From Darkness to Light: Solo Concert

Description

From Darkness to Light: Solo Concert is an acoustic live album by the American singer and songwriter Turley Richards, independently released on Silba in 1972. The album was produced by Turley Richards.

This is a fascinating solo acoustic concert, an obscure private release from an individual you might recognize from his involvement on Clear Light productions Because I Am and Cry 3. He also has a few albums on mainstream labels with occasional Christian references. This recording, however, is very stark and stripped-down yet brimming with incredible passion. Very artsy with lengthy tracks. Side one for instance (the ‘From Darkness’ side) features only two tracks: «Ugly Trip» and «Pain», both of which seem to languish in despair, including an unusual vocal effect that sounds somewhere between a yodel and a chant from a Middle-Eastern monastery. The man absolutely attacks his guitar, strumming furiously, sometimes scratching and beating it for percussive effects. The guy’s vocal range of both dynamics and emotion is incredible. In the upper registers his screams rival those of Greg Volz. Side two (the ‘Into Light’ side) opens with the intensely quiet «Touch, Love & Peacefulness» where you’d have no problem hearing a pin drop. Following are «Is That The Way You Were Taught To Pray» and «Crucifixion». The mournful tone finally turns to euphoria with «I Heard The Voice Of Jesus», Richards’ trademark song, adopted from Edwin Hawkins. Quite unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th Edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One – From Darkness
A1. “Ugly Trip”
A2. “Pain”

Side Two – To Light
B1. “Touch, Love & Peacefulness”
B2. “Is That The Way You Were Taught To Pray?”
B3. “Crucifixion”
B4. “I Heard The Voice Of Jesus”

Note: Issued with 6-panel fold-out poster/lyric sheet.