This is the first album from Malcolm & Alwyn but they were actually in a band called The Zodiacs before their conversion to Christianity. This album actually had some of the top session musicians of the time. John Wetton of King Crimson on bass, Rod Edwards and Roger Hand of Edwards Hand on keyboards and percussion, veteran drummer Clem Cattini, and guitarist Mickey Keen of Hudson Ford. Pretty good for a Jesus album from 2 guys that hadn’t even been recorded before. The album is excellent if listened to from an early 70’s ear. For that genre and time period this is probably one of the best Jesus music albums of the period.
Tracklist 1 – Say It Like It Is – 3:30 2 – Fool’s Wisdom – 3:04 3 – Tomorrow’s News – 3:30 4 – Growing Old – 3:53 5 – Things Are Getting Better – 3:24 6 – Heaven Or Hell – 3:46 7 – Seed Of Corn – 2:57 8 – The World Needs Jesus – 3:38 9 – Always On My Mind – 2:05 10 – It’s Here The Answer Lies – 4:46
Credits Arranged By [String And Woodwind Arrangements] – Chris Gunning Autoharp, Lead Vocals – Malcolm Wild Bass – John Wetton Drums – Clem Cattini Electric Guitar – Mickey Keen Engineer – Denny Bridges, Jack Clegg Guitar, Lead Vocals – Alwyn Wall Keyboards, Percussion – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand Producer – John Miller*, Rod Edwards, Roger Hand Written-By, Liner Notes – Alwyn Wall, Malcolm Wild
Companies, etc. Printed By – Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Produced For – Key Records
This live album was recorded at the Dominion Theatre In London on Dec 26th 1980. According to Larry, Cliff Richard, The Vapors, Vic Coppersmith, and several members of Eric Clapton’s band were in attendance. Alwyn Wall and the Barratt Band opened for Larry and stayed on to back Larry’s set. Larry released the album with side 1 having 5 tracks from the opening set and 4 tracks on Side 2 from Larry. Well actually the first pressing had 4 tracks but subsequent pressings actually had 6 tracks. In typical Larry form he did not redo the jacket to represent these extra tracks but instead put an insert in the album to explain. In his defense though redoing the Jacket would have cost a lot of money so I don’t fault him. I do fault his however for some of his editing choices. Some tracks are chopped off and the sound quality varies greatly from track to track. However this is all part of listening to a Larry production. The electronic release of the album includes 5 bonus tracks recorded at the Bremen Germany stop of the same tour. We have included those tracks for your listening pleasure.
Tracklist 1 – Barratt Band – The Only One – 3:43 2 – Barratt Band – Not The Way – 3:41 3 – Alwyn Wall – I’m Alright Jack (The Greed Song) – 3:55 4 – Alwyn Wall – Hold On – 3:46 5 – Alwyn Wall – Dreams On Sand – 6:05 6 – Larry Norman – I Feel Like Dying – 2:48 7 – Larry Norman – Leaving The Past Behind – 1:39 8 – Larry Norman – Why Can’t You Be Good – 4:31 9 – Larry Norman – A Note From Mr God – 3:46 10 – Larry Norman – Put Your Life Into His Hands – 3:19 11 – Larry Norman – I Wish We’d All Been Ready – 5:48 Bonus Tracks 12 – Larry Norman & Friends – Swing Low Sweet Chariot – 5:01 13 – Larry Norman – Watch What You’re Doing – 7:02 14 – Larry Norman – Feeling So Bad – 4:26 15 – Larry Norman – Sweet Sweet Song Of Salvation – 5:26 16 – Barratt Band – My Father’s House – 10:01
The UK’s Malcolm & Alwyn, the Simon and Garfunkle of Christian music, return with their second album that was released in both the UK and the US. Their first album sold well and developed a following for this duo and this album continues the sound from their first album but is a little more upbeat. Personally I came to the Malcolm & Alwyn train late after I heard Alwyn doing work with Larry Norman in the 80’s. Luckily I got caught up on their work and while I think their live work is their best this album is certainly a must listen to. In 1999 Footstep Records reissued this album on CD and added 3 bonus Live tracks which we have included.
