Description
Fallen Splendor is an album by the American singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and producer Jeff Johnson, independently released on his own label Ark Records in 1986, distributed by Sparrow Records. The album was recorded by Jeff Johnson assisted by Kim Looijenga and Sandy Simpson with Johnson and Simpson producing. Mixed by Johnson and Simpson at The Ark. (Mixed digitally using Sony PCM F-1 and PCM 501 ES Digital Processors.) Recorded and mixed from the Fall of 1984 to the Winter of 1985-86 at The Ark in Camano Island, Washington. (All sound effects recorded on location by Ark Mobile.) Written and conceived by Jeff Johnson.
The original album introduction:
The eighteenth century English poet William Blake lamented that people of his age were in the habit of seeing “with but not through the eye.” Could a better description be given of our age’ We “watch” a particular space shuttle explode, a South African Black being beaten, a Filipino riot, an Ethiopian starve . . . but what do we see? These, and a thousand other images, flood our psyche like the waters of a broken dam. It is a grand irony that while we are unable to integrate this cornucopia of data we have an increasing appetite for more. More “news,” more replays, more information.
The beat goes on. Computers “crunch” everything in their reach. The deficit grows while condominiums shrink into “condos.” Yuppies celebrate life in a new SAAB and wonder how much better life would be in a Mercedes. While we “watch” the “world going ’round” (remember the fool on the hill’) we hunger for something other than cruelty and banality.
At times our empty hearts distract us even from the plethora of our distractions. In our “quiet desperation” we realize that we “look” but rarely do we “see.” The distinction is subtle but it allows us to catch a glimpse of our place in the universe. What we see is not what we get. We were created for something greater than fast-foods, Muzak and astro-turf. Our inner longings are fulfilled in the one who made us. Any approach to life, any effort to make sense of the cosmos, any attempt at splendor aside from the reality of God is fallen indeed.
– by Reed Jolley, Santa Barbara, California
To borrow a line from John Sebastian, trying to review a Jeff Johnson album is like “trying to tell a stranger ’bout rock ‘n’ roll.” Until you’ve had the pleasure of spending an hour in his company via LP or tape, you can’t really appreciate just how different Johnson’s music from most other contemporary Christian music. “Like nothing you’ve ever heard,” he boldly – and not the least bit immodestly – states in his bio.
The particular theme that ties ‘Fallen Splendor’ together is man’s quest for happiness and the misdirection which that often takes. Johnson leads us on a journey from looking outward and upward for that happiness (the album opener, «Looking for God [Using a Spotlight]») to ultimately looking inward and away from the physical to the spiritual to affirm God’s presence in our lives.
The Portland, Oregon-based Johnson works out of a home studio and does not tour, and this allows him the luxury of spending months to perfect an album. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find any flaws on ‘Fallen Splendor’. Working with his usual crew of collaborators (notably Sandy Simpson, Paul Chasman, Mark Schulman, and David Hagelganz), Jeff has combined modern keyboard settings with acoustic and environmental sounds to create the musical equal of his challenging lyrics. You’ll hear elements of folk, rock, jazz, and classical melded together in a blend that is uniquely Johnson’s.
To pull songs out of the context of this entire set would likely obscure their meaning, but a few individual tracks bear mentioning. The intensely personal «Wind and Water» and «Sacrament» are among Jeff’s loveliest compositions, and instrumental pieces sprinkled throughout will remind many listeners of Johnson’s 1985 Meadowlark release, ‘No Shadow of Turning‘. Also worth noting are the eerie «Time Waits for You» and «He Is Not Here», a track that builds from a delicate acoustic guitar/synth ballad to a full-fledged rocker.
To further analyze or try to define ‘Fallen Splendor’ in the space of a brief review would be unfair to its intent. Suffice to say, if you prefer to spend time digesting and artist’s viewpoint and you like music that’s more than the aural equivalent of Cheese Whiz, Johnson is your man, and his newest album is as good a place as any to start. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, November 1986]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/fallen-splendor/58213971)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Looking For God (Using A Spotlight)” – 6:06
A2. “Old Germany” – 6:17
A3. “Mere Breath” – 3:45
A4. “Time Waits For You” – 2:52
A5. “Wind And Water” – 6:40
Side Two
B1. “Monet’s Failing Eyes” – 6:16
B2. “Fallen Splendor” – 4:23
B3. “He Is Not Here” – 6:03
B4. “Receive Your Sight” – 2:09
B5. “Sacrament (I Will Not Forget You)” – 4:30
B6. “Poem” – 2:55
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Ark Records. Later re-issued on CD. Available at Bandcamp: https://jeffjohnsonarkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/fallen-splendor
A full-page advertisement for Jeff Johnson’s album Fallen Splendor was featured in the October 1986 issue of CCM Magazine.
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