A Love Song continues to present challenging music while drawing from Biblical material for its twelve songs, all united on varied aspects of the topic of love. ‘Noise Of Solemn Assemblies’ and ‘Joseph’ are classic examples of psychedelia dripping with acid organ, while ‘Palm Sunday’ has a more dream-like quality, Amanda’s flute work softly poised above spacey atmospheric guitar harmonics. ‘A Matter Of Sobriety’ pulls a Procol Harum maneuver with its classical cathedral organ and harpsichord accompaniment. Nods to the ‘60s sounds of Dave Brubeck and Ramsey Lewis can be found on ‘Pharoah’s Adopted Grandson Moses’ and ‘The Camel Swallowers’. Closes with a high-energy Johnny Rivers-styled rocker ‘The Man For Me’. Several top-notch musicians were enlisted, including jazz keyboardist Dick Hyman and guitarist Jay Berliner. Such uniqueness in lyric and composition (not to mention the professional sound) is rare in the Christian community, so if you get the opportunity, by all means experience John’s music. It’s extraordinarily groovy! A Swedish 1994 re-issue collected the edgier tracks from both Cool Livin’ and A Love Song, packaging them with the cover/title from A Love Song. See also Praise The Lord In Many Voices Part I, Happenings At The Gathering and Songs For Today.
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