Description
The self-titled debut album by the American folk-rock combo Cephas (credited “Teen Challenge presents Cephas with Jeff Cogswell”) was released on Rite in 1973. The album was recorded and manufactured by Rite Record Productions, Inc. (a record pressing plant located in Cincinnati, Ohio) with Phil Burkhardt engineering. All musical arrangements by band members Andrew LeWay and Jeff Cogswell.
Cephas includes Jeff Cogswell on guitar and lead vocals, David Dexter on piano and organ, Gary Simpson on guitar and vocals, Rene Tremblay on guitar, Mike Ferguson on lead guitar, as well as Andrew LeWay on bass, acoustic guitar and vocals. The vocal ensemble features Roberta Smith, Reneé Sofaly, Cathy Mercer, Deborah LeWay, and Alice Urice.
The album features several songs co-written by group members Cogswell and LeWay alongside covers of songs like “Jesus Is The Answer” (written by Andraé Crouch and his sister Sandra) and “Maranatha” (written by Chuck Girard and recorded by his band Love Song, included on the Maranatha! Music sampler album The Everlastin’ Living Jesus Music Concert released in 1971), as well as a cover of the Arthur Reynolds classic, “Jesus Is Just Alright.”
Low-budget Pennsylvania basement folk/folk-rock troupe led by Jeff Cogswell. The Rite label usually signifies a totally home-made affair and that’s pretty much what Cephas is. The background vocals behind Jeff are fairly amateur, but the music itself ain’t that bad. Some cuts like «Jesus Is Just Alright» and «Meander» benefit from a faint garage/psych angle ala Guitar Ensemble, thanks to the guitar solos and moody organ. Other cover songs include «Jesus Is The Answer», «Save The People» and «Maranatha». [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 3th edition]
What I like about this album is that it is a real slice of what it was like for young people coming to Jesus back then. Teen Challenge is a David Wilkerson ministry for youths on drugs and in trouble and many of them came from families out of touch with God and so you see here not so much songs connected to church youth songbooks but songs these kids had been more accessible to in the world such as «Jesus Is Just Alright», «Save The People» from Godspell and «Jesus Is The Answer». It has a real feel for the times. Jesus was really changing their world.
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Jesus Has Changed My World” – 3:22
A2. “Till Another Soul Goes Free” – 2:15
A3. “Show Me The Way” – 3:05
A4. “Jesus Is Just Alright” – 8:47
Side Two
B1. “Meander” – 4:25
B2. “Jesus Is The Answer” – 5:15
B3. “Save The People” – 3:20
B4. “Maranatha” – 3:17
[youtube_sc url=”” playlist=”xcq3eZztgZs,ZCVIY2ehyI8″ title=”Cephas – Meander + Jesus Is Just Alright” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]
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