#285 CHOOSE LIFE by Debbie Boone (1985)

CHOOSE LIFE by Debbie Boone (1985)
Lamb & Lion  LLR-3008

Producer: Michael Omartian


File Under: Dance/CCM

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Choose Life

It was Debby Boone's eighth studio album, released in 1985, and it peaked at #7 on CCM album sales charts. It had a sparkling new, crystal-clear sound that appealed to younger fans of dance-oriented pop. There were plenty of keyboard-dominated hooks and meaty lyrics thanks to the extraordinary songwriting team of Michael and Stormie Omartian. The mellow tracks had a sweetness about them, providing an atmosphere conducive to worship. In the words of one reviewer, "You will find yourself singing these songs throughout the day, carrying them with you in your heart as your spirit soars with joy." Choose Life was a good album. Perhaps her best. 

Pat and the girls

Deborah (Debby) Anne Boone grew up in the showbiz family headed by parents Pat and Shirley. She and her three female siblings got the bug early, singing on her Dad's TV specials. You can read more about the family's early years at my 70s blog. The Boone Girls (as they were then called) recorded a CCM album together in 1976. Glass Castle was notable for covers of a great song called Water Grave and a song by Carole King, an unfortunate jacket (that was later redesigned), and instrumental performances by drummer John Mehler (of Love Song fame) and keyboardist Michael Omartian. In fact, Omartian also arranged the songs on Glass Castle, so Choose Life would represent a major reunion some 9 years later.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the next Boone Girls record. Debby was singled out for stardom and given a song to record for a movie soundtrack. You Light Up My Life spent a then-record ten weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; Boone won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year, making her CCM's first crossover artist. 

Debby made two more records with her sisters, each one better than the one that preceded it, but she had a concurrent secular career going from 1977 to 1980, releasing little-noticed albums with song titles such as I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love, Breakin' In A Brand New Broken Heart, Every Day I Have To Cry, I Wish That I Could Hurt That Way Again and Even A Fool Would Let Go.

She eventually shed the split personality and eased into a (temporary) solo career in Contemporary Christian Music that lasted throughout the 1980s. After that she basically left Christian music behind, dipping her toe in Country Music, Broadway, even a live dinner theater routine in Branson, Missouri. But she's always been considered a one-hit wonder due the massive popularity of You Light Up My Life in 1977. Which isn't really fair...but it happens.

With My Song in 1980 was basically a worship album that was somewhat ahead of its time. It was produced by Brown Bannister and featured a cover of a Bob Dylan tune. Boone came back with Surrender in 1983. This one is known for the hits Keep the Flame Burning (a David Baroni song sung as a duet with Phil Driscoll) and an excellent Billy Sprague song called Can You Reach My Friend. But she hit her stride and really found her voice on Choose Life in 1985. And Michael Omartian's production expertise and hook-laden, danceable songs were largely the reason. 

Speaking of Omartian, the record begins with his unmistakable acoustic piano work before the beat kicks in on The Time Is Now. Lyrically, this is a song that joyfully celebrates the character and attributes of God. Sounds like it could well have been inspired by teaching from Pastor Jack Hayford, the Omartians' pastor at the time.

Michael & Stormie Omartian

The time is now 
His love is here 
To work a total transformation in your soul 
To swallow every care 
His supply is there 
For strength to hope and power to be changed 
To see the captives freed 
Provide for every need 
He's here to give what He came to give if we allow Him to 
He is the Savior, Healer, Deliverer, Redeemer 
Counselor, Refiner, Jesus, Messiah 

Pressure Points had a style and a sound that was right smack dab in the middle of the 80s...and takes me back to when I used to spin this record at a small Christian rock AM radio station in Greer, SC. No, really - we actually played vinyl LPs in 1985.

Teach Me How to Love was a unique, 80s dance pop/Caribbean island hybrid that served as a thorough examination of the Biblical definition of love.

When I Accepted You was a ballad of the type that Stormie Omartian often sang on the albums that the Omartians released as a couple (Seasons of the Soul, The Builder, Mainstream). It was enhanced by Michael's classical keyboard flourishes. The song is a theological treatise on salvation and justification.

