#283 ONE BY ONE by Tom Howard & Bill Batstone (1985)

ONE BY ONE by Tom Howard & Bill Batstone (1985)
A&S Records - SPCN 7-100-92182-1

Producers:

Bill Batstone, Tom Howard


File Under: Soft Rock

Time Capsule-Worthy Track:

Think On These Things

These two gentlemen never really got their due. The talent was first-rate, and they were considered Jesus Music pioneers of sorts. But they never seemed to receive the same recognition that some of their peers enjoyed. And I get the feeling that they were fine with that. It seemed that their personalities were such that they didn't seek the limelight but were happy to simply be used by God however He saw fit. 

A young Tom Howard

Tom Howard grew up in Minnesota. He learned to play piano beginning at age seven from a woman who gave very formal, traditional instruction. By the time the high school years rolled around, Tom immersed himself in jazz. Minneapolis-St.Paul was seen as an artistic city with a fledgling jazz scene, and Tom was happy to become part of it. He also developed a fondness for classical music and actually earned a degree in music theory and composition from the University of Minnesota. 

"I have memories of putting a footstool in the middle of our living room as a little kid and conducting some orchestra thing on the radio," Tom said in an interview with Crossrhythms, "and pretending I was the conductor. So I've always had an affinity for classical music. I got a degree in music theory and composition so I guess I fleshed it out when I was in college."

After a stint as a youth leader at his family’s church (Calvary Baptist Church in Roseville, Minnesota), Tom struck out for California where he began to pester a guy named Larry Norman by sending him demos in the mail. 

Tom Howard in the Solid Rock days

"I was living up in Santa Cruz, which is up in the Bay area; Larry of course was in Los Angeles," Howard remembered. "Finally I just got this bee in my bonnet and I got in my car and drove to Los Angeles and I called Solid Rock (though it was called Street Level at that point). I got Larry on the phone and said, 'I've driven to Los Angeles and I would like to take you out to lunch.' It was 1975 and I was just dumb enough to be dangerous and not know that you just don't do that! But we sat down and had lunch and I was thinking that I would have 45 minutes in which to tell him what I'm about. Five or six hours later we'd just talked about everything. We went up to his office, right there in Hollywood Boulevard, and I played him a few songs and he said, 'I want to do a record with you.' I think it was very much a God's timing kind of thing."

Tom Howard was signed to Solid Rock Records and the result was a classic LP called View From the Bridge in 1977. The pensive, soft-spoken, kind-hearted Howard provided a contrast to some of his label mates. When Solid Rock came apart at the seams, Tom landed on his feet and released Danger in Loving You in 1981 on the NewPax label with help from Randy Stonehill and his buddies in Daniel Amos.  

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A young Billy Batstone

In an online bio, Billy Batstone reveals that he became a Christian at an early age. "I grew up in a Christian family and knew the reality of Christ," Batstone said. "My Dad and Mom loved God and were committed Christians and so were almost all of the members of my extended family. I prayed to accept Jesus when I was 8 years old at Vacation Bible School, but I didn't consider really following Him until I was a senior in high school. I didn't get in any trouble as a kid but I was sort of passively rebellious toward God, trying to find my identity in the music and the culture of the late '60s. My life was kind of a quiet mess. I realized I couldn't live any other way than devoting my whole life to God."

Batstone says he now believes that his interest in music was definitely a gift that God brought into his life. "That gift blossomed as I surrendered my life to the Lord," Batstone says. "I wrote my first song in 1970, and it was pretty terrible! There were no songs at that time that expressed what I wanted to say about my new found faith so I wrote my own, or sometimes stole some other songs and changed the lyrics!"

In 1970, Billy Batstone started a very early Jesus Music band called Rebirth with David Diggs and percussionist Alex MacDougall. Although not directly affiliated with Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel, Rebirth did play a lot in Costa Mesa, California and the surrounding area. The group enjoyed a reputation for musical excellence and was comprised of several musicians who would later play in better-known bands. When Rebirth ended, Batstone went on to form a group called Good News with several other accomplished players, including Diggs, Erick Nelson, a then-unknown Keith Green and a young Bob Carlisle (who would later become the lead singer of Allies and, of course, is best known for his hit song Butterfly Kisses). Like Rebirth, Good News was a band burgeoning with talent and featured members who went on to make a greater mark in other groups or in solo careers. Cornerstone magazine said that the debut album from Good News was "one of the best products to come out of Maranatha! Music...a sophisticated blend of acoustic and harder rock elements, producing an excellent overall sound." 