Tracklist 1 – I Feel Fine – 3:48 2 – I Love You More Today Than Yesterday – 4:15 3 – Spaceman – 4:15 4 – Someone To Sing To – 2:21 5 – I’ll Carry You Through – 3:47 6 – Buried Alive – 3:27 7 – Stay With Me – 3:27 8 – I Love – 3:50 9 – Wildwall – 2:48 10 – England Goodbye – 5:18 CD Bonus Tracks 11 – I Feel Fine – 4:29 12 – Morning Star – 3:21 13 – Fool’s Wisdom – 2:54
Credits Acoustic Guitar – James Litherland, Roger Hand Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals – Alwyn Wall Arranged By [Brass] – Roger Ball Arranged By, Co-producer – Rod Edwards Arranged By, Producer – Jon Miller, Roger Hand Autoharp, Lead Vocals – Malcolm Wild Backing Vocals – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand Bass – Johnny Gustafson Drums – Mike Giles Electric Guitar – Davy Johnson, James Litherland Engineer – Denny Bridges Engineer [Remix] – Bill Price, Denny Bridges Keyboards – Rod Edwards Music By [Additional] – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand Saxophone – Malcolm Duncan, Roger Ball Sleeve – Paul Welti Trombone – Chris Pyne Trumpet – Henry Lowther Written-By, Composed By – Alwyn Wall, Malcolm Wild
Companies, etc. Published By – Thankyou Music Recorded At – Redan Recorders
This EP was released in 1985 when Larry made his big announcement that he was moving back to America after spending a lot of time working in Europe.
Between about 1980 and 1985 he worked with a lot of artists from UK and Western Europe, including Alwyn Wall, Bryn Haworth, Lyrix, Q-Stone and a lot of others. Larry really wanted to find a home for himself again where he grew up, on the West Coast.
Presumably he was hoping for a warm welcome this time after having a hard time releasing some of the music he wanted to put out in the 1970s.
The live version of “Messiah” showed off a mature sound compared to his early rock days. “It’s Only Today That Counts” is one type of prophetic song that Larry liked to write, urging people to make take life very seriously.
Side two is music and interview intertwined. Larry never gave up any opportunity to get his own words in about his own words. Rather than wait for interview requests to come in, he put this record out there with his side of the interview recorded. All that was necessary for anyone to use it was to set up the questions by either introducing them, or by fake-interviewing Larry using this material.
Here are some excerpts from the interview portions:
“I’m coming back to America, with the Young Lions. We’re going to do 200 concerts, go to all 50 states. There’s anew album coming out. there’s a live album and video from my foreign tours. That will be available next year.”
“When I was nine I got real serious about music and started writing about my feelings, my beliefs, things that were happening to me and my friends at school.”
“When Elvis Presley came along, he wasn’t doing anything new. He was just doing Black gospel music, only instead of talking about his saviour he talked about his ‘baby.'” Rock’n’roll came from the Church. It belongs to the Church. Rock’n’roll seems now to be providence of non-believers while the Church sits on the side and denounces rock’n’roll, says that it’s ungodly music and that if you play it backwards you hear secret satanic messages.”
“Certainly the lifestyles of the people performing rock’n’roll doesn’t coincide with the moral overviews of the Christian church but rock’n’roll was Black music and it came from the early American Black church. and I don’t know why we should let anyone steal it from us. It belongs to us I think we should steal it back.”
Tracklist 1 – Messiah (Live) 2 – It’s Only Today That Counts Side 2 – Interview If The Bombs Fall Letter To A Friend Woman Of God (Proverbs 31) Soul On Fire (1968 Version) and more.
Credits Bass – Charly Norman Drums – Kenny Bam Boom Guitar, Keyboards – Larry Norman Lead Guitar – Jon Linn Rhythm Guitar – Bill Romansky Written-By – Larry Norman
Companies, etc. Phonographic Copyright (p) – Stress Records Copyright (c) – Stress Records Published By – Six Blue Lions Mastered At – Sheffield Lab Matrix – △11008
This was Alwyn’s first release after the amicable split of Malcolm & Alwyn. Alwyn was a very popular 70’s artist in both the U.S.A. and Europe. The Malcolm & Alwyn albums were very popular and that popularity carried over to Alwyn’s work here. Alwyn was joined on this album by guitartist Norman Barratt who went on to be one of the most sought after studio musicians well into the late 80’s. Norman also had 2 albums in the 80’s that were well received. The stand out of this album is Alwyn’s lyrics, he truly is one of the best writers of the time. The album does have a Jesus music feel at times but other times has a Beatles sound. The album flows well and is one of the top 70’s albums in my view.
