Description
The Best of Randy Matthews is a compilation album by the American singer and songwriter Randy Matthews, released on Myrrh Records in 1976, a division of Word. This was Matthews’ final release for Myrrh Records, after having released four studio albums on the label during 1971-1975, as well as a double live album. All songs written or co-written by Randy Matthews.
Matthews joined forces with two other Jesus rock pioneers, Danny Taylor and Mike Johnson (the latter of The Exkursions fame), a trio that released their sole album on NewPax Records in 1976, simply entitled Matthews, Taylor, and Johnson. After this Matthews continued his solo career and released several studio albums during the 80s.
Between the early ’70s and 1990, Randy Matthews released at least a dozen albums and was one of the pioneers of Christian pop rock music. He’s reported as the first contemporary act to be signed to Word Records. This compilation, released in the UK in 1976, collects together 10 songs from Randy’s first five albums – ‘I Wish We’d All Been Ready‘ (1971), ‘All I Am Is What You See‘ (1972), ‘Son Of Dust‘ (1973), ‘Eyes To The Sky‘ (1975) and ‘Now Do You Understand‘ (1975) – and highlights range from the stripped down live solo song «Sunny Day» which is a bit of fun to the opening country rocker «Country Faith» which is a bit of autobiography. It’s a perfect example of ’70s Jesus Music and a time when artists weren’t afraid to write songs with an enthusiastic message of faith. I like him when he’s being upbeat on «It Took A Carpenter» but the best track on here is the epic closer «The Picnic/Didn’t He» which is part story and part song and as moving a summation of the gospel message as you’ll hear anywhere. [Mike Rimmer, Cross Rhythms, March 2010]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Country Faith” – 2:10
A2. “Sunny Day” – 3:59
A3. “Johnny” – 3:30
A4. “Time To Pray” – 3:29
A5. “Brown – Eyed Woman” – 4:46
Side Two
B1. “Holy Band” – 3:25
B2. “Evacuation Day” – 2:30
B3. “It Took A Carpenter” – 3:09
B4. “Guardian Angel” – 3:10
B5. “The Picnic/Didn’t He” – 7:40
Note: Simultaneously released on 8-track tape, cassette, and 12-inch vinyl LP by Myrrh Records.
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