Description
Live at Virginia Beach is the third album by the American rock group Sons of Thunder, released on Bronté Records in 1973. The album was recorded by Duane Self July 25 through August 4, 1973, live at the Upstairs Coffeehouse, a ministry of the Virginia Beach Experiment. Mixed by Bill McElroy at Bias Studio in Falls Church, Virginia.
Sons of Thunder’s third album is a compilation of live recordings made during a four-night appearance at Virginia Beach’s Upstairs Coffee House (a Christian ministry sponsored by the Virginia Beach Experiment), in August ’73. Sons of Thunder’s technician Duane self-recorded and produced the album on a four-track Teac reel-to-reel machine. (Duane was the band’s technician for its entire full-time period.) In the spirit of the times, it was issued with the appearance of a “bootleg” album, in a white cover with a rubber-stamped title. (They billed this as the limited premiere edition of the album and packaged it in a plain jacket so it could be available as soon as possible.)
Text on the inlay that came enclosed with the album:
Dear Friend,
This is our first live album. Although the Sons of Thunder have been together for six years, and have recorded concerts before, in the past the technical difficulties of on-location recording have rendered the results unusable for a record.
This record grew out of a two week engagement at the Upstairs Coffeehouse, the home of a beautiful ministry sponsored by the Virginia Beach Experiment. A large portion of the group’s performance there was recorded, and this record is a collection of some of our favorites.
The credit for the recording engineering goes to Duane Self, who has travelled with us for over a year doing technical work. He recorded on his own four track deck with equipment rented expressly for the recording. Thanks need to go to Bill Peterson of Professional Sounds in Falls Church, Va. for renting us a lot of good equipment on short notice.
Duane, Charlie Ruh (our lighting technician), Tom Willett (our musical director), and Debbie Halverson (our sound technician) supervised the final editing and mixdown of the tape at Bias Studio in Falls Church, Va. with Bill McElroy, the engineer there. They worked from 6 o’clock in the evening until 7 o’clock the next morning. Special thanks to Bill for sticking with them right through to the end.
This record is live, and we feel that the excitement and charisma of the small, packed coffeehouse, and the interplay of the band with the audience, outweigh any minor technical difficulties which a regular studio recording would have overcome.
Those who are friends of the group will be interested to know that Blaine Smith, who formed the group, and who has played guitar from the beginning, plays his last licks as a performing member on three of the songs on this record. He has now moved into a much needed, heavier, administrative ministry with us.
Since there was limited space on the record, it was necessary to edit out most of the talking between songs. However, members of the group have shared some of their thoughts about these songs on the reverse side of this page.
This is the limited premiere edition of this album, which we’ve packaged in a plain jacket so it could be available as soon as possible.
We hope you will find this album both enjoyable and inspirational. Please know of our love for Jesus Christ and our desire that this album will reflect it, and also afford us the opportunity to share this love with you.
With His love,
THE SONS OF THUNDER
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Soul Stew” – 4:27
A2. “Jesus Is Just Alright” – 3:50
A3. “I Want To Believe In Humanity” – 3:08
A4. “Killing Me Softly” – 5:17
A5. “Mighty Clouds Of Joy” – 3:50
Side Two
B1. “Magnificent Sanctuary Band” – 3:53
B2. “Eutychus” – 3:37
B3. “Get Up And Walk” – 4:52
B4. “In My Life” – 3:26
B5. “Out On The Sea” – 3:12
Note: Housed in a white jacket promo with the title and Brontë stamps.
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