Greater Corinthian Nondenominational Church of Kansas City, Missouri Close to Thee HSE of America 1980

Greater Corinthian Nondenominational Church of Kansas City, Missouri Close to Thee HSE of America 1980 CAT #HSE 1543

This LP is hot fire. The title and opening track 'Close to Thee' starts funky with a rootsy choir, the lead male takes over taking a standard approach, then, I can't tell if it's the same guy or someone pairing with him, but this insane falsetto voice starts and owns the song. The next track, 'Sanctified, Justified, Glorified' is uptempo gospel, maybe a little too fast for the church's own sake as everyone has a hard time keeping up, but it makes the song real and live. It also continues for over 10 minutes. Third and final track on the 1st side, 'Plenty Good Room', slows things down considerably, but there's still plenty of fire pouring through it's grooves.

The second side starts hot with female led track, 'By and By'. After that, the album finishes with a winding gospel jam that is followed by an exit prayer, exploding in gospel music in the last minute.

As the title states, the church was located in Kansas City. The record was put out by the Nashville, TN gospel lable, HSE of America. Don't know much about the players, but they're great. Solid LP.

Sanctified, Justified, Glorified

Linda Rich There's More to Living Than I Know So Far Inter-Varsity Records 1969

Linda Rich There's More to Living Than I Know So Far Inter-Varsity Records 1969 CAT #LPS-03498

The cover for Linda Rich's 'There's More to Living Than I Know So Far' catches your eye with it's 60's pop-art lettering and simplicity. You turn it over, and in the upper right there's a picture of Linda Rich and she looks motherly, old even. Then you read through the back notes and it's all about Jesus and religion, now she looks like a grandma in the photo.

If you search the LP online, though, you'll find that it's sold often as "folk-psych" as well as with the Christian abbreviation, Xian. Once you listen to it, the "folk psych" thing is just hype, it's folk, but as psych as the weakest Moody Blues song. It's certainly religious, but you can figure out why there's a demand for the LP. It's well-done femme folk from the late 60's. Linda Rich's back photo must just be a bad angle, because her voice doesn't sound like an older woman, she sounds youthful. The album is Linda Rich, her guitar, and backing musicians that do their best to bring about a hippie-inspired dream session. If you can get past all the Jesus, it's a pretty solid LP. The reissue label Numero Group even featured the track "Sunlight Shadow" on a recent compilation.

The back cover gives some clues to Linda Rich, she played around colleges for Christian youth groups throughout the Midwest and apparently an awful lot in Colorado. She was from Augusta, Kansas, which is a small town about 30 minutes East of Wichita. Other than that, she did another obscure LP and it appears she was a recent college grad or current student at the time of this release in 1969.

Sunlight, Shadow

Shawnee Mission West High School The West High Story HPC Records 1963

Shawnee Mission West High School The West High Story HPC Records 1963 CAT #SPB-623

This record commemorates the newly opened Shawnee Mission West High School, which opened it's doors to students in the Overland Park area for the 1962-1963 school year. So in that regard, given that it was a newly formed music program, I guess this is good.

However, apparently the West High Story is about religion. The first side is exclusively Christian. The second side only steps away momentarily, but gets back to it in the matter of a couple of songs. It's a pretty boring story and now that Shawnee Mission West has an actual history, there's probably better story to tell. One thing is for sure, when you see the Facebook post demanding G-d be put back in public schools, the who posts those types of rants has never heard this album, it's boring and there's no way you'd want Christianity back in school if it meant going back to this type of music program.

Ron Curtis Plays the Sounds of Love Private Unknown Year

Ron Curtis Plays the Sounds of Love Private Unknown Year CAT# VAR-110

This LP looked pretty promising, the caricature of Ron Curtis looks like a man who isn't messing around. However, it's pretty unexciting gospel numbers arranged and played by Ron Curtis at his piano.

The backside will notify you that Curtis was born in Kansas City, Kansas way back in 1937. However, it makes pretty clear that he became a native Californian at some point as he became well-known in gospel music circles in the state. His bio also describes a guy who flirted around with non-secular music up until 1961, playing country music in night clubs. He then began a long career in gospel music, playing with numerous acts and as a solo pianist.

