John Michael Talbot – Monk Rock

Description

Monk Rock is a solo album by the American singer and songwriter John Michael Talbot of Mason Proffit fame, self-released on Troubadour For The Lord in 2005, manufactured by Troubadour For The Lord, distributed in the US by EMI CMG Distribution. The album was recorded by Brent King and Philip Cooper at Little Portion Hermitage in Arkansas (John Michael Talbot’s guitars, banjo, and vocals), Bill Schnee Studios in Los Angeles (drums, bass, and keyboards), OmniSound Studios in Nashville (Jerry McPherson’s guitars), and Dark Horse Studios in Franklin, Tennessee (Phil Keaggy’s guitars); with John Michael Talbot and King producing. ProTools engineered by Philip Cooper. Mixed by Brent King at Dark Horse Studios. Vocals arranged by John Michael Talbot. All songs written by John Michael Talbot except track 1 co-written with his brother, Terry Talbot.

Featuring John Michael Talbot on vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, and banjo, backed by John “Punk Monk” Gillatin on acoustic piano and synthersizer, Jerry McPherson and Phil Keaggy on electric guitars, Lee “Funk Monk” Sklar on bass, Neil “Thump Monk” Wilkeson on drums, and Eric Darken on percussion. Background vocal overdubs by John Michael Talbot.

Monk Rock was followed-up with yet another rock oriented album in 1996, entitled The Beautiful City.

John Michael Talbot has been around in contemporary Christian music circles for quite awhile; in fact this is his 30th year working in the industry and with this, his latest release, we get his 48th album. At the first listening I thought that JMT had just plugged in an electric guitar and to him that constituted being rock, considering that the majority of his releases are mostly acoustic and meditative in nature (and often with lush string orchestrations). On ‘Monk Rock’ we are given what, according to the liner notes, is an album whose title is meant to be “whimsical, half-joking, but also not without some seriousness.” I certainly found this the case with the 13 tracks on offer. Musically it has more of a country rock feel about it which isn’t surprising considering that back in the ’70s JMT was a member of Mason Proffit which was one of the forerunners of country rock. Lyrically we have time honoured topics such as Jesus’ faithfulness through hard times «Walk With Jesus», which also features guest guitarist virtuoso Phil Keaggy, and the gospel message «Spread The Good News», which reminded me a little bit of Don Francisco. I was even reminded of early Jethro Tull on the track «Sanctus». And with titles such as «Te Deum», «Credo» and «Kyrie» we are reminded that the monk in the title is not just a good gimmick and that JMT is a real monk and has been a member of the Franciscan Order since 1978. [John Fisher, Cross Rhythms, March 2006]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/monk-rock/74344897)

CD tracklist:

01. One Body In Christ
02. Spread The Good News
03. Te Deum
04. Kyrie
05. Gloria
06. Credo
07. Walk With Jesus
08. Jesus Prayer Swing
09. Requiem
10. Sanctus
11. Proclaim The Mystery
12. Agnus Dei
13. Come Home Little Children