Bottom photo: The Richie Furay Band
L-R: Charles Crews, John Mehler, Bill Batstone, Richie Furay

Billy Batstone then spent five years touring and recording with the critically acclaimed Richie Furay Band, playing bass on Furay's Dance A Little Light release and writing three songs on Furay's I Still Have Dreams album (including the title track). Solid Rock Records also turned out to be a hangout of sorts for Batstone; he was the bass player on many recordings and tours for Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, and Mark Heard. This is undoubtedly where he met Tom Howard.

Fun photo of a "Solid Rock Slumber Party."
Bill Batstone is in the center with glasses; Tom Howard's on the far right. next to Larry Norman.

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In 1985 Tom Howard and Billy Batstone collaborated on an album for A&S Records that some reviewers have retroactively classified as a worship album (a genre that didn't really exist yet). One By One had a breezy, soft rock, California feel as Howard and Batstone co-wrote the songs and took turns providing lead vocals. CCM magazine called it "a decidedly melodic album" and proclaimed it to be "one of the year's real sleepers." The melodies and arrangements were easy on the ears. Reviewer Mike Rimmer noticed the fact that One by One fits nicely between the early Jesus Music output of Maranatha! Music and the modern worship movement that was waiting just around the bend. And, because Batstone and Howard were very measured and intelligent in their songwriting, these were songs about faith that you would not be embarrassed for your non-Christian friends to hear. 

Batstone & Howard

Appropriately, the album begins with Howard's keyboard and Batstone's bass trading lines. The polyphonic synthesizer voicings on When the Curtain Falls set the album's opening song squarely in the 80s. It has an airy feel. Batstone shows off a bit on bass and sings the lead vocal on this somewhat ominous track that previews the end times.

We'll be watching through the burning skies
Oh, when the curtain falls
Truth will wash away the world's disguise
Oh, when the curtain falls

All the wisdom of a dying age
Will be exposed that final night
When the light of Heaven floods the stage

Leaving no place to hide

We'll be listening for the trumpet sound
Oh, when the curtain falls
Standing together on the higher ground
Oh, when the curtain falls

The tears and laughter start to fade away
The actors take their final bow
The world is silent, and the Savior's face
As they behold Him now

They say life passes like a story told
Oh, when the curtain falls
Take the new life and throw off the old
Oh, when the curtain falls

By the way, When the Curtain Falls was covered by Darrell Mansfield on his Get Ready album, backed by members of the superb jazz band Koinonia.

Tom Howard wrote the moody Storm Moving On and sings lead. Howard's Daniel Amos buddies Jerry Chamberlain and Alex MacDougall supply guitar and percussion, respectively. This one features some chords and a melody that is at times reminiscent of Howard's work on View From The Bridge. Pretty sure it was the only CCM song in 1985 to include the words cheap champagne in the lyrics.  

The next two songs featured a slightly-50s rock and roll feel. On Night and Day, we're back to Batstone on lead vocal (he wrote this one). The two men's singing voices sound remarkably similar, which is probably one reason they worked so well together, from a musical standpoint. Night and Day is a song that could be interpreted as a plea for the Lord to remain close during troubled times...  

It was early when a knock came at my door
And I've heard that sound many times before
I felt so lonely til You came around
You led my trembling hand to the solid ground

Night and day
Stay near when the teardrops hide Your face
Night and day
Night and day
Hold on
Don't let trouble carry me away
Night and day
Night and day

Highway burning in the afternoon
Blacktop shining and I think about You
Black crows circling in the wind
Won't you tell me that You love me again and again

Tom Howard's Think On These Things is a hilarious piece of satire that contains enough pointed truth to make the listener just a little bit uncomfortable. It's definitely a highlight, and probably the record's most memorable song.

