Description
Red Moon is the seventh album by the American rock band The Call, released on MCA Records in August 1990. The album was recorded by Jim Scott at Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood and American Recording Co. in Calabasas, California; and was produced by Michael Been and the band with Scott co-producing. Mixed by Scott.
Over the last decade, a brand of inspirational rock ‘n’ roll emerged in the rock mainstream, encouraging fans to believe in their dreams, fight the good fight – for the struggle was noble – and anything less than a full passion for life was a total sell-out. Bands like U2, The Alarm, and Simple Minds encouraged us to look beyond the dark and see a little light at the end of the tunnel; seize the light and never let go. There is hope.
Another mainstream band sang about faith – whose members would no doubt love to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but all they experienced was darkness. A darkness filled with their deepest fears and most dreadful secrets. Rather than run, The Call chose to stand and face the inscrutable dark, complete with all its demons, and faced them with fiery, raucous music and painfully honest lyrics. The Call sang about hope, not as light at the end of the tunnel, but as the mechanism to survive in utter blackness.
But things have shifted recently with The Call. Vocalist/bassist/principal songwriter Michael Been and company are singing like men who have overcome some of their inner tormentors and have seen some light themselves. Lyrically, The Call has delivered the most positive and spiritual album of its career. With some production help from T Bone Burnett and vocal assistance on one song from Bono, the earthy, stripped down sound is inviting and accessible. Propelled by the pulsating bass work of Been, listening to this record feels like being prodded to move forward as part of a mission that must be accomplished.
‘Red Moon’ opens with «What’s Happened to You», which deals with a meeting of old friends, where one has profoundly and positively changed. The title cut clearly sets the theme for the whole album when Been sings (presumably to God), “And the past weighs on the reconciled/ I’d follow you to the ends of this earth/ Through the raging storms/ Through the pains of birth/ Love comes.” «You Were There» is a simple testament to the faithfulness of God and his overarching care for us in the midst of our pain and the turmoil of our lives. Next up is «Floating Back» which is about taking responsibility for your past and continually looking to God in dealing with our past. «A Swim in the Ocean», cries for someone to care about in this life.
«Like You Never Been Loved», a love song from The Call that is both radio ready and obviously not contrived, may bring the band the hit they’ve needed to put them over the top. Been then moves from love found to love lost in «Family», but from the perspective of a child in a broken home. After dealing with unfaithfulness in human love, Been examines our infidelities with our Creator in «The Hand That Feeds You». The album closes with «What A Day», and the joy that is found when true change happens in our lives.
For anyone who has struggled with life, wondered if there was any point, take heart, take hope. The Call’s ‘Red Moon’ examines life and its pain, but with its feet planted firmly on the path that can lead one out of the woods. [Devlin Donaldson, CCM, October 1990]
Red Moon, The Call’s new album is a large step away from the AOR bombast of ‘Let the Day Begin‘, last years MCA debut and the first Call record since Reconciled to garner any serious airplay. While this may be a bold and even suicidal career move, the result is an ultimately more satisfying artistic endeavor from composer/vocalist/bassist Michael Been, keyboardist Jim Goodwin, guitarist Tom Ferrier and drummer Scott Musick. While The Call’s often enigmatic, yet profoundly spiritual lyrics, perhaps more often than most, require a reviewer to be cautious about reading too much of one’s own experience and thought into what is presented, I have always been moved by the intelligence, honesty and passion of Been’s writing. To my mind, The Call, and specifically Been, has addressed the issues of belief and faith from any number of angles – inside and out – only to conclude that there is meaning and purpose in biblical Christianity, above and often beyond the cultural/historical requirements modern Evangelicals are so fond of imposing on others.
Red Moon from the perspective of my own infatuation with the words and music of The Call is the band’s most mature and thoroughly encouraging record to date. As with ‘Into the Woods‘, which stepped backed from ‘Reconciled‘s unabashed affirmations and declarations to a more reflective and self-conscious stance, here Been & Co. explore what it would mean for us to really “let the day begin.” «What a Day», which closes out the new album, knows that things will be far from what is expected. In a set of metaphors akin to T Bone Burnett‘s juxtaposition of reality in the classic song «The Power of Love», Been sings “Take a black rose and turn it red/ Take a worn man and help him stand/ Take a tame boy and make him wild/ Take a sad girl and make her smile.” If That Day is to come it’s going to take “muscle” and “struggle” to overcome injustice and put the world aright, something modern American Christians have not always been willing to admit.
The album begins with «What’s Happened to You?» which explores the power found in one changed life. “You used to be so unkind/ You used to curse at this poor world/ So what’s changed your mind/ What’s stirred your compassion/ Is a mystery to me/ I don’t know what’s happened/ But I like what I see” sings Been before leading the Van Morrison-like sing-along chorus of “la-la”s. U2‘s Bono joins in on the chorus, adding some Irish authenticity to the Celtic musical/spiritual ambiance of the tune. This is the most unlikely source for a witness to the effectiveness of lifestyle evangelism as you’re ever going to hear, but it works for these ears.
The title track finds the Adam of Genesis, I have it on good authority, looking back over his life and ahead to a time when all that was broken in the fall of humanity from grace will be reconciled. «Like You’ve Never Been Loved» is one of the finest love songs I’ve ever heard since «Thing Called Love» by John Hiatt, and «This Is Your Life» is a call to active existence, as opposed to passive indifference, that is irresistible. In my most hopeful moments I can imagine that both will get serious AOR airplay.
The Call still rocks, but in a subtler, more rootsy fashion. There’s a lot more of Goodwin’s piano, that gritty rhythm guitar chords, and Ferrier’s solos come from a place closer to the heart, closer to blues than on past outings. The Call’s days as the Next Big Thing passed when they didn’t move on from the successes of Reconciled and tours opening for Peter Gabriel and Simple Minds to greater recognition. And, the airplay that «Let the Day Begin» and «Same Ol’ Story» garnered, was not turned around into substantial sales by MCA. However, the success of Hothouse Flowers and World Party would lead one to hope that if there is any justice, this time out The Call will receive its due. But then again, whatever happens we’ll still have Red Moon, a record filled with insight, encouragement and challenge. That may well have to be enough for days like these. [Brian Q. Newcomb, Harvest Rock Syndicate, Volume 5, Issue 3, 1990]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/red-moon/1444030499)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “What’s Happened to You” – 4:18
A2. “Red Moon” – 3:46
A3. “You Were There” – 4:04
A4. “Floating Back” – 3:25
A5. “A Swim in the Ocean” – 3:51
Side Two
B1. “Like You’ve Never Been Loved” – 4:14
B2. “Family” – 3:41
B3. “This Is Your Life” – 4:09
B4. “The Hand That Feeds You” – 3:33
B5. “What a Day” – 4:12
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by MCA Records.
A full-page advertisement for The Call’s Red Moon was featured in the October 1990 issue of CCM Magazine.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.