20th Century – A Folk Passion

Description

A Folk Passion is a conceptual drama about the Crucifixion by the British folk-rock combo 20th Century, independently released on Reflection Records in 1972. The album was engineered by Dave Humphries at Orange Recording Studios with Michael Lehr producing. (Organ recorded at St. John’s Church, West Ealing by John Bailes and the Studio Republic Mobile Unit.) Composed by John Lockley, Mike Colley, and Richard Bradshaw.

Diverse British conceptual drama about the Crucifixion, musically described as “the swing of jazz, the drive of beat, the sensitivity of folk, the dignity of traditional church music, even the atonality of modern classical music.” Nothing really grabbing on here – in fact much of it is rather gloomy and minimalist, usually the parts with church organ or acappella singing. Interesting, sort of. Some fuzz guitar on one song. Recognizing that 90 percent of contemporary musicals are worthless drivel, I guess 20th Century squeaks into the other 10 per cent. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One
Part 1
A1. “Hosanna”
A2. “Last Supper”
A3. “Gethsemane”
A4. “Purple Robe”
A5. “Burial

Side Two
Part 1 (continued)
B1. “Jesus The King”
Part 2
B2. “Sunset”
B3. “I Want You To Know”
B4. “Mañana”
B5. “Come To The Cross”
B6. “Joy”
B7. “Benediction”