Delight In Him was an ultra-80s exhortation to, well, delight yourself in the Lord. Next time you're depressed or just feeling a little down, put this track on and you'll soon be praising God and dancing all over the room. The great Abraham Laboriel played bass on this track; that's reason enough to love it right there.

By the way, Choose Life featured a somewhat different-looking Debbie on the cover than we'd seen before. Stan Evenson was responsible for the cover design and Sue Choi took the photographs. By the way -- the plaid "fat pants" on the back cover? Not a good look. I know it was 1985. And I know they were in style. But they tend to make a girl's bottom half look super thick (Debby Boone was/is anything but). And that wraps up the fashion commentary for today.

The title track succumbed to a bit of cheesiness right off the bat as a deep, pitch-transposed voice warns that you're entering the "danger zone." At first listen, Choose Life is not an overt treatise on abortion, but rather seems to be a more vague, danceable, up-tempo exhortation to avoid bad decisions in general. But when you know Stormie Omartian's personal story - she wrote in great detail in her autobiography Stormie about having had two illegal abortions before she became a Christian - it's easy to factor that testimony into these lyrics and come to the conclusion that, yes, it is indeed a powerful, pro-life song:

Appeared to be a good plan at the time
Seemed so harmless, no big crime
The choice was mine and I made it
But I didn't choose life

What I wanted was all I could see
Desire dangled in front of me
I lived on the brink of destruction
'Cause I didn't choose life

Each bad choice chipped away my soul
Soon survival became my goal
I ended up splitting up pieces
'Cause I didn't choose life

The sound of judgment was hard to hear
'Til the facts came in loud and clear
It's either one way or the other
And I better choose life

While the truth comes to free you, to lift and console you
Lies will cut you deeper than a two-edged knife
When the wrong way that seems right begins to control you
Don't let bad decisions make you pay the price
Cut the power of death and choose life

Heart of the Matter was another Stormie-esque ballad with some unmistakably Michael-esque chords. Seriously, at times you'll feel like you're listening to a Michael and Stormie Omartian album with Debby Boone as a guest singer. This track addresses an old friend who once walked with the Lord but has strayed. 

Old friend
When did it happen?
When did your eyes become dazzled by the world
Instead of lit up by His light?

Too many voices
Was there one too many battles
So you gave up on the fight?
Was your love for Him a decision of the mind to be changed in time?
Was it really not a committed walk but rather a display of religious talk?
I need to know
Because I love you so

If you really knew Him the way that I knew Him
You would never walk away
If you truly understood what His love was all about
You would never shut Him out
All this talk of Jesus working in our lives
Is nothing more than childish chatter
If we don't allow Him past the mind
To penetrate with depth into the heart of the matter
Into the heart of the matter

How do spiritual eyes go blind?
When does deception infiltrate the mind?
I know it's hard to comprehend
But the choice is still yours, old friend
Don't let it happen

Right For You is actually a duet featuring Debby and Michael Omartian. Smart, crisp pop song that makes excellent use of keyboards and Gary Herbig's saxophone. It's a song of encouragement for people who might've lost sight of who Jesus is. This one would've fit right in on Seasons of the Soul or The Builder.

The Omartians did not write the album's final two songs. Song of Deliverance, written by Debby with help from Wendell Burton and Marty Goetz, is actually a prayer...a cry to the Lord for help. This one fits better in the "inspirational" genre. File it next to songs by Sandi Patti, Larnelle Harris or Steve Green.

Marty Goetz also penned the record's final song. The Lord is Good contains lots of Scripture and is worshipful in a high church, classical sort of way. Goetz gives Omartian a breather and plays piano on this track, concluding the album. 

Michael Omartian

Apparently, Boone's musical pairing with Michael Omartian went well enough that they decided to collaborate again in 1987 on an album titled Friends for Life. Co-produced by Omartian and Dan Posthuma, Friends For Life contained just two songs written by Michael and Stormie. This time she also included tunes composed by other CCM notables such as Chuck Girard, Billy Batstone and Gary Chapman. Her cover of Glad's Be Ye Glad was a highlight. 

But Choose Life would effectively be Boone's final attempt at appealing to a younger audience. Everything she's done since then has been aimed at an older demographic.   

