Prog Rock

State Of Independence – Jon and Vangelis

Rick France 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 2004, Electronic, Prog Rock , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
State Of Independence
Jon and Vangelis

In 1991 my daughters, Katie and Melissa, were taking dance at Rose Barile’s Alpharetta Dance Theatre (ADT). That year for the Senior Company, which my daughters were too young for at the time, Rose had choreographed a liturgical dance to the song “State Of Independence” which I had the pleasure of watching on several occasions. Being a huge fan of Yes since the album Fragile, I recognized Jon Anderson’s voice right off the bat. Initially I thought it was from a Yes album that I might have missed, but soon discovered it was from a Jon and Vangelis album entitled The Friends of Mr Cairo. This particular song along with Rose’s dance became a staple in my life in more ways than one. As a result this song has multiple storylines as well as timelines in my life but in order to get the full story we must step back in time a bit to the time where it all began with a close family friend, Jennifer Williams, who was also dancing at ADT.

In 1987, before Kathy and I got married, I was doing a weekly Bible Study at her house with the teens from Antioch Christian Church where Kathy attended. I was in the band ForeSight and my hair was halfway down my back and permed like most any 80’s hair band guitarist of the day. My hair was as wide as my shoulders and it was BIG! I was in my second year of discipleship with Jack Vandiver and he use to crack this joke all the time about people having an attitude of “Turn or Burn, Try or Fry, Shake or Bake” that I thought was quite funny. So I had this car tag airbrushed that had a Bible in the upper left corner and flames in the lower right corner with the words “Turn or Burn”. I’m sure everyone doesn’t see the humor that I saw in this or even see any good coming from it, but one time I pulled over on I 85 to help this girl who had a flat and she told me that the only reason she let me help her was because of this tag.

Anyways, Kathy was already friends with the Williams family which consisted of Brenda and her three children Jennifer, Ben and Lindsey but the first one I met was Jen, a young teen at the time that Kathy had invited to the Bible Study. I remember when she came in she had quite an attitude and opinion already formed regarding me. She obviously did not want to be there and beyond huffing and puffing at pretty much everything I said, she did not participate in the discussion and was quick to leave as soon as the opportunity arose. Later, Kathy informed me that she was quite offended by my car tag and as a result had no interest in anything I had to say. I never told Jen this before, but I actually removed that tag because of her. I never intended to offend her or anyone else and I was not going to let a car tag cause anyone to stay away from Christ. Needless to say, I never saw her again at the Bible Study but our lives would connect again a couple of years later.

Kathy and I were married on February 13, 1988, and we still live in the same house of that Bible Study. Right before we got married, my hairdresser bride-to-be talked me into cutting my hair which endeared her to my mom for life. We were married at Promised Land Bible Church (PLBC) where I soon became the Youth Pastor and began working with the teens of LightForce. I’m not sure exactly what year the Williams family became a part of PLBC, but Ben was one of the teens that we built the youth group on. However, my relationship with Ben is a story for another day.

By 1991, Jen had become a pretty important part of our lives both at ADT where Jen, in my opinion, was an accomplished ballerina as well as at PLBC. While she did not regularly attend LightForce, most likely due to her being a Junior in High School and most the teens were Ben’s age and therefore just kids, she did attend PLBC regularly and was involved in many special events we did. One of my favorite things she did with us, which I still have on VHS, was our Youth Sunday on May 19, 1991. We reenacted an Isaac Air Freight skit named “Let’s Trade Your Salvation” and Jen played the part of Carol Barrel. The host of the show, Monty Lucifer (played by Philip Gard), would try to get Bernadette Weiser (played by Amanda Ayers) to trade her little bag of Salvation (which contained a Bible) for various prizes. At one point Jen stood beside a crock pot, in first position of course, and pointed to it while Jay Tatellyaboutit (played by Lee Stewart) said, “This is no ordinary crock pot Monty, but a Spiegel crock pot. If you want to get crocked tonight this is the pot for you. That’s Spiegel, Chicago 666, Illinois.” In hindsight, probably not the best line for a Sunday morning. Jen, or rather Carol Barrel, later modeled a mink coat for Bernadette (that wasn’t mink) while standing in third position – because you can take the ballerina out of the ballet but you can’t take the ballet out of the ballerina.