Tracklist
1 – Fly Me – 3:10
2 – Dreams On Sand – 5:28
3 – South California – 3:32
4 – Music Maker – 4:36
5 – Musical Thing – 4:42
6 – That’s Life – 4:07
7 – Hall Of Mirrors – 5:08
8 – All That Really Matters – 3:34
9 – I Don’t Care – 3:03
10 – All Because Of You – 4:38
Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Written-By, Composed By – Alwyn Wall
Arranged By – Wall Band
Arranged By [String], Percussion [Bits & Pieces] – Rod, Roger
Bass – Tony Hudson
Design [Album] – Tony Cantale
Drums – Nick Brotherwood
Engineer – Roger Wake
Guitar, Vocals – Norman Barratt
Keyboards, Vocals – Phil Holmes
Mastered By – George Peckham
Photography By – Keith Bernstein
Producer – Jon Miller, Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – Word
Copyright (c) – Word Music (2)
Copyright (c) – Gummessons
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word
Manufactured By – Signatur
Distributed By – Signatur
Produced For – Triumvirate Production
Recorded At – Redan Recorders
Mastered At – Master Room
Printed By – SIB-Tryck, Tumba
1960s Brit rockers Malcolm Wild and Alwyn Wall created a duo in the 70s with some fun old time rock and folk songs. This 1981 this live performance was done in California and released by MRC, essentially introducing American audiences to the duo.
Alwyn Wall released solo albums as well, Alwyn showing up on Star Song records in 1981 under the heading “Larry Norman Presents” with his solo debut “Invisible Warfare.”
Malcolm is best known for his band “Malcolm & The Mirrors” who did a punk rock stint starting with the album Red Alert in 1982.
This album is a far cry from the rock recordings they made, but shows their hearts, personality, and musicianship. It’s a fun recording that sounds like it was a big blessing to the California church that hosted it. Wish we could have been there.
Track Listing:
1 – Say It Like It Is
2 – I Love
3 – I Feel Fine
4 – Morning Star
5 – Fools Wisdom
6 – Growing Old
7 – Things Are Getting Better
8 – The World Needs Jesus
9 – Tomorrow’s News
Companies, etc.:
Distributed By – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Printed By – Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd.
Credits:
Engineer – Chris Taylor (11)
Producer, Acoustic Guitar, Arranged By – Alwyn Wall
Producer, Autoharp, Arranged By – Malcolm Wild
Producer, Engineer – Dan Willard
This was the first album from Alwyn Wall though he had released an album in 1977 under the name “The Alwyn Wall Band”.
A member of Malcolm & Alwyn in the 70’s this was really his second solo project. Albums were relatively rare from Alwyn but when they did come out they were good.
His albums had far less filler songs and I find it difficult to pick singles given the quality of the songs. You can’t really say this album sounds like anything. Instead Alwyn offers a style all his own.
This album was produced and engineered by Larry Norman and was probably the best job he ever did in those roles as most agree these roles were not his strong point.
Track Listing:
1 – Doctor, Doctor 5:15
2 – On Your Marks (Are You Ready?) 4:09
3 – Let The Light Come 4:43
4 – Hold On 4:24
5 – Someday 4:52
6 – I’m Alright Jack (The Greed Song) 3:16
7 – (You’ve Got To Be) Doers 3:42
8 – Greatest Show On Earth 4:08
9 – Jesus I Love You 1:42C
Credits:
Backing Vocals, Engineer – Mark Williamson
Bass – Tim Hatwell
Drums – Russell Caldwell
Engineer – Tim Jacquette
Guitar – Norman Barratt
Keyboards – Dave Morris
Producer, Backing Vocals, Engineer – Larry Norman
Vocals, Guitar – Alwyn Wall
This rather odd release from Larry Norman features 4 tracks of his own work on side 1 including a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman”.
Side 2 is a sampler of British acts signed to Solid Rock records. This album was not licensed so it received no airplay and I’m mystified about the legalities of covering a Bob Dylan song.
If you only have time for one song I would suggest Alwyn Wall’s “Doctor Doctor”.
Track Listing:
1 – Larry Norman – The Tune (Almost)
2 – Larry Norman – Why Can’t You Be Good
3 – Larry Norman – Just Like A Woman
4 – Larry Norman – Deep Blue
5 – Various – The British Invasion (Medley With Cliff Richard, Lyrix, Sheila Walsh, Bryn Haworth, Steve Scott, Alwyn Wall, Barratt Band)
6 – Lyrix – Don’t Turn Your Back On Jesus
7 – Alwyn Wall – Doctor Doctor
8 – Sheila Walsh – Love In My Life