She and husband Gabriel Ferrer have written several children's books together, and Debby also appeared in several musical theater productions, including a regular gig for a while in Branson, Missouri. Her focus in recent decades has been almost exclusively secular music (singing "the Great American Songbook," and 60s Las Vegas Swing Music). She and Ferrer have four grown children and, at the time of this writing, one granddaughter. They live in Los Angeles where Ferrer serves as an Episcopal priest.

Straying from Biblical teaching on the subject, Debby Boone revealed in 2014 that she is a supporter of "gay rights" and same-sex "marriage." As part of her rationale, she explained that "It's about continuing to tell the truth, and the truth will continue to do the work" -- apparently completely unaware of the irony of what she was saying. Sadly, if you simply hold to God's guidelines for marriage and sexuality, according to Debbie Boone you are stuck in "an old way of thinking." However, if you are accepting of sexual practices that are outside God's boundaries, then you are "coming slowly into the future and starting to get it." Understand?

I'm reminded of the lyrics to The Heart of the Matter...

When did it happen?...When did your eyes become dazzled by the world instead of lit up by His light?...Confusion...Rising delusion...How do spiritual eyes go blind?...When does deception infiltrate the mind?...I know it's hard to comprehend, but the choice is still yours, old friend...

Maybe Debby needs to pull that one back out, dust it off and start singing it again...if only to herself.

#286 SIGNATURE by Scott Wesley Brown (1982)

SIGNATURE by Scott Wesley Brown (1982)
Sparrow - SPR 1061

Producer: Dan Collins


File Under: Singer-Songwriter/CCM

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

He Will Carry You

Scott Wesley Brown has worn many hats over the years. 

After beginning his music ministry as a shaggy-haired folk-rocker, Brown eventually morphed into one of CCM's most played balladeers and most respected singer-songwriters - with a strong emphasis on missions. While many artists had a Compassion booth at their concerts, Scott Wesley Brown walked the walk by traveling to more than 50 countries, supplying hundreds of musical instruments to missionaries and believers in Third World countries, and conducting the first publicly promoted Christian music event in what was then the Soviet Union to an audience of over 15,000 people, with 2,000 making a decision to follow Jesus. Working with the U.S. Center for World Missions, he has ministered to audiences around the globe. He's also led worship seminars and served as a worship leader and Senior Pastor here in the United States. For Mr. Brown, it's always been about more than radio airplay and magazine covers.

Born June 4, 1952, in the City of Brotherly Love, Scott Wesley Brown developed a love for music at an early age. "My first attraction to music was my grandmother’s piano," Brown said in an interview with ccmclassic.com. "It was one of those old uprights and barely in tune. But to me, it was the door that opened up into a world of endless possibilities, especially for a three-year-old." 

The guitar came later. 

"I received my first guitar for my seventh birthday," he recalls, "and despite the fact that I had no idea of how to tune it, I spent hours making up songs. But the real epiphany came in sixth grade."

Scott was inspired by a sixth-grade teacher who encouraged him to write poetry -- a skill that he would eventually hone into a gift for songwriting. "Each afternoon she would sit down with me and read through my poems," he remembers, "helping me steer through the grammar, the tense and the flow. By the end of that sixth-grade year I was starting to add music to those poems and thus a career was born." 

Scott later surrendered his heart and life to Jesus Christ during the Jesus Movement. I had a chance recently to talk to him about the early years of his music ministry.

"I became a Christian in 1970," he said, "and because I was a musician I was asked to play at various Christian events including Young Life clubs where I led the singing. We used to take secular songs and add Christian lyrics. After a while, I thought I should just write my own Christian songs. So in 1971, I came out with a 45 RPM record of 4 songs I'd written! That later led to a full album in 1973." 

The album to which Scott refers was a very hip, self-titled release on an indie label. In 1973 it was ahead of its time; today it's a collector's item. And it almost led to an exciting opportunity for Scott Wesley Brown.

Larry Norman

"My dad was sending my songs to several record companies and that led to me signing on to be an artist with Larry Norman's Solid Rock label. Unfortunately, it was taking too long for all the things to come together, so I left and recorded an album with Gary S. Paxton in Nashville. We did one album together and then I was asked to sign with Sparrow Records in LA."

