While managing Maranatha Village I would receive a phone call the beginning of each month from Charlie Peacock asking me if I needed anymore of the cassettes of West Coast Diaries Vol 1. That helped strike up a friendship. But there was often several years in between conversations. In fact, the most recent conversation I recall was after a Sunday Morning service in Colorado Springs where Charlie had performed the offertory for the Church I was attending. I obviously love a lot of different music and because of connections over the years with many, if not most, of the artist that fill up this countdown, I am not very starstruck. But when it comes to Charlie Peacock…I am a dumb fan! I just love what he does and will find buying albums that he produces even if I don’t care for the artist. When Exit was just starting out I was invited by label head Mary Neely to a concert in Hollywood with Steve Taylor and this new band Exit was releasing called Vector. What I remembered the most about that evening was this bouncy keyboardist that seemed to play with one hand while dancing with the other in that classic 80′s swinging of the arms sort of way. Mary gave me a copy of their album advance that night and I immediately noticed the unique vocals on the songs sung be that keyboardist. They would become my favorites. Not that much later Mary invited me out the LA one more time for a convert of Exit artists as they were looking to sign a mainstream distribution deal. The line-up included Robert Vaughan and the Shadows (discussed previously), the 77′s, a new, revamped Vector and that keyboardist, Charlie Peacock. I left that evening with a blank tape advanced copy of a record called “Lie Down in the Grass.” WOW! It was several years between the release of “Lie Down” and the Sparrow release on which we will focus, “The Secret of Time.” In between was a self titled album on Island records that still has two of my favorite Charlie Peacock songs, “Message Boy” and “Down in the Lowlands.” The latter would be covered by Russ Taff on his wonderful Russ Taff project. The “Charlie Peacock” seemed to come and go without even a notice, but the mainstream Christian debut, “Th Secret of Time” would make Charlie Peacock a mainstay in Christian music, whether the artist ever intended things to be that way. “The Secret of Time” combines reworking of several songs from the West Coast Diaries series along with new songs. It may end of being Peacocks most consistent project with jazz, funk and acoustic/alternative all performed with pop sensibilities and Charlie’s unforgettable, breathy vocals. Though the following album, Love Life, would contain Peacock’s biggest hit, “In the Light,” it was TSOT that contained his most memorable collection songs, though not his best overall effort (much later for that).
Tracklist
1 – Big Man’s Hat – 5:11
2 – The Way Of Love – 5:05
3 – One Thing – 4:18
4 – Put The Love Back Into Love – 5:11
5 – Almost Threw It All Away – 6:06
6 – The Secret Of Time – 3:39
7 – Dear Friend – 4:30
8 – Heaven Is A Real Place – 4:59
9 – Drowning Man – 3:04
10 – Experience – 5:23
Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Jimmy A.
Arranged By – Charlie Peacock
Arranged By [Backing Vocals] – Annie Stocking, Vince Ebo
Art Direction – Barbara Hearn
Backing Vocals – Alexia Abegg (tracks: 7), Annie Stocking, Ellie Bannister (tracks: 7), Eric Volz (tracks: 7), Margaret Becker (tracks: 8), Molly Ashworth (tracks: 7), Sam Ashworth (tracks: 7), Vince Ebo, Wayne Kirkpatrick (tracks: 8)
Bass – Tommy Sims
Coordinator [Production] – Richard Headen
Design – Larry Vigon Studio
Drums – Chris McHugh
Electric Guitar – Jerry McPherson, Jimmy A.
Engineer [Assistant] – Graham Lewis, Mark Nevers, Roy Gamble, Shawn McLean, Steve Bishir, Todd Culros*\
Executive-Producer – Peter York
Guitar [Les Paul And Marshall] – Rick Will
Keyboards – Blair Masters, Charlie Peacock
Keyboards [Hammond B-3] – Roger Smith
Keyboards [Solo] – Roger Smith
Lead Vocals – Charlie Peacock
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Mixed By [Additional] – Rick Will (tracks: 3, 7, 8)
Percussion – Trent Dean
Percussion [Programming] – Charlie Peacock
Photography – Mark Tucker
Producer – Brown Bannister
Programmed By [Fairlight] – Byron House
Programmed By [Synclavier] – Jeff Boggs
Recorded By – Brown Bannister (tracks: 6, 7), Jeff Balding
Recorded By [Additional Overdubs] – Byron House, Daryl Zachman
Recorded By [Overdubs] – Brown Bannister
Sampler – Blair Masters
Saxophone [Solo] – Michael Butera
Trumpet [Solo] – George Tidwell
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright (c) – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Canadian Christian Distributors, Inc.
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
