Old Enough to Forget

I'm kind of surprised I didn't write about In Another Land earlier. I suspect this may be longer than it needs to be (likely a lot longer), sorry in advance but you should stick around anyway - it may be worth it. In terms of watershed albums this is right near the top of the most influential albums I have ever heard. The album was released in 1976 and a number of the older kids knew about him, but I was pretty clueless about Christian music. I was at a youth conference in '77 or '78 (things get fuzzy ) and the cool kids (who were likely four or five years older) were talking about an upcoming concert he was going to have in Vancouver, likely the Queen Elizabeth theatre but honestly the details are sketchy. The fact I remember anything at all is kind of amazing.  It was the youth group dances in the late '70s and early '80s where I first got a taste of his music. The big dance songs were "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music" and "The Roc...

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 f...

I suppose I really should have started with In Another Land , as that was my first Larry Norman album, and one that was a really big deal to me - but it was also the foundation upon which my love for this particular album was built. An album I felt at the time was the best thing he'd ever done - of course, with the benefit of hindsight I can unequivocally say that isn't true. Besides, I'll get to that one and probably others in due time. I'll start here because it's where I am and I wanted to listen to Something New Under the Son . So I am. Larry Norman is a polarizing figure to a lot of people, but I only knew him from his music and first-hand accounts from my dear, dead friend Dave, who went on tour with him doing live sound many years ago. Dave had nothing bad to say about Larry, and to quote good ol' Forrest Gump, "And that's all I've got to say about that." To me, Larry was as big a deal as there was, and for many years I eagerly bought ev...