DeGarmo & Key Band - Straight On

It's Valentine's Day, who loves you baby? Jesus Loves you. Since my first VD post was probably a little suspect, let's try and wash things clean with a little classic Christian rock.

I'd always wanted to get the first couple of DeGarmo & Key albums, but never did. I did pick up their double live album No Turning Back in '82 that contained a decent selection of songs from their first three records, so it sort of scratched that itch.

I am getting ahead of myself though. The first record of theirs I got was their third release This Ain't Hollywood, and at the time I found myself mostly ambivalent to many of the songs on the album. There were a couple I really liked, but mostly I listened to it because I wanted to like it, and frankly I didn't have so many records that I had a lot of choice. I remember the CCM Magazine review wasn't a glowing endorsement either. Funny the shit that sticks in the old bean.

The other day my wife and I were scouring through a local thrift shop trying to replace a lone fork that had disappeared. While she rooted about the bins of miscellaneous cutlery I figured I'd look for records. It had been several months since I'd been there, and the little section was still full of the same bunch of scratched Jim Nabors albums. As I walked away I saw a couple of boxes on the floor, and so I started flipping the records, and there were albums by Randy Stonehill, Phil Keaggy, Larry Norman, Keith Green and a couple by The DeGarmo & Key Band. One of them was This Ain't Hollywood, the other was their 1979 sophomore release Straight On. Whoever dumped their collection (I know who it is, they signed their name to most of the records) had good taste in classic era Christian rock.

I snagged a few albums from the box, and while I haven't kept up with a lot of what passes for mainstream Christian music over the years, I still have a soft spot for some of those early(ish) records where the music and message were of equal importance. If the music sucked it just proved Hank Hill's point (yeah he was a cartoon character, but truth is truth) that they weren't making Christianity better, they were making rock and roll worse.

DeGarmo & Key were signed to Lamb & Lion Records a label that was co-founded in the early '70s by Pat Boone. Most of the artists on the imprint seemed to be members of The Boone family and then there was DeGarmo & Key. Judging by the quality of the recording, and the songs, they must have been given the keys to the city in terms of being able to record honest to goodness rock and roll. They recorded the album at Ardent Studios in Nashville, and this was the same studio bands like Big Star, Led Zeppelin, and ZZ Top had recorded at. It certainly didn't hurt to have Joe Hardy help produce and engineer the album. Joe worked with such artists as The Georgia Satellites, Steve Earle, Tom Cochrane (minus Red Rider), Alice Cooper and yes, ZZ Top.

DeGarmo and Key fitted in with what was going on in '79, and while they were still flirting with elements of prog rock, most of the time they were playing it down the middle of the rock lane - in a good way. The songs were crunchy, and Dana Key's guitar work was distinctive and Eddie's keyboard work was heavy and very prominent. As for Dana's voice, when I first heard him sing, I couldn't get past how much he sounded like Michael McDonald ... and while those comparisons would soften I suspect on occasion he would lean into it.

The music though has really held up, and while this is a Christian release and the lyrics and subject matter are decidedly faith based, the songs don't come across like a blunt object to the head. Make no mistake, these guys weren't sitting on the fence, but their approach was a lot more carrot than stick.

Many of the songs here feel like old friends, mainly because of my exposure to them from the live album. Considering there was no Christian radio when I was a kid, all I had were those early copies of CCM Magazine. This is where I would find out about what was new. At the time they didn't seem to pull their punches, and talent pool was relatively shallow, or at least it seemed that way. Those older '70s albums didn't seem to get a lot of press, but they were still in print and oddly the music I was listening to wasn't new for the most part. 

I still find it weird that in the early '80s I consumed those early Stonehill, Norman, Resurrection Band and Petra (their early work was terrible) albums I never bought anything by DeGarmo & Key. I suspect the little bookstore where I got my records didn't have a lot of shelf space. Although as I got more into music, they would bring things in for me which I always appreciated, like they did with their third album.

I've been spinning Straight On pretty constantly over the last couple of days. Each time I find something else that catches my ears. While some of the synth sounds are very dated, they still sound great. I really can't find anything that I want to skip. There are some standouts, particularly "Livin' on the Edge of Dyin'" where Eddie sings lead vocals. It's a great song, and brings to mind classic Springsteen. "Mary" is the lone acoustic song on the album and is a wonderful song. As I start listing songs, it's tempting to just go down the track list. They're all so good.

Although they were calling themselves The DeGarmo & Key Band it was always centred on Eddie and Dana. Straight On featured Ken Porter on bass, and Terry Moxley on drums. Additionally the credits mention Lewis Collins on sax, and Carl Marsh on reorders. It always cracks me up to see "recorders" in the credits, but for those kids who stick with it after the third grade, there is always a chance you could end up in a rock and roll band.

The line up would change again with the next album.

Still for this one glorious moment, they were a band. Straight up, and Straight On.