Description
Stranded in Babylon is a studio album by the American singer and songwriter Larry Norman, released in Europe on the Dutch label Spark Music in 1991, in co-operation with Solid Rock Records. The pre-production recording was done at Solid Rock Studios in Hollywood, California. Mid-production overdubbing was done at Sharon Studios in Sarons dal/Kvinesdal, Norway, and the post-production mastering was done at The Masters in Soest, Holland. Norman’s February 1992 heart attack delayed the release of the US version of the album until 1994 (with some of the tracks “remixed, re-edited, and remastered”).
Throughout the 1980s Larry’s fans had become accustomed to a steady stream of patchy releases which fell well below the quality of his trailblazing ’70s output. There were lots of live releases and compilation albums where half-finished demos and instrumental electronica pieces would rub shoulders with rock opera recordings with People sourced from scratchy vinyls and cover versions of other artists’ songs and unreleased songs from the archives and remixes and re-recordings of his earlier work. Then at the tail end of 1991 Larry took everyone by surprise and released a normal studio album: that is, 10 self-penned songs and three bonus tracks which had never been on a previous Larry Norman album, all recorded in the studio and with the exception of «Oh Lydia» (which is deliberately cut short after a few seconds) all properly produced by Larry with the help of his younger brother Charles. Furthermore most of the songs showed that Larry was back on form as a songwriter and after a decade or more of dabbling in new musical directions, Norman was back playing to his strengths. «God Part III», «Step Into The Madness», «All The Way Home», «Let The Rain Fall Down» and «Under The Eye» all stood comparison as songs and studio recordings with the best of Larry’s previous work. The album was recorded by Larry and Charles working with drum machines, sequencers and samplers to fill out their own guitars, basses and keyboards and achieved a contemporary sound at the time. 20 years later not all of the album has dated well and some fans will also feel that if some songs had been given a gentler, simpler, sparer treatment or used more acoustic instruments instead of so many layers of overdubs they may have drawn more plaudits and the album as a whole might have had a more varied sound. Happily the ‘Totally Unplugged Vol1’ CD captures Larry performing some of the ‘Babylon’ songs solo and accompanied only by his own guitar for those who would like to contrast the simple live versions with the full on studio versions. ‘Stranded In Babylon’ saw Larry write about a cavalcade of big subjects again and after years in the musical wilderness showed he was still capable of writing and recording some of the best songs and most striking and quotable lyrics in Christendom when he put his mind to it. Worth buying in its own right for some of Larry’s best work from the second half of his recording career. [Dougie Adam, Cross Rhythms, November 2011]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/stranded-in-babylon/327426265)
CD tracklist:
01. Oh Lydia
02. God Part III
03. Come Away
04. Hide His Heart
05. Step Into The Madness
06. Love Is A Commitment
07. I Will Survive
08. All The Way Home
09. Baby’s Got The Blues
10. A Dangerous Place To Be
Bonus tracks:
11. White Trash Stomp
12. Let The Rain Fall Down
13. Under The Eye
Note: Originally released on cassette and CD by Spark Music. The album was re-issued in the US in 1994 by Solid Rock Records, distributed by Sonrise Music Company. Some of the US re-issue tracks are “remixed, re-edited, and remastered” (these are marked with an asterisk in the listing). The song order is different too, and the US CD booklet differs a lot from the Dutch booklet. Available at Bandcamp: https://larrynorman.bandcamp.com/album/stranded-in-babylon
The great man, now so sadly struck down by a heart attack, has never exactly made it easy for his loyal followers. For the last decade he has been releasing and re-releasing fragments of unreleased albums, best-ofs and re-released different versions in all kinds of limited, hard-to-get, and different, formats. He fell out with old-friends, recorded their songs without credit, popped up around the world doing acoustic concerts, told great jokes, made friends with Oliver North (!), and finally – last year – released a new LP ‘Home At Last‘, a disorganised, half-produced, and ultimately unsatisfying hotchpotch of songs. And now, to top it all, after being categorized as a good-thing-that-was he releases a superb new album which sees a return to the form he showed to full effect on those classics like ‘Only Visiting This Planet‘ and ‘So Long Ago The Garden‘ back in the mid seventies. Larry finally seems to have lost pretensions to grandeur; these new songs (and yes, there are 13 totally new works here!) do what Larry does best, namely rock. It may still be seventies rock, but it’s great stuff. Due credit must be given to Charly Norman, the younger brother. For only Charly and Larry play on this set. But with only two in the band there’s a full spectrum of sound, the songs are cleverly arranged and produced, with plenty of pertinent lyrical imagery and the sly wit of yore amongst the electric guitar solos and breezy (sampled?) saxophones. The starter on this release is a ten second outtake of a (quite rightly) long-forgotten love song, and then it’s straight into «God Pt III» which draws on John Lennon’s «God» and the U2 riposte («God II»). Like Bono, Larry has a nice line in couplets “..I don’t believe in money the way lives are bought and sold/ and when the world is ended bankrupt I’m gonna walk the streets of gold/ I believe in God.” Can’t say much more direct than that can you? Larry somehow gets away with a directness that few can. Gospel cliches abound, but are coupled with real, human stories, like the prostitute he befriends in Shepherd’s Market (sic) (Shepherd’s Bush I presume!) when on a London visit in the second song, or the sexual and emotional complexities of a confused couple in «Hide His Heart», where “It’s like a foreign movie where the lights are dim/ He’s in love with her but she can’t see him.” Despite claims to be trendy with samples etc, this music is old-fashioned rock that thrives on backbeat and guitar licks. Over this Larry declaims («I Will Survive»), teaches («Love Is A Commitment»), socially observes («Step Into The Madness» – a superb indictment of modern America) and prays («All The Way Home»). The album officially ends with Larry waiting for heaven, stranded in Babylon, but – despite liner notes which promise no more half-baked releases – the CD includes three ‘bonus tracks’, to be regarded as a separate entity from the concept set which precedes them… Here we have a boogiefied trip to grandpa’s, a pure fun outing; a glorious (and long) rock prayer «Let The Rain Fall Down», a kind of Job-like song of acceptance and refusal to despair; and finally «Under The Eye» which tells how Larry has, despite the last decade, always been watched and cared for. Although the concept would work better without the additions, they too are strong pieces which make this new release a real delight. [Rupert Loydell, Cross Rhythms, July 1992]
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