Royal Praise

Description

Royal Praise is an album by the British singer and songwriter Dave Pope & the Saltmine Band, released on DaySpring Records in 1985, a division of Word. The album was engineered by Nigel Pegrum with Geoff Baker and Chris Eaton producing and arranging.

Featuring The Saltmine Band – Geoff Baker on Keyboards and vocals, John Brett on saxophone, Mark Simmons on guitar and vocals, Pete Brookes on guitar, Dave Butler on bass and vocals, and Alan Sykes on drums. Additional vocals by Julie Moon, Belinda Moon, Dave Pope, Mark Williamson, Chris Eaton, and Vince Cross.

One of the best selling Christian albums in the UK in 1984 was The Servant King, a live worship set recorded at Spring Harvest 1984. Dave Pope made an appearance on the album and in fact most of the backing musicians at Spring Harvest that year were The Saltmine Band.

In 1985, Dave Pope was particularly busy. He toured extensively with The Saltmine Band and recorded the album Royal Praise with the outfit, released on the Word subsidiary DaySpring Records. Rather a curate’s egg of an album, among its tracks were Dave trying to go funky with covers of a few Leon Patillo songs («Cornerstone» and «John 3:17») and Saltmine Band members Dave Butler and Mark Simmons offering their take on Graham Kendrick‘s «The Servant King». «There Is A Redeemer» was also covered, a song written by Melody Green and recorded by husband Keith Green on his 1982-album Songs for the Shepherd.

Dave and the band were now a fixture at Spring Harvest and appeared on the event’s 1985 live worship album Lights To The World. Dave also ministered at the Mission To London organised by Argentinean evangelist Luis Palau, and together with Bryn Haworth, Graham Kendrick and The Saltmine Band appeared on the album Live Praise From Q.P.R..

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “John 3:17” –
A2. “Living Under The Shadow”
A3. “Medley”
A4. “Servant King”
A5. “Cornerstone”

Side Two
B1. “Hold On”
B2. “There Is A Redeemer”
B3. “Words You Say”
B4. “The Heavens Shout Praise”
B5. “We Should Be Loving You”