Friday 21 June 2019

Ralph Carmichael And The Young People ‎– "Our Front Porch" (Light Records ‎– LS-5560-LP) 1970



Hot outta Waco, two decades before David Koresh was literally on fire in the same hick town, we had 'The Young People',under the auspices and guidence of christ obsessed composer Ralph Carmichael.
He followed Gods callin' and got a groovy bunch of kids together to play some of that soul inflected Sunshine Pop that was so popular in the late sixties, with the added ingredient of some Bible thumpin' lyrics designed to save our souls.....or rather save arseholes.
Back in the eclectic days of the nineties,I couldn't get enough of anything on Light records,and this was a particular favourite of mine.Full of foot tappin' tunes, great breaks ,wah-wah guitar and uplifting vocal harmonies.This is Jesus gettin' funky,with a hefty dose of traditional Christian naffness. Aw bless 'em,they,Christians,were never the sharpest tools in the box in the first place,never mind being intellectually lazy enough to just accept the first,and easiest answer that came within earshot;then not bothering to actually check out other, more feasible,explanations for how,rather than why, we are here.You know, the ones with evidence and stuff!?
"Er...why are we here?......I know, God did it, now I don't have to hurt my brain understanding evolution."......Duh!
But, if there were no christians we wouldn't have these de-satanised versions of rock and pop music for us Kool kids to laugh at,but secretly like.

Tracklist:

A1 Our Front Porch 3:59
A2 Smiling At Rainstorms (Psalm 59) 2:57
A3 Bright New World 2:31
A4 Trust Me Now (Psalm 37) 4:39
A5 Reach Out To Jesus 3:08
B1 Dressing Up Jesus 4:01
B2 Memories 3:45
B3 We're Not Going To Make It Together 3:01
B4 The Flower Shoppe 3:55
B5 I've Got Confidence 3:00


5 comments:

Richard Lindsay said...

Is it just me, or does that young people's house bear a striking resemblance to the house in Texas Chainsaw Massacre?
Coincidence?

rev.b said...

Whenever I'm crate digging and I see the 'Light' label, chances are good I'm wasting my time unless I'm in the market for pitiful comedy records. Seems to me Richard has the right take on the cover photo. Looks like they're ripe for an FBI raid. Hallelujah!

Jonny Zchivago said...

That explains why a few minutes after that photo was taken they were all horrible murdered and chopped up into little pieces.
You'd have thought they would have checked out who lived there wouldn't you....thats christians for you!

Unknown said...

Haven't laughed so hard in a long time! Thank you! You should be doing reviews for the New York Times!

Jonny Zchivago said...

Cheers Unknown, I agree with you. Having not rread this since I wrote it, I too had a jolly good laff.
Of course i should be working for the New York Times....but they'd have to pay me.