Randy Stonehill - Welcome to Paradise

Although the album came out in 1976, it wasn't until a few years later that I picked this up. For me it served as a bookend to Larry Norman's 1975 album In Another Land. Both albums were produced by Larry Norman, and both engineered by the legendary Andy Johns, with assistance from Tom Trefethen. These were the albums that introduced me to the guitar playing of Jon Linn, a player who was mind mindbogglingly tasty and did stuff that still makes my head spin.

Welcome to Paradise was a rock record filtered through Randy's acoustic guitar and his distinctive voice. The album kicks off with "King of Hearts," a song that has more than stood the test of time. Randy followed up with a two punch combination, "Keep Me Running" and "The Winner (High Card)," that are still among my favourite songs - ever. It's these three songs alone that have made this album such an important part of my musical journey. As good as he'd be on later albums, with flashes of genius and decades of wonderful albums - it's this album and these three songs that are the cornerstone of his work for me. If you're going to lay a foundation to build upon, this is about as good as it gets.

Randy also showed off his penchant for humour in "Lung Cancer," a song about cigarettes that at the time was hilarious. It's worn a little thin over the years. Although without this song I'd still have trouble spelling c-i-g-a-r-e-t-t-e. Now if only he'd have written a song about spaghetti back in the day I'd have avoided all that "sketti" nonsense. This would not be the first or last of the silly side of Mr. Stonehill to be committed to tape. For better or worse it's a key ingredient in what makes Randy so special.

Side one closes with "Puppet Strings" and while a good song, it didn't have the same impact. Although I have to say listening to this now with my older ears and perspective, it is a wonderfully mature work, and a great piece of music.

I practically wore out the first side of the record, and while I played the second side (a lot) the songs, while good - really good, never really matched that opening salvo. I just preferred those first three songs. "I Got News for You" is really good, and gives a glimpse into what Randy would expand on musically on his next release The Sky is Falling. Of course because I was a little late to the party I didn't have to wait long between releases and I would often play the albums interchangeably.

The album closes out with "Good News," a mid-temp rocker that still feels like Larry weighed Randy down with sandbags to keep him from taking off and burning through the song at double time. It's a song that over the years I've had an odd relationship with. Sometimes I love it ... other times it's weirdly irritating. Go figure, even now I'm conflicted between the power of nostalgia, and the reality that it's an odd song. I can't imagine the album without it.

There's a timeless quality to the songs and arrangements that have allowed this album to age much better than a lot of other albums from this period. Randy would release a lot of wonderful music over the years, and there was always something to celebrate with each release.

Looking back on it now, the whole Solid Rocks era for me was just a couple of years and a few albums, but man what a time. The impact of those albums where Randy and Larry seemed to be two sides of the same coin singing and playing on each other's albums was a magical thing. Without Solid Rock I'd never have picked up Randy's first two albums, or been exposed to Mark Heard, Daniel Amos, or Bryn Haworth.

There's something about this album that has drawn me back to it over and over the years. It's like an old friend and I'll play it through - all the way through, and it'll feel like time has stood, and there's still more future ahead than there is past behind.

If this sounds like Paradise - it is.