even though there seem to be few norman albums available through inter library loan, this cd was recently purchased by the indian valley public library which makes 4 norman's that they have. this originally came out in 1975. the one before me was reissued in 2008. i was given the 1975 as a gift and gave it to my granddaughter mikaela. on that cd norman's 'i am a servant' very deeply spoke to me...it seems almost autobiographical to my life. on the 2008 version there is a different rendition of the same and is not nearly as powerful. i wish i had both versions in front of me. i am of the impression that they are also not carbon copies as to what songs are included. i especially appreciate
#16-8 of which #17-joyful delta day has such good lyric i hope to look them up and post them here (all three are excellent, #18 one of the many fruits of larry norman's active witness to many if not all the great rockers)
cd write up...in 2001 LN was inducted into the gospel music hall of fame, alongside elvis presley. in january 2004, he was inducted into the ccm (contemporary christian music) hall of fame.
time magazine called him 'the most significant artist in his field. billboard magazine said he was 'the most important writer since paul simon.
his album only visiting this planet was voted 'the #1 gospel album of the last 20 years in the ccm critics poll.
he started writing his own songs and performing them in 1956, at the age of nine. L had his first brush with fame through ted mack's original amateur hour in 1959. he later appeared on dick clark's american bandstand three times. but he didn't like television and preferred live concerts and 'street outreach' to pursuing a broader career. he began recoding for capitol records in 1967..
l often found himself on the wrong side of pop culture. he faced commercial opposition by speaking out against drugs at a time when the hippie generation celebrated them. he didn't care that it caused him to be considered part of the establishment. he opened up a halfway house with his first royalty check.
he had grown up the only white boy in a black neighborhood in san francisco and because of what he witnessed there, he developed a real compassion for the poor.
he spent the next 4 decades speaking out against drugs and urban violence and performing many concerts to raise $ for the poor..
he publishes (he died in 2008, i think) a political magazine, phanzine, and has remained very active in socio-politics, but has always presented his opinions as bi partisan. he performed at the white house for both the nixon and carter administrations.
over the last 4 decades his songs have been translated into more than a dozen languages, including chinese, russian and hebrew. his music has been studied in various universities. he has enjoyed friendships with writers like francis schaeffer, steve turner, os guiness and malcom muggeridge.
he was one of the first rock artists to perform behind the iron curtain, secretly in 1981 and again in 1988. after the fall of communism, he performed 6 times at moscow's 80k seat olympiski stadum.
L is an intensely private man who lives in oregon with his son. he has done few interviews during his career, avoided tv exposure and not sought radio airplay. he records his albums in his own studio and they are released internationally through various independent distributors.
for almost 35 years the press has referred to L as 'the father of christian rock because it was L who first combined rock and roll music with christan lyrics- 50+ years ago.
he record3ed albums for capitol records for 5 years and appeared on the same concert stages with jimi hendrix, the doors, janis joplin, the grateful dead, the byrds and many other rock bands.
L recorded for MGM for 4 years while running his own independent labels. he started one way records in 1970, solid rock records in 1974, street level records in 1978 and phydeaux records in 1981.
over the years he has sold out many concert halls including the royal albert hall 6 times, the sydney opera house and the hollywood bowl. he has toured the world performing concerts as widely as israel, india, russia, china, japan, australia, brazil, norway, britain, france and italy. most of his influential work was recorded in the sixties and seventies but he continued to have successful albums in the eighties and nineties.
by the 80s he had walked away from his lucrative american career, avoiding the spotlight of christian festivals and what he called 'the fish circuit. he chose instead to perform in countries where american artists were not going; to cultures which had never heard modern christian music, he did this for the next 20 years.
in 1992 L recorded stranded in babylon in a remote studio in norway. it was named 'album of the year by almost every gospel magazine and critic's poll in europe. he returned to america to tour behind the release of the album but was very stressed out from his work load of the previous 30 years. he went to the ER at cedars sinai, screaming and clutching his chest. without an EKG test he was misdiagnosed as having 'esophagitis (sever indigestion) but was suffering a major heart attack. it destroyed more than half of his heart. he has since retired and only does one or two concerts a year.
on this album
1.the rock that doesn't roll
2 i love you
3. UFO
4 i've searched all around
5. righteous rocker
6. if God is my father
7. why don't you look into Jesus
8. i am a servant
9. the sun began to rain
10. shot down
11. 666
12. diamonds
13. one way
14. song for a small circle of friends
15. hymn to the last generation
16. strong love, strange peace
17. joyful delta day
18. the rock that doesn't roll (with cliff richards)
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