The songs on Labor of Love are a refreshingly different sound to hear from Larry Norman. They are far less brooding, and much less singer-songwriter or blues artist approach to songs. The reason? These songs are written by Tom Howard.
Labor of Love is one of 3 records included in the bARCHAEOLOGY boxed set released in 1984. Labor, and Letter of the Law, another of the 3 records in the set are comprised mainly of songs written by Tom Howard. There was also an album released called Quiet Night, under the name “Larry Norman & The Young Lions” although there is no evidence that the Young Lions were anyone other than Larry and his brother Charly. Actually that’s a pretty credible theory.
Larry was promoting Tom Howard on the Solid Rock label, and produced one album for him. Apparently at one point Larry decided that if he recorded some of Tom’s songs, they would be easier to promote, and it would result in better album sales for Tom.
There isn’t any evidence that this was a big boost for Tom Howard’s career, but he did have a few albums out on his own, including the one on Solid Rock Records.
There are a couple of “L’Etudes” tracks here, which are the only pieces written by Larry on this record. They serve as interludes between some of the songs.
Track Listing:
1 – Where His Love Touches Down
2 – Let The Master Make It Right
3 – Stairway L’Etudes
4 – Farther On
5 – Come On In
6 – Piano L’Etudes
7 – Mansion On The Sand
8 – Twilight L’Etudes
9 – Higher Calling
10 – Jesus Is The Song
11 – Drum L’Etudes
12 – One More Reason