Hmm. 

Sounds like Scott got the old hurry-up-and-wait treatment from Mr. Norman. Who knows what might've been? On the other hand, Brown doesn't seem like the typical Solid Rock type. Maybe it was all the hand of Providence at work in his life and ministry. After all, the footsteps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord, right? But to work with two larger-than-life personalities like Larry Norman and Gary S. Paxton? That's a lot for a young believer to take in. 

On his 1975 I Am A Christian release on Newpax Records, Brown was assisted by the likes of Paxton, Randy Matthews, and some of the finest studio musicians in Nashville at the time. A year later, he made the move to Sparrow and released an album with a cumbersome yet memorable title: I'm Not Religious, I Just Love the Lord. The title track and a song called I Wish You Jesus would become huge hits, the latter still a favorite of Brown's audiences even today. Brown received help on his Sparrow debut from a (then) new group called Glad and a young Steve Camp, who sang background vocals and played some acoustic guitar on the record.

After a live project and two more studio albums, it was time for Brown to make a record called Signature in 1982. "Dan Collins produced Signature," Scott said, "and I had the honor of having his wife Jamie Owens-Collins sing on it."

Most of the albums covered on this blog will lean more to the rock and roll side of the aisle. Signature isn't one of them. It owes a lot more to middle-of-the-road pop than to rock and roll. It is, however, a quality recording from start to finish, featuring top-drawer musical performances from some great session players, along with the National Philharmonic of London. 

The opener, Within His Joy, sounds very much like the kind of accessible, feel-good pop music that Steve Camp and Michael James Murphy were making during the same time period. It features a scorching lead guitar solo and encouraging lyrics like these:

'Cause eyes weren't made for darkness
And ears weren't made for silence
And you weren't made to live without His joy
You can see His face in darkness
You can hear His voice in silence
You're free to live your life within His joy

Most of the songs on Signature exhort believers, encouraging Christians to walk by faith and place their trust in God's Word rather than feelings and emotions. A quiet confidence in the providence and sovereignty of God is a thread that runs through the entire project.

By the way, the song Babe is part of a small but notable catalog of love songs by Scott Wesley Brown. Like This is the Day and My Treasure, it was a celebration of romantic love, informed by a Christian worldview.

It Ain't Magic wraps Side One of Signature. Musically reminiscent of Jamie Owens Collins' I'm Yours, it's a full-throated endorsement of the supernatural power of God, whether expressed through healings and other types of miracles or through the salvation of our souls.

For whatever reason, most albums in the 70s and 80s began each side with an uptempo song. Scott Wesley Brown bucked that tendency by opening Side Two of Signature with a slower song. 

In hindsight, it was a ballad for the ages. 

"He Will Carry You became my 'signature' song in many ways (if you'll pardon the pun)," he says, smiling. "I actually wrote this song after reading the poem 'Footprints In The Sand.'"

Covered by artists as diverse as The Gaither Vocal Band and Lynda Randle (and lots of other folks in between), He Will Carry You contained a message of comfort and hope that struck a chord with millions of people over the years.

There is no problem too big God cannot solve it
There is no mountain too tall He cannot move it
There is no storm too dark God cannot calm it
There is no sorrow too deep He cannot soothe it

If He carried the weight of the world
Upon His shoulders
I know my brother, that He will carry you
If He carried the weight of the world
Upon His shoulders
I know, my sister, that He will carry you

He said, "Come unto Me
All who are weary
And I will give you rest"

Musically, Brown's rendition of this song on Signature has a lot in common with the "Inspirational" genre of Christian music recorded by artists like Sandi Patti, Steve Green, and others. The song did benefit, however, from guest performances from some of CCM's most popular stars. 

"Yeah, the big treat was having Amy Grant and Gary Chapman sing backgrounds on that track," Scott recalled, "along with Jamie Owens-Collins. God just really blessed that song. It's been recorded in many languages around the world. I actually heard it in a restaurant in Hawaii where it was very popular! He Will Carry You really opened a lot of doors for me to travel internationally, especially after The Continentals recorded it and used it on dozens of their world tours." 