Whatsoever is cute
Whatsoever is elating
Whatsoever favors you with higher media ratings
Think on these things
Think on these things

Whatsoever makes news
Whatsoever's attractive
Whatsoever gizmo will keep the people active
Think on these things
Think on these things

The world's been drinking from a dirty glass
While we're sweatin' in a Christian aerobics class
Life is a fad that soon will pass
What's wrong with this picture
Think on these things

Whatsoever is bold
Whatsoever's exciting
Whatsoever differences keep the various factions fighting
Think on these things
Whatsoever's in vogue
Whatsoever is reigning
Whatsoever is easy to grasp
And appeals to the mass
And is slick and entertaining
Think on these things
Think on these things

Howard's 80s-era polyphonic synthesizer chords are used to maximum effect here and his Frankie Valli impersonation is dead on.

Mark Heard playing with Bill Batstone (back turned)

By the way, One by One was engineered and mixed by the late, great Mark Heard. It was recorded and mixed at Heard's Fingerprint Recorders studio. Howard and Batstone arranged all the songs.

The album featured performances by drummer David Raven and percussionist Harry Stinson. Howard played all keyboards (as you would expect), while Batstone played guitar, bass and programmed some drum sounds. 

The album had a clean, attractive cover; that was the work of art director Tim Alderson and photographer Stewart Ivester. 

On Side Two of One by One, Batstone's earnest He Took the Form of a Man uses an acoustic framework to celebrate the incarnation of Jesus. It's not a Christmas song, per se, but it could be...and a very effective one at that.

And Jesus, lowly born
Brought riches to the earth
The Lord of Heav'n came down
Risking human birth

God's thoughts and ways are not our own
And I can't understand
Why He wrappped His love in flesh and blood
And took the form of man

The One who dwells in perfect light
Chose to call us His friends
The selfless One, in love, came down
And took the form of man

Batstone's melodic bass lines really add to this track.

Tom Howard's ballad Show Me the Shepherd was another highlight of Side Two. Musically, the melody offers traces here and there of melody lines from View From the Bridge and Danger in Loving You. Lyrically, it's simply a beautiful, poignant realization of how much we need the Lord's guidance in every aspect of our lives. 

Show me the Shepherd
I hear His calling
This mountain's steep and rough
And I'm afraid of falling
I need to know He'll be
Keeping watch and guiding me
Show me
Show me the Shepherd

Show me the Shepherd
There' so much danger
I want to know Him well
No longer be a stranger
I'm making it my choice
To learn His call and know His voice
Show me
Show me the Shepherd

Show me the Shepherd
I want to serve Him
I've played the rebel's part
I know I don't deserve Him
But I've begun to see
How He can live His life in me
And serving Him is liberty
Show me 
Show me the Shepherd

Bill Batstone today

Howard and Batstone also made a huge impact by creating and collaborating on the Psalms Alive series for Maranatha! Music. That series of Scripture-based worship songs and choruses gave the body of Christ some "new songs" to sing as the modern worship renewal was beginning to take hold. Billy Batstone recorded a handful of solo projects over the years, but he made his greatest impact as a worship leader and worship musician, playing at churches, rallies and conferences all over the U.S. and the world. He's been a member of The Maranatha! Praise Band, the Tommy Coomes Band, and the Harvest Worship Band at Harvest Christian Fellowship. As a result, Batstone has worked with Promise Keepers, Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, Greg Laurie's Harvest Crusades, and more. Unless your church sticks strictly to hymns written in the 19th and 20th centuries, chances are you've worshiped on Sunday with a Billy Batstone song at least once. 

Tom Howard

Tom Howard became a sought-after arranger and conductor for others, working with a seemingly endless list of artists. But he is perhaps most remembered for a series of contemplative instrumental projects, displaying a depth of beauty...albums that offered complexity and tranquility at the same time...projects that helped us meditate on Scripture and experience peace.

Tom Howard, pictured shortly before his Homegoing

Sadly, Tom Howard passed from this life while still a relatively young man in the year 2010. He is lovingly remembered by all who knew him - as a tremendously gifted musician, yes, but also as a friend...a warm, gentle, funny, loving brother in Christ. He is greatly missed.