Torn Between Two Worlds

Description

Torn Between Two Worlds is the fourth album by the American singer and songwriter Billy Sprague, released on Benson Records in 1992. The album was produced by Wayne Kirkpatrick.

Over the past ten years, Billy Sprague has amassed an impressive list of credits, from touring as a guitarist for Amy Grant, to winning Dove awards for his songwriting, to recording four well received albums of his own. But none of the acclaim prepared Sprague for the losses of his fiance Rosalynn, as well as another close friend and mentor. These events sent Sprague reeling emotionally and spiritually, and prompted him to take a three-year sabbatical from Christian music, which ended with the release of ‘Torn Between Two Worlds’.

The album is a sober and introspective song cycle, exploring darkness and light, life and death – the dichotomy of existence we each face on a daily basis. But this is not to suggest that the album’s atmosphere is overwhelmingly somber, even some of the more reflective songs have a sense of humor and lighter tone to them. A lot of this is due to Sprague’s delicate vocal phrasing, which is often reminiscent of Stevie Wonder or Phil Keaggy, and Stellar support from folks such as Wayne Kirkpatrick, Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy and Susan Ashton.

«Waiting for the Day», the album’s opener, speaks longingly of wanting to see a time when all mankind will be free of oppression, starvation and disease – and knowing it will only happen when we’re reunited with our Heavenly Father. «For the Ones Who Sleeps» and «Dear Rosalynn» are the two tracks which deal most directly with Sprague’s personal tragedies. Both songs were begun before the loss of Sprague’s fiance, and both serve as eloquent reminders of the fleeting nature of our earthly existence.

On the more upbeat side, «Heaven is a Long Hello» is a brilliant pop song which cleverly contrasts the impermanence of earthly existence with the length of time believers can expect to spend in heaven; «Lukeen Ote Mah Weendo» explores topics like infidelity and abuse, but couches the lyrics in a bouncy, pseudo Afro-Cuban arrangement, while «A Hazardous World», a chiming rock number, offers the only hope we can expect in life, as Sprague thumbs his nose at “Mortality/ An angry dog missing all his teeth.” The album’s closer, «You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down» offers a jazz-inflected, R&B-based re-telling of several biblical stories featuring downcast chararcters, such as Jonah and Samson, and offers Sprague the chance to apply the hard lesson he’s learned during his absence from the musical scene.

Three years is an eternity in a business so ruled by fashion and fad that you don’t know what will be “in” next week, let alone next year. Yet Sprague has endured, and emerged from his self-imposed exile a richer songwriter and more captivating performer. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, April 1992]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/torn-between-two-worlds/319525414)

CD tracklist:

01. Heaven Is A Long Hello
02. Two-Way Street
03. Waiting For The Day
04. A Hazardous Heart
05. Where Is Your Heart?
06. Lukeen Ote Mah Weendo
07. Dear Rosalynn
08. El Viaje (The Journey)
09. For The One Who Sleeps
10. You Can’t Keep A Good Man Down

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Benson Records.