three Twogether (From “The Best Of The Second Trilogy” but with shorter break after the opening part)
C3. Somewhere Out There
C4. Selah
C5. Nightmare #49 (part 2)* (Instrumental)
Side Four – Live concert with band
D1. Letters To The Church*
D2. Camel Through A Needle’s Eye*
D3. Here Comes The King*
D4. Shake Your Rattle And Crawl* (Demo; studio recording)
Note: The songs marked with an asterisk are Phydeaux LP tracks only; they’re not on the other releases.
CREDITS. Written, arranged and produced by Larry Norman for Solid Rock. Written and recorded in England, Germany, Israel, Africa, Russia, and the Good Ol’ USA. Mixed by Larry and Charly [Charles Norman] with Mark Heard at Fingerprint Studios, by Jellybean Jaquette at Studio Masters and by Brian Levi and Jeff Frickman at Clear Lake Audio. “Letters to the Church” mixed at Sounders with Jon Linn. All songs composed by Larry Norman.
Musicians: Larry (Vocals, Harmonies, Guitar, Piano, Saxophone, Harmonica, Keyboards), Charly (Vocals, Lead Guitar, Slide and Rhythm Guitars, Bass, Drums, Harmonica, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Percussion, all tracks except where noted), Sarah (Vocals, Harmonies, Percussion). Additional Musicians: Jon Linn (Lead Guitar on “He Really Loves You), Bob Somma (Lead Guitar on “Nightmare #49” and Rhythm Guitar on “Somewhere Out There” and “He Really Loves You”), Jellybean (Bass on “Country Church”, “Nightmare #49”, “He Really Loves You”, “Letters to the Church”, “Somewhere Out There”, and engineering), Dave Spurr (Drums on “Nightmare #49”, “He Really Loves You”, “Letters to the Church”, and “Somewhere Out There”), John Campbell (Keyboards on “Nightmare #49” and “He Really Loves You”), Steve Goomas (Piano on “Somewhere Out There”), Dan Cutrona (Keyboards on “Letters to the Church”).
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.