Other highlights on Side Two include an impressive, twin-lead, harmony guitar break on There Is Power...a power ballad (Just at the Right Time) that could've been a huge general market hit for Barry Manilow...and a poignant ballad (Wise Men) that grapples honestly with selfishness and our hollow justifications for rejecting the Savior... 

I would be a fool to let You go
I would be a fool, You know
But every single day You pass my way
And my only door is closed

How could I pretend I'm occupied
When I feel so empty inside
Am I just a fool or am I blind
What is my excuse this time

Wise men still seek You

"Overall, I was very pleased with Signature," Scott told me. "I loved my days at Sparrow. It felt like we were all a family!"

In all, Scott Wesley Brown's music ministry has spanned four decades. He has recorded more than 25 albums, with 9 #1 singles (Christian radio loved this guy). He's been a prolific songwriter; his songs have been covered by the likes of Petra, Pat Boone, Bruce Carroll, Sandi Patty, Amy Grant, the Imperials and even Plácido Domingo. He's also worked with Promise Keepers and Campus Crusade for Christ. 

I wasn't kidding when I said he's worn a lot of hats over the years.

L-R: Bob Bennett, Chuck Girard, Scott Wesley Brown

When asked about his favorite moments, he doesn't talk about awards or radio singles. "I would say my greatest highlights have taken place overseas where I've been privileged to minister in third world countries and have seen the dedication and faithfulness of believers who are in the midst of tremendous suffering, yet worship with total abandon," he says. "Even though they are poor or persecuted, they have humble and grateful hearts. This has shaped my entire approach to ministry. Being in fellowship with these precious brothers and sisters is greater than any award or commercial success I could have in the Christian music industry." 

He continues: "When we yield our lives to Him and give our hearts to Him in service, God can use us in remarkable ways. I don't think God ever wastes any of us. He uses us in what sometimes may seem like a small way, but it's significant in the Kingdom's economy."

#287 INVISIBLE WARFARE by Alwyn Wall (1982)

INVISIBLE WARFARE by Alwyn Wall (1982)
Star Song/Solid Rock/Chapel Lane - SSR-0040

Producer: Larry Norman

File Under: British Rock and Roll

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Doctor, Doctor

Something new is happening to our music. Something has happened in England that is exciting and revolutionary. England has exploded with a new sound and a new direction.

Alwyn Wall was the spark of quiet genius behind Fool's Wisdom and all the other songs Malcolm & Alwyn sang in the Seventies. Alwyn wrote all of the songs for the duo and was the main British figure in the European Jesus Movement. His were the songs which other people performed and recorded. His songs summed up the feelings of the times and his bold witness to different members of The Beatles and his 'everyman' approach to life and lyrics made him an endearing fixture of Christian music for the last ten years. It is perhaps rare for any one artist to be as relevant during a second decade, but Alwyn has grown stronger and full of insight into both Christianity and culture. Time has proven him to be a conscience of his generation, and a poet for The Eighties.

-Larry Norman, 1982

Ah, Larry was ever the promoter. That press blurb was overstated a bit in spots (Wall did not, for example, write all of the songs for Malcolm & Alwyn; that was a joint effort with Malcolm Wild). But for the most part it rang true. Whether in Malcolm & Alwyn, the Alwyn Wall Band, or through his solo efforts, Alwyn Wall's music did indeed sum up the feelings of the times. And although his recorded catalog was somewhat sparse and limited...when he did record an album, it was always relevant. 

Alwyn Wall and his friend (and future brother-in-law) Malcolm Wild were in a band together as school mates. They called themselves The Zodiacs. After becoming Christians within two days of each other, the duo adopted a new focus and became a "British Gospel beat music group." Comparing favorably to Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, the two recorded an album in 1973 that would become an all-time classic: Fool's Wisdom. Wild's autoharp was a fixture in the group's music and made them unique. The authentic British accents also set them apart. 

They came over to the United States and found a spiritual home at Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel church in Costa Mesa, California. Using that church as sort of a home base in America, the duo traveled all over the U.S., sharing Jesus through their music in concerts at churches, schools, coffeehouses and festivals.

