Description
Alpha & Omega is the ninth studio album by the British singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Adrian Snell, released on Myrrh Records in 1986, a division of Word. The album was recorded between February and April 1986 by Neil Costello at Home Sweet Home and Offbeat in Leeds, at The Chocolate Factory and All Souls Church in London, and at ICC Studios in Eastbourne, England; with Adrian Snell, Dave Bainbridge, and Costello producing and arranging. Mixed by Costello at ICC Studios. Music by Adrian Snell and words by Phil Thomson with Adrian Snell.
The album features layers of synthesizers, percussive drum computers and uplifting choirs intermingled in a glorious mix. Lead vocals on “Child Of Darkness” provided by Joanne Hogg, later of Iona fame. (Trivia: Keyboardist Dave Bainbridge and saxophonist/flutist David Fitzgerald, who both play on the album, actually met during an early ‘Alpha & Omega’ tour and went on to found the band Iona with Joanne Hogg.)
Alpha & Omega is one of Adrian Snell’s best known and internationally best selling works (the album went on to become the best selling European-origin Christian music album ever), with texts drawn from the prophetic books of The Bible. With a starting point of Snell’s “Kaddish for Bergen-Belsen”, here is a contemporary ‘oratorio’ that truly has a message for the world today. First performed at the Binyanei Ha’Ooma in Jerusalem, March 26th 1986.
In 2017 Adrian Snell recorded and released Alpha & Omega: 30th Anniversary Recording, a completely new recording based on the live concerts and then completed in the studio in the skilled production hands of Dave Bainbridge, who had also been a co-producer of the original album.
I was beginning to look more and more at the prophetic dimension of our faith and had written a song called «Alpha and Omega» which appeared on ‘Feed The Hungry Heart‘. In 1985 I’d visited the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, which had an absolutely devastating effect on me. When I got back I began working with Phil Thomson on songs…’Alpha and Omega’ is a vision, a prophetic cry to look and see the desperate conditions of our world – violence, materialism, oppression, famine, pollution – and how only by turning in repentance to the Author of Life will we escape the whirlwind of judgement. [Adrian Snell, July 1990]
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LP tracklist:
Side One
God’s Case Against Mankind
A1. “Kaddish For Bergen-Belsen” – 4:30
A2. “The Nations Rage And Fall” – 2:34
A3. “Nobody Listens” – 3:45
A4. “Messiah Mask (Pretender To My Throne)/I Am Your God” – 5:00
A5. “Guns Of Peace” – 6:50
God’s Warning of Judgement
A6. “No Escape” – 4:55
Side Two
B1. “Child Of Darkness” – 2:52
B2. “I Am Your God” – 2:25
God’s Great Love: The Way of Salvation
B3. “Man Of Sorrows” – 2:19
B4. “I Am The Way” – 4:22
B5. “Lord Have Mercy” – 2:32
God’s Promise: The Hope of Mankind
B6. “Streams In The Desert/And They Shall Prophesy” – 4:41
B7. “And In That Day” – 4:23
B8. “He Lives In You” – 1:53
B9. “Alpha And Omega (The Beginning And The End)” – 5:00
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Myrrh Records. Later re-issued on CD. A re-recorded 30th Anniversary Version of the album was released by Adrian Snell on June 30th, 2017.
CREDITS. Produced and arranged by Adrian Snell, Neil Costello and Dave Bainbridge. Engineered by Neil Costello. Mastered by Dave Aston. Vocal Arrangements by Julie Moon and Mal Pope. Directed by Victor Kee and Noel H. Tredinnick. Choirs and Congregation Conducted by Noel H. Tredinnick. Choir Arrangements by Noel H. Tredinnick. Recorded at Home Sweet Home and Offbeat Studios in Leeds, The Chocolate Factory in London, ICC Studios in Eastbourne, and at All Souls Church in London. Mixed at ICC Studios. Design, Illustration: James Kessell. Executive Producer: David Bruce. With grateful thanks to Dr. Clifford Hill for his vision and direction in the writing of this work. This album is dedicated to the memory of Rev. Harry Cooke, dear friend and pastor.
Musicians: Adrian Snell (Piano, Keyboards), Dave Bainbridge (Piano, Keyboards, Keyboards Sampling and Programming, Additional Drum Programming, Guitar Synthesizer on track B1), Debbie Bainbridge (Oboe), David Fitzgerald (Flute, Saxophone), Neil Costello (Electric Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer), Les Moir (Bass), Dave Dowle (Drums, Drum Programming). Choir: The All Souls Choir, The Worship In Concert Choir. Additional Vocals: Julie Moon, Mal Pope. Joanne Hogg (Vocals on track B1).
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