Discography:
"Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt" 1990
"Dad" 1991
"Product # bvcd 3482 (Love Gift)" 1992
"Live At The Hawleywood Bowl!" 1995
What was this stuff? Glam? Punk? Psychedelic? Dadaist? (look it up, kids!) Whatever it was, it was unique. If the word "Alternative" ever truly fit any band, it was this one. There never was, or ever will be, another Breakfast With Amy.
The band formed in 1986 to fill in at a Saturday night concert at La Habra Four Square Church in La Habra, California , and consisted of Dave Koval (vocals,) Jeff Beahn (bass,) Chris Colbert (guitars,) and Paul Pelligren (drums.) They recorded a couple of demos with Beahn, who was replaced by Caryn Colbert (Chris Colbert's wife) but did not release their debut album until 1990. Between 1990 and 1992, BWA released three of the most bizarre albums to ever hit the Christian music community. The best was 1991's "Dad," possibly the only Christian album ever released to include a song with lyrics that consist of pithy sayings read from Christian t-shirts. ("Mermelstein And The Disappearing Sink.")
I don't know what happened to most of the members of this band. Guitarist Chris Colbert and drummer Paul Pelligren formed the Punk band Fluffy (later called Duraluxe,) which also included bassist Jeff Beahn. Colbert also worked as a producer and engineer on several albums. Caryn Colbert was in the band Plague Of Ethyls, but all this activity occurred while BWA was still active.
The "Live At The Hawleywood Bowl" disc was released in 1995 (I've never heard or even seen a copy of that one. If anyone could help me out there, I would appreciate it.) and then the band disappeared down Mermelstein's sink. But I'll always love them.
Often heard but seldom recognized, Tom Howard was an important figure in the development of modern Christian music. He was one of Larry Norman's brilliant Solid Rock artists in the late 1970's, along with Randy Stonehill and Mark Heard, and after the dissolution of Solid Rock, he helped Daniel Amos (another Solid Rock act) form the Alarma! record label.
View From The Bridge
Although he recorded three excellent vocal pop albums, Howard is more known for the instrumental albums he has released since the mid 80's, and as a session musician, composer and conducter, appearing on albums by artists like The Choir, Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Jars of Clay, Rich Mullins' Ragamuffin Band and many more. You would have a hard time finding a Christian album recorded in the 80's or 90's that Howard didn't work on, in some way.
Danger In Loving You
Although in one of his final interviews he joked that no one would miss his singing, he had a pleasant, soothing voice, reminiscent of Supertramps' Roger Hodgson. Musically, his first two albums, "View From The Bridge" (1977) and "Danger In Loving You" (1981), were firmly rooted in 70's pop, but he could throw a few curve balls, too. "Danger In Loving You" opens with "Horizen," a progressive rock instrumental that would have fit on the first Emerson, Lake and Palmer album. The title track was another prog rock masterpiece. ("Horizon" was re-recorded in 1985 as a solo piano piece titled "Horizon Storm.)
In 1985, Tom released a final vocal album with fellow CCM pioneer, Bill Batstone titled "One by One,' which yielded a hit in the tune "When The Curtain Falls," and thereafter concentrated on his instrumental albums and his work for other artists. Of his instrumental works, the Windham Hill-like "The Harvest"(1985,) and "Solo Piano"(1987) are some of the most listened to albums in my collection.
Tom in 2008.
In January 2010, when Tom and his wife Dori were hiking at a State park in Nashville, Tennessee, he suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 59 years old.
Few "celebrity" deaths affect me on a personal level, although I mourn for anyone who passes on. Tom's death, like Dana Key, Mark Heard, Rich Mullins, Dan Peek and Larry Norman, was like losing a friend, who I never really met. R.I.P. Tom.
Some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard comes from Scotland, and a good portion of that music is by Runrig. Formed in northern Scotland in 1973, the band took the name "Runrig" from the Scottish "furrow and ridge" farming style.
Runrig mix Scottish folk in with Celtic Rock, much like other "big guitar" bands like Big Country (another favorite) and many of their songs, particularly early ones, are sung in Gaelic. But rather than using spiritual imagery for pure poetic reasons, Runrig's core members and songwriters, brothers Callum and Rory Macdonald are devout Christians. The Macdonald's are also the sole remaining original members.
Also unlike Big County and U2, Runrig never had much success in the United States, and you're not likely to hear any "hits" on the radio, but lack of radio success certainly has nothing to do with quality. (Nor does major success, but that's another argument.) In searching out Runrig's music, the first major label album, "The Cutter And The Clan," is a good place to start, as well as 1993's "Amazing things" (called "the most life-affirming album ever made" by reviewer Glenn Mcdonald.)
My family and I have been in the process of purchasing a house and moving in, so I've been rather busy the past few weeks. I'm working on a post about the Scottish band Runrig, meanwhile here's the second of my poem/artwork posts. The drawing this time around is John Lennon.
Sometimes when a band has only one album to their credit, you listen to that album and you immediately know why. Other times, you ask yourself "Why wasn't this a huge hit? Why, when something that calls itself "Lady Gaga" is selling millions of cd's, wasn't this band, that actually knew something about real music, more popular?"
Loudflower is Alt rock with horns. Not Ska style horns. This sounds like Chicago's horn section accidentally got mixed in with a jam session by the Clash and REM. It shouldn't work, but it does, beautifully.
A couple of the songs are labeled as remixes, but I'm not sure why, as no other versions of these songs were released anywhere. Gray Dot's 1996 "sampler" disc, "Same Three Chord's,"contained a couple of tunes, a different version of "Color Of Heaven" and an alternate version of "5 Minutes After 3" titled "I Still Want You." A 4 song ep titled "Christmas Killed us" was also released in '96, but that's the complete output of this band, and that is truly a shame.
What little I could find out about the band points to this being another CCM horror story. It seems the band sued their record company for lack of a written contract, and they were held up in litigation for several years. Because of the hurt this caused, and because of some internal "band" strife, they decided not to continue. But they left behind a masterpiece. Highly recommended, if you can find it.
Note: None of the YouTube videos below feature music from the "Happy Now?" cd. The first two are the alternate versions from the Gray Dot sampler, but the main difference between them is much better production on the official release. The third video is the title track from the "Christmas Killed Us" ep.