Their sophomore release, Wildwall, took a harder-edged approach and found the fellows experimenting a bit. Instead of building on the success and popularity of Fool's Wisdom, Wildwall alienated some of the duo's devoted fans. The two then went their separate ways but reunited to record a live album several years later.

Alwyn Wall then formed a band with some excellent British musicians and released a stellar album that has always been somewhat underappreciated. The Prize featured Wall along with guitarist Norman Barratt, bassist Tony Hudson, drummer Nick Brotherwood, and keyboardist Phil Holmes.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Wild released a solo album called Broken Chains on Maranatha! Records in 1980. The album featured performances by John Mehler (formerly of Love Song), Darrell Mansfield, John Pac (formerly of Parchment), the aforementioned Norman Barratt and Alwyn Wall himself.

The early Eighties found both gentlemen still alive and kicking, musically speaking. Now it was Malcolm Wild's turn to form a new band. Malcolm & the Mirrors released an energetic (and somewhat paranoid) album of new wave music in 1982 titled Red Alert. At roughly the same time, Alwyn Wall finally decided to go it alone. Longtime friend Larry Norman helped him put out a record of solo material...and it did not disappoint.

At this point, Larry was at the tail end of his most productive years, musically. The first incarnation of Solid Rock Records had splintered and pretty much blown apart. Larry was now focusing on a group of British artists, with Alwyn Wall being one of the better known of the bunch.

Larry Norman

In a recent interview with veteran Jesus Music radio host Jerry Bryant, Alwyn Wall talked about his high regard for Norman. 

"Larry Norman was an influence to me in that he emboldened us to speak and to communicate," Wall revealed. "Larry was a great writer, but his greatest gift was the gift of communication with the audience. And because we were on tour with him, we learned a lot from him about just being very natural on stage and trying to just be guys who loved Jesus and weren't afraid to speak the name of Jesus. And he kind of emboldened us. We grew in that ability. And he was the one who kind of pushed us more into that area of just trying to communicate and just say things that could really connect with people. He was a great influence, he had great songs. At that time, in those early years, he was a really good guy to be around. He'd been a professional musician for years. He knew the ropes when it came to being on stage and stuff like that, so we did learn an awful lot from him."

Larry is listed in the credits as producer, arranger and engineer for Invisible Warfare. 

The entire first side of Invisible Warfare is classic. In fact, if we were giving out trophies for album sides, this record would rank a lot higher on this list.

The opening track is undeniably a highlight of the album. Lyrically reminiscent of Doctor Jesus by Michael & Stormie Omartian, Doctor, Doctor presents the Lord as a spiritual physician, the only One capable of healing us - spirit, mind and body. 

You are the surgeon
Your Word is the knife
Lay me on Your table
Cut Your way into my life, into my life
Into my life


Please, Doctor, Doctor
Don't leave me in distress
I've abused my freedom
And my life is in a mess
I'm in a mess
It's just a mess

I've been to healers
But nobody could cure my ills
All they ever gave to me was
Medicine and pills

Please, Doctor, Doctor
Free me from this curse
If You can't help me then I know
I will get worse
So much worse

Someone told me 
That You could help me
You're the one to turn to 
If I wanted to be healthy
So here I am, whoa, whoa
So here I am

Put me on Your life support
My condition is much worse
Than I first thought

There's an attitude and a swagger about this song that's very appealing. It's got a punchy, slightly new-wave groove that sticks with you. And the late, great Norman Barratt delivers a blistering lead guitar break.

The new-wave sensibilities continue on the next song, On Your Marks (Are You Ready). It's another standout track on Invisible Warfare, and it presents the Second Coming of Jesus as relief for a litany of ills that plague modern man. 

Let the Light Come is another good one, this one co-written with Norman Barratt. Discerning listeners will be able to distinguish Larry Norman's voice as part of the backing harmonies. In fact, this track would've sounded right at home on one of Norman's solo albums.  

A rocker titled Hold On wraps Side One...and, yeah, it's yet another favorite from this album (we're 4 for 4 so far). Barratt puts on a clinic on lead guitar here. Like the first three tracks, this song gives somewhat of a nod to the 80s and to the new wave style that was becoming more and more popular, but without betraying who Alwyn Wall really was, musically speaking.  