Again, nothing too exciting, just a guy running through some gospel tunes on a piano. There's a bit of accompaniment, but it's primaraly Curtis.

John Bayley Minstrel of the Morning... Lifetime Records 1976

John Bayley Minstrel of the Morning... Lifetime Records 1976 CAT# 2001

When I first found this I sent a photo to a friend who stated, "That cover is a constant source of conversation and inspiration." The same LP sits among some other framed LPs my friend has displayed. Looking at it, how could it not want to start a conversation? There's just so much going on in this cover. Where to even start? Is that a living room? Where'd you get that sweet tiger? What's up with the white lady and her kid? Is that John Bayley's girlfriend/wife? And dude, where did you score the killer threads?

The backside notes indicate Bayley was heavily influenced by the Jesus Music scene of the 70s, or trying to fit into it. However, the tunes are fairly secular, unless you group songs about "love" into a religious setting. Even when Bayley tries to be religious, it's a bit off. The song "It's Good To See You," states, "I've laid a thousand women, but come back to see you." So he tries to find the Jesus scene, but you can tell, the dude just likes to write tunes.

And, his tunes are a bit all over the place. If it had to be labeled, outsider folk would be the best term. However, there's elements of Indian music, jazz, singer/songwriter, rock, and a lot of reggae floating throughout. It's an interesting work and far better than most "outsider folk" private albums you'd come across. There's a fair amount of experimentation throughout the LP. Also clever, Bayley filled out the sound remarkably well with only a few players. He plays a host of guitars and does his own lead and background vocals. There's limited synth, but he found some guys to do some violins and wind instruments in addition to recording with a drummer.

The LP was also recorded in the Cavern in Independence, Missouri. Lifetime Records (Bayley's private label) shows an Independence as well, but could just as easily be a Kansas City guy. If you YouTube him, you'll find he's channeling George Clinton's fashion sense and playing experimental gospel music over in Colorado now-a-days.

Going Home Alone

Paul Clark & Friends Good to Be Home Seed 1975

Paul Clark & Friends Good to Be Home Seed Records 1975 CAT# PSR-004

Have you ever seen the Christian rock episode of South Park where Cartman starts a Christian rock band because he can't gain a following doing a regular rock band? That's pretty much what I think about the contemporary Christian music scene...bunch of fairly talented players who couldn't come up with enough originality in their rock band so they took their ideas, inserted the word "Jesus" and throw it at the kids not allowed to watch MTV in the Bible Belt. Whit that same outlook, I put it on the Jesus Music scene of the 70's, just a bunch of washed up dudes selling their tunes to an audience short on culture.

Part of that is probably still true, but the 70's Jesus Music scene was a bit deeper than today's contemporary scene. Jesus was much cooler in the late-60's and 70's than he is now. The music kind of shows that. There are legitimate hit tunes centering around Jesus from the 70's. Today, Kayne West thinks he's special for "Jesus Walks" (and he is, that beat is insane). But beside Kayne, point is, the 70's Jesus Music scene offers some hidden gems, some of which go for a lot of money. Kansas City had a pretty substantial foot-mark on the scene.

Mainly in Paul Clark, but also Phil Keagy. Paul Clark is native to the area and released a ton of albums, many of which can be found in dollar bins across the metro. Keagy, who is featured on this album, was one of the bigger names in the scene, wasn't native to the KC area, but moved to Shawnee to record much of his output.

As far as their music, it typically sounds genuine, these guys were always super-Christian and making music was only going to be about that. It doesn't sound forced, although, if you're not Christian, the albums can get uncomfortable and preachy. But, the music is good, they're good players, it's well recorded, and it fits in line with everything else in the 70's.

Looking at this specific album, Good To Be Home, it looks like you're in some hippie-folk. However, it's more of a soft-rock affair. Similar to singer/songwriter stuff coming out in the 70's. It's got it's moments, musically...it's just all the Jesus stuff throws me off.

FULL ALBUM