Description
Awakening from the Western Dream is a studio album by the American singer and songwriter Paul Clark (credited “Paul Clark & Point OV-U”), originally self-released on Clark’s own Minstrel’s Voyage Music in 1988, distributed by Spring Arbor. Re-issued independently by Seed Records in 1989, and once again by Asaph Records in 1991, distributed by Frontline Distribution. The album was produced by Paul Clark, mixed by Bill Schnee and mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab.
After the awkward “Mr. Me” campaign to the Out of the Shadow project that Word Records organized to raise his market place presence, Paul’s convictions led him to abandon the commercially and competitively driven CCM industry and head back to his roots. Always a believer that life has to be lived out before change can be displayed with authenticity. Paul’s new musical expressions were now flowing from the well of reconnecting with his love of the guitar.
Recorded in 1988, after five years of recording silence, Paul harnessed his friends, Steve George, Steve Farris and Pat Mastelotto, from the chart topping band Mr. Mister (featured on track 5 and 6), to his Kansas City buddies, Don Harris and Rod Lincoln, and called the band, Point ov-U. The independent label project allowed Paul’s to express fresh poetic composition to his recording history without the confinement of CCM framework.
Once upon a time not all that long ago there were only a handful of new contemporary Christian music releases a year that mattered to people into rock and pop. Back in that darker age, one of the names a wary consumer learned to trust was Paul Clark.
Clark’s trendsetting move to a jazzy, Steely Dan-styled music on the monumental ‘Hand to the Plow‘, plus ‘Change in the Wind‘, ‘Aim for the Heart‘, and subsequent releases, soon influenced much of the pop produced in the Christian industry. Clark was one of the first to record a romantic love song for the celebration of Christian marriage. He brought together the players that became Koinonia for the first time for one of his sessions, and the high technical standards of his recordings have influenced the entire industry from early on to current time. Anyone really paying attention to the growth of Christian pop and rock knows that we owe Paul Clark a great deal, he took the music where it had never been before.
Now, after four years of relative silence, Clark is back with an independently produced and distributed (Spring Arbor) disc of finely-crafted pop from a consummate artist. Thoughtful, perceptive and satisfying, Clark’s observations and intelligent songsmanship make ‘Awakening’ an excellent project for a return to circulation. Two songs recorded as demos with Mr. Mister players Pat Mastelotto, Steve George and Steve Farris, give the album its greatest spark, but it’s Clark’s budding partnership with guitar/bassist Don Harris that breeds the album’s long term successes. «Foxhole Confessions» and «1NA100» recall Clark’s past strengths, but «Marianna» and «Don’t Let Go of My Heart» forge new directions still.
Paul Clark is a significant talent, a fact that will become abundantly evident when someone gets around to releasing CD versions of his early works. ‘Awakening From the Western Dream’ proves he’ll be with us for a long time to come. This one is worth the extra effort you’ll have to extend to get it. [Brian Quincy Newcomb, CCM, December 1989]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/awakening-from-the-western-dream/306870886)
CD tracklist:
01. More Heat Than Light – 5:54
02. Everywhere I Turn – 3:04
03. You Can’t Accuse Me – 2:53
04. I Can Feel Your Heartbeat – 3:02
05. Marianna – 3:11
06. So They Say – 4:04
07. 1NA100 – 3:37
08. Foxhole Confession – 3:36
09. Don’t Let Go Of My Heart – 3:36
10. As Long As I’m Still Breathing – 3:03
Note: Originally released on Minstrel’s Voyage Music in 1988 and re-released on Seed Records in 1989. Re-issued on cassette and CD by Asaph Records in 1991.
An advertisement for Paul Clark’s Awakening From the Western Dream was featured in the January 1990 issue of CCM Magazine.
A full-page advertisement for the Asaph Records label was featured in the April 1991 issue of CCM Magazine.
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