After such a great Side One, the odds that Side Two would keep up were not good. And, alas, it did not. It's not that the songs on Side Two are bad...it's more that the songs on Side One were just too good, I suppose. 

The autobiographical ballad Someday has an unimaginative melody; a rocker called I'm Alright Jack (the Greed Song) suffers from the same malady, and the chorus on (You've Got To Be) Doers is annoyingly childish. It's not that these are terrible songs...it's just that Wall had raised the bar so high on Side One.

Side Two is rescued somewhat by The Greatest Show on Earth - a song that might've fit in quite nicely on The Prize by the Alwyn Wall Band. It's smartly written and scored.

Open the door
And let the people in
Turn down the lights
Let the show begin
We welcome you
To the greatest show on earth

He makes you laugh
He makes you cry
His act is hard to follow
No matter who may try
We welcome you
To the greatest show on earth

Rock and roll singers
They come and they go
Everyone trying to steal the show
But there's a performance
The whole world is waiting
To see

The art of diplomacy
It's the art of deceit
And there's too many voices
Tryin' to tell you what you should be

We want to be with you
Oh yes we do
We want to see you
Oh yes we do
And we waited
Yeah, we waited such a long, long time

The time has come
The stage is set
All have been invited
But they all will not get to see
It's the greatest show on earth

Bonus points for very effective use of sound effects at the end of the song.

Greatest Show on Earth crossfades into the next song (one of Larry Norman's favorite production techniques). The album's final song, Jesus I Love You, written by Monroe Thompson, is a simple repeating of that phrase over and over. It reminds one of the types of simple worship choruses that Malcolm & Alwyn might've heard when they first visited Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa back at the height of the Jesus Movement. 

When their music careers were over, Mr. Wall and Mr. Wild both became pastors in the Calvary Chapel movement. Wall headed up a church in his beloved U.K. (Calvary London), while Wild pastored in the state of Florida (Calvary Chapel Merritt Island).

Not long ago Jesus Music radio host Jerry Bryant asked Alwyn Wall about the transition from CCM to full-time pastoring. "It wasn't really a transition," Wall said. "Music is still a great part of my life. I practice music every day, I study music, I love music. So I'm not an ex-musician. I'll always be a musician until the day I die, you know, and maybe afterwards! But the emphasis shifted, that's for sure. It was God's call, really. After being on the road for many, many years I was really weary of traveling and being away from my wife, but I just wanted the Lord to use me. So, instead of traveling a hundred miles to an audience, I just said, 'Lord, use me where I can be at home more.'" 

Pastor Chuck Smith

Alwyn Wall still gives a lot of credit to his spiritual mentor, the late Chuck Smith. "I did have a real desire to open up the Scriptures like I'd seen Chuck Smith do," Wall said. "I looked at him as my inspiration in that, how he simply opened up the Scriptures and just ministered verse by verse by verse through the Bible. I just thought, 'I want to do that.' That's what really settled me as a Christian, it's what really grounded me. By going through the Scriptures like that, it's kind of like the missing parts of the jigsaw puzzle, or what you don't understand about the Lord or about the Bible, slowly all the pieces begin to fit. And I got a bigger picture of what was being said in the Bible, because of that kind of ministry that Chuck had demonstrated. And I thought, 'You know, I'd love to do that.' And so we started little Bible studies, and then that kind of grew, and I was still doing worship. And I believe that it was the call of God upon my life at that time, that God had kind of led me into that, and led me to where I am now with pastoring here in London."  

Alwyn Wall

At the time of this writing, both men appear to still be pastoring. They teamed up as recently as 2013 and played a lot of their classic songs at Malcolm Wild's church in Merritt Island, FL (there's a video of the entire concert on Vimeo to prove it). I think it's very cool that both Malcolm and Alwyn have served the Lord and the body of Christ for well over four decades now. With no plans to retire and ride off into the sunset anytime soon.  

"I'm still working on music and writing songs," Alwyn Wall says. "My son's writing songs, we've got some nice music together. We're actually right now in a bit of a creative time. You see, when God gives you a gift He doesn't take it off of you. He just sometimes pushes it in another direction. And so here we are. We're still working hard with stuff and God is good!"