Alive!

Description

Alive! is a multi-artist project released on Key Records in 1969, a newly established British contemporary gospel label. The album features studio tracks by artists like Whispers Of Truth, Roger & Jan, All Things New, The Glorylanders, and Nigel Goodwin. The four songs by Whispers Of Truth were written by Graham Kendrick and “Moment Of Time” by The Glorylanders was written by Judy MacKenzie, two young singer-songwriters to appear as solo artists in the beginning of the 70s. The two poetry readings by Nigel Goodwin, “The First Time I Went To Church” and “Plastic World”, were written by Gordon Bailey. A few of the artists also appeare on the multi-artist compilation Sound Vision in Concert, released by Key Records the following year.

Another excellent LP on the highly collectible Key label – this one a various artists studio compilation featuring five British artists. Best of the bunch is Whispers Of Truth, contributing four tracks and featuring a young Graham Kendrick. Kendrick would go on to release several excellent folk, poprock, and ultimately worship LPs, but here he and his band were deep into the electric British Invasion rock sound. Hard to top the loud Yardbirds-ish energy of «Reality» or psychy pop numbers like «Psychiatrist» and «Sunday Afternoon With Emily». All Things New delivers a couple of blues rockers plus a fun beat song «Jesus Is Coming Again», complete with cheesy organ, baritone sax, fuzz guitar, flute, and trumpet, coming off as some kind of bizarre cheap Troggs/Madness clone. Acoustic folk is provided by the duo of Roger and Jan, and The Glorylanders contribute a pair of rousing, more traditional folk numbers (both groups have other full-length albums available). Rounded out by two impassioned poetry readings by Nigel Goodwin, including the original version of «First Time I Went To Church» done in a strong Cockney accent while a church organ softly plays. You may be familiar with the version on Larry Norman’s Street Level. 45 glorious minutes of solidly British-sounding early Jesus music. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. Whispers Of Truth – “Psychiatrist” – 3:11
A2. Roger & Jan – “Ever Heard A Million People Cry” – 3:03
A3. All Things New – “Jesus Is Coming Again” – 3:30
A4. The Glorylanders – “Too Many Folks” – 2:42
A5. Whispers Of Truth – “Sunday Afternoon With Emily” – 3:09
A6. Roger & Jan – “And It’s You” – 2:12
A7. Nigel Goodwin – “The First Time I Went To Church” – 6:53

Side Two
B1. The Glorylanders – “Moment Of Time” – 2:16
B2. Whispers Of Truth – “Ode To Arnold” – 2:27
B3. All Things New – “Show Me” – 3:10
B4. Nigel Goodwin – “Plastic World” – 2:49
B5. Whispers Of Truth – “Reality” – 3:08
B6. All Things New – “Ones, Twos And Threes” – 4:58
B7. Roger & Jan – “Three Crosses” – 3:13

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