曲良し、アレンジ良し、ボーカル良し、演奏良し、音質良しのまさに奇跡としか言いようが無い素晴らしい名盤です！ちなみにバックのミュージシャンは後のコイノニア勢で固められております。ジノバネリほどの比類なき繊細さ綿密さは無いので、比較的聞きやすいと思います。アップテンポ、ミディアム、スローと、アルバム内における曲の配置バランスも良好で、朝・昼・夜すべての時間帯にマッチします。ＡＯＲ評論家として有名な中田利樹氏の「ＣＯＯＬ ＳＯＵＮＤ」における人気投票でも№１に輝いた、まさにＫＩＮＧ of ＡＯＲと言えましょう。僕個人的には、ＰＡＧＥＳ、ナイトフライト、エアプレイを差し置いて、このアルバムと、それからＳＥＡＷＩＮＤを、マイフェイバリットアルバム№１、２とさせて頂きます。
5つ星のうち5.0Classic CCM -- Without the Pops and Clicks
2006年6月26日にアメリカ合衆国でレビュー済み
Amazonで購入
When Bruce Hibbard's "Never Turnin' Back" first came out in 1980, I had finally found CCM that took me back to my high school years. I LOVED Earth, Wind & Fire, and I had also listened to a lot of the new style of Jazz ("Fusion") that had emerged in the late 70's -- primarily with the release of George Benson's "Breezin'" ! Yes .. I was a weird dude compared to all of my other friends who preferred Fleetwood Mac (although, I liked them too), the Allman Brothers, Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.
When I started listening to CCM I enjoyed Phil Keaggy, 2nd Chapter, Chuck Girard, and the others, but I still missed the Funk, Soul, and Jazz of my past, with extra tight Pop thrown in. "NTB" filled the gap nicely, and the lyrics were uplifting as well.
The CD starts out right out of the gate with the sprightly title cut, and doesn't let up until the final note of "We Are All His Children." If this CD were released in secular radio in its day, it would have sponsored Top 10 singles for three years. This is one of my favorite CDs of a collection of hundreds, spanning 30 years or so of CCM and secular music! I could try as I do with other CDs to mention three to five favorite cuts, but it is not possible with "NTB." It is THAT good!
Yes .. the price of this CD is a little high, but not so of a rare import such as this. It is well worth every penny, plus shipping! The mastering is first rate, and if the producers of the CD didn't have access to the original master tapes, I would be very surprised given the sonic quality.
The roster of musicians is from the "A-List" of Christian music of the late 70s and early 80s. Hadley Hockensmith on guitars (Keith Green, Bread, David Gates, Neil Diamond, America, Phil Keaggy), Harlan Rogers on keys (Gordon Lightfoot, Keith Green, Johnny Rivers, Phil Keaggy, Maria Muldaur), Bill Maxwell - drums (Keith Green, Maria Muldaur, the Talbot Brothers, Art Garfunkel), and the BGVs of Kelly Willard, Bryan Duncan, and Randy Thomas.
I find CCM of the last fifteen years or so (with few exceptions -- what's left of the 77s still make some pretty good tunes, for example) to be quite bland, forgettable, and over-produced. What passes for CCM these days is mostly Nashville/Country pop. Thus I find old classics like this one to be pure Gold! (Now .. if we could just get Mylon's first album from MCA from the original master tapes, and the Brothers Johnson's "Passage" album on CD).
ウェブプレーヤーを開く
