Description
Heavens Gonna Be a Blast! is the third album by the American rock band Wilson McKinley, independently released by the band on Voice of Elijah in 1972. The album was recorded by Irene Carter at Sound Recording Studios in Spokane, Washington. Also mixed at Sound Recording Studios. Produced by The Voice og Elijah Inc. All songs written by the band.
Sometime in 1972 Carl Parks actually said we had $500.00 for an album project. Wow! Can you imagine the pressure of using a studio for $35.00 an hour and doing a whole album? Well..we went to Sound Recording Co. run by a sweet lady named Irene that had no idea how to set up for a rock band. We were on our own setting up mikes on everything. Irene ran the tape machine while we ran through the songs and actually did some vocal doubling. But when it came time to mix it she said we were on our own. Now we all had good ears for balance and Randy especially did…so our mix was pretty good but when it got sent to Rite Records to press…it got fouled up so bad it was virtually unlistenable. We nicknamed them WRONG Records… but apparently they were the cheapest and you get what you pay for. ‘Heaven’s Gonna Be A Blast’ had some good songs on it and it wasn’t recorded that bad but Rite Records ruined everything we sent them. Tim Smith at Tanignak has done a good job fixing these recordings and they are far more listenable than before. The last report I heard on sales of these albums sometime in the late 70s was 70,000 units sold. [Excerpt from an interview with Wilson McKinley member Mike Messer at psychedelicbaby.blogspot July 2011]
Although Heavens Gonna Be A Blast is nearly killed by a production snafu that sets the bass way out in front, the album also happens to contain some of the group’s best songs. «Standin’ At The Crossroads», «He Made Us Free» and «Then I Fell In Love» all show the group in top form with lots of rock and roll energy and enthusiasm for Jesus, along with touches of CSN vocals and Grateful Dead boogie. Same spunky attitude on the lively title track which features an electric bass solo followed by a drum solo. «I’m Only Smilin» includes some jamming piano, while the heavy percussive angle of On Stage returns for «I Wish I Had The Words To Tell You». The electric piano introduced on Spirit Of Elijah returns for several songs including the ballads «Never Cry No More» and «A Warm Summer Day». «Almighty God» closes the album with a hypnotic 6/8 jazzy psych groove. As for the cruddy production, I’ve gotten to love this record so much I don’t even notice it anymore. Besides, the sound is still better than on their first LP. The oversized Day-Glo cover with the colorful exploding graphics is certainly an eye-popper. I like the small cartoon on the back of the guys playing their instruments. The band followed up this album with a couple cassette-only releases: Country In The Sky (a country album) and the instrumental Yesterday/Forever. In 2001 a compilation CD was made available that features various tracks from their albums. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th Edition]
Side 1: Once… I was STANDIN’ AT THE CROSSROADS. Now I’M ONLY SMILIN’ because HE MADE US FREE. So THEN I FEEL IN LOVE with Jesus an’ I WISH I HAD THE WORDS TO TELL YOU how I feel! Side 2: Now… I know HEAVEN’S GONNA BE A BLAST an’ we’ll NEVER CRY NO MORE. It’ll be like A WARM SUMMER DAY sent from ALMIGHTY GOD. – The Wilson-McKinley
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Standin’ at the Crossroads”
A2. “I’m Only Smilin'”
A3. “He Made Us Free”
A4. “Then I Fell in Love”
A5. “I Wish I Had the Words to Tell You”
Side Two
B1. “Heaven’s Gonna Be A Blast!”
B2. “Never Cry No More”
B3. “A Warm Summer Day”
B4. “Almighty God”
Note: A double-CD compilation, entitled Now I’m A Jesus Freak!, was released by Tanignak Productions in 2009. The first disc contains the complete tracks of Spirit of Elijah and Heavens Gonna Be A Blast!, all sourced from the original mastertapes in a completely new digital remix (with “snafus” corrected), rounded out with three other album tracks making their CD debut. The second disc features unreleased material that contains some of the bands best writing and ranges from straight-ahead rock to country-rock to harmony-rich ballads, recorded between 1970 to 1976, including several live tracks where the vocals had to be remixed to be audible. In addition, founding members Randy Wilcox and Mike Messer provided several unreleased tracks each for the second disc. Booklet includes recording credits and unreleased band photos from the era.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.