Whooz-It: Rock Along

Description

Whooz-It: Rock Along is a rock-oriented multi-artist project released on Maranatha! Music in 1989, manufactured and distributed by Word. The album was recorded at Wayne Cook Studios in Glendale and Whitefield Studios in Santa Ana, California; with Roby Duke producing. Mixed at Frontpage Studios. Arranged by Marty Walsh. Featuring rock covers of a handfull classic CCM songs.

Featuring a session band consisting of Brad Cole on Hammond B-3 organ, Marty Walsh on guitar, Glen Holmen on bass, and Dennis Holt on drums, with Alex MacDougall providing percussion.

Roby Duke must be set on conjuring conceptual bands for Christendom (and assisting me in alliteration in the process). His Arcade thang first came to my attention by a friend promising it to be the answer to the ‘can Christians have hep dance music’ dilemma, and to some degree, it does the job. This, however, flirts with conceptual and aesthetic irrelevance.

If you don’t regularly patronize Christian booksellers, you haven’t likely seen that this Whooz-It aggregation is only mentioned on the spine of the disc or tape case, thus reducing the import of five musicians and various lead and background singers to the means by which M’tha!’s re-establishing itself in the rock field after largely dumping it in order to get on with the business of mellowness without pushing a group, just this Rock Along concept.

If that wasn’t a safe bet in and of itself, it was even surer money to fill the bulk of the album with cover versions of familiar and semi-familiar songs by beloved musical brethren ranging from Darrell Mansfield and Bob Dylan to Chuck Girard and Phil Keaggy. Looking at the back pages of CCM recently, saw that this strategy has yielded them the bounty of being in the top 10 of the rock charts, so hey, it’s working.

“OK, Jamie Lee, you’ve expounded upon the conceptual and marketing genius or attempts thereof of this project, but what’s the MUSIC like?!” you might be asking by now. That’s the trouble. ‘Tisn’t much. The kind of technical competency and striving for true inspiration that floods heavy rock radio, Christian, secular or whatever, daily. «The Flood», the only original of the bunch, is suitably catchy in a slight Southern boggie mold, and the Hendrix/«Star Spangled Banner» take on «I Love You Lord» is perhaps a minor revelation. Otherwise, am betting you’ve heard it before and better.

Waycool free guitar pick, though. + + + in the ultimate sense. [Jamie Lee Rake, The Cutting Edge, December 1989]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-along/715851526)

CD tracklist:

01. The Rock That Doesn’t Roll (Lead vocals by Gene Miller)
(written by Larry Norman and originally recorded on In Another Land, 1976)
02. Shut De Do (Lead vocals by Carrie McDowell)
(written by Randy Stonehill and originally recorded on Equator, 1983)
03. Can’t Do Nothin’ Without Jesus’ Love (Lead vocals by Mark Williamson)
(written by Darrell Mansfield and originally recorded on The Vision, 1980)
04. Jesus Is Calling (Lead vocals by Christi Jacobs)
(written by Erick Nelson and originally recorded on Picking Up the Pieces, 1980)
05. Man Gave Names To All The Animals (Lead vocals by Moses Toth)
(written by Bob Dylan and originally recorded on Slow Train Coming, 1979)
06. Take Me Closer
(written by Phil Keaggy and originally recorded on Love Broke Thru, 1976)
07. I Love You Lord (Guitar solo by Marty Walsh)
(written by Laurie Klein)
08. Say It Like It Is (Lead vocals by Mark Williamson)
(written by Malcolm Wild and Alwyn Wall and originally recorded on Fool’s Wisdom, 1973)
09. The Flood (Lead vocals by Sumner Mering)
(written by Joe Shelton)
10. Take No Chances (Lead vocals by Gene Miller)
(written by Chuck Girard and Fred Field)

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Maranatha! Music.

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