Kathy and I had season tickets to the Atlanta Ballet back then, but I mainly went to hear the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform. I never really appreciated ballet until we started going to watch Jen perform with ADT. She was a beautiful dancer and it was watching her perform that caught my attention and developed my appreciation for ballet and dance. Watching Jen and the work she put into it; the grace in which she danced, it was like a light came on in me. I finally saw the beauty and the art of dance all come together in her. The first time I saw her and the Senior Company perform “State Of Independence”, well that was all it took for me to be hooked once and for all. Those flowing white dresses and the precision of those young ladies as they interpreted that song was one of the most beautiful, artistic dances I have ever witnessed. Years later when I began to dream and work on my own Christmas production of “The Star”, that dance influenced the vision I had for the angels and the white flowing dresses that we used for the angels. Just as in the dance that Jen was a part of, the angels would hold the hem of their skirts and spread them out to form their wings as they would dance in “The Star”.

As with all things in life, the winds of change come and go. In 1993 this young lady spread her own wings and moved to New York City where she still lives today. The rest of her family moved to Oklahoma that same year. We remained in touch and from time to time they would come home to visit. I know it was mainly because their dad still lives here, but I like to think that they came to see us too.

By 2004, Ben was living in Tennessee, Jen was still in New York and Brenda and Lindsey were in Oklahoma, but that summer they all came to Hickory Flat at the same time for a little reunion that we got to be a part of. Our living room was packed with both families and we were laughing and reminiscing for hours on end. Jen mentioned she had just turned 30 and I was shocked because to me she was still this young teenage girl. I commented that there was no way she was “that old”. She acted like I had offended her by calling her old and played that card quite a bit that week as I recall.

The following Sunday after church we all went to Ryan’s to eat before they headed home. I was sitting directly across from Jen when she piped up and said, “Kathy, whatever happened to that long haired jerk you were dating that was doing that Bible Study at your house?” No one said a word or rather no one could even get in a word edgewise as Jen went on what seemed like a 10 minute tirade about how she couldn’t stand that jerk and how awful he was and yadda, yadda, yadda. When she finally did stop I just smiled and said, “She married him.”

Her eyes got as big as the moon. Her mouth dropped wide open and she exclaimed, “Nooooooo!”

We got a lot of stares due to the amount of laughter at our table over the next few minutes and truth be known, I am quite thankful she never realized until that moment that I was the same person. If she would have known that, I might not have ever had such a sweet friend as her for all these years. I quite possibly would not have appreciated my own daughters’ dance, and as a result I might have missed out on those early years of their dance due to my own ignorance. I might have never even thought of using dancers to portray the angels in “The Star” and that production would have fallen short of the beauty and wonder that it became. I might have never had the relationship with Ben and Brenda and Lindsey that means so much to me to this day. My life would have been a whole lot different and contained a lot less laughter and had far fewer memories to treasure without this beautiful dancer if she had put two and two together.

This song is on my phone to this day in my favorite “Prog Playlist” which I listen to more than any other play list. Every time this song comes on I envision the Senior Company and Jennifer dancing to it. I still see the white skirts flowing to the beat of the song and the exquisite performance of the routine. As I watch her dance in my mind’s eye, I lift her up in prayer every single time and the thought of her always changes my countenance for the better. You see, she still brings joy to my life as the flood of memories pass before me. I still appreciate everything about her both then and now because my life was blessed to watch this beautiful dancer grow from a young, obstinate teen into her own beautiful State Of Independence.

Rick E. France

All The World’s A Stage – Rush

Rick France 1976, Hard Rock, Prog Rock , , ,
All The Worlds A Stage
Rush

Dubbed The Musician’s Musicians and rightfully so, Rush was the first to merge Prog and Hard Rock together. Very few would disagree that The Professor, Neil Peart, is THE BEST Drummer in the world bar none. I would also argue that you would be hard pressed to find a better bassist in the world than Geddy Lee and in my humble opinion Alex Lifeson would make anyone’s list of “Top 10 Greatest Guitarist Of All Time”. This is just one awesome trio of musicians and about as close to the perfect band as you can get – but then there are vocals – that’s why I said close to the perfect band. Still they are such good musicians and songwriters that I actually can overlook the vocals in this case – besides, Geddy does sing on key and his voice seems to fit the style of music too. So while Geddy is no John Elefante he is distinctive and the perfect lead singer for Rush.

Now before anyone starts to question the inclusion of a “secular” band on this here blog, it is a blog about the soundtrack of my life. My musical retrospective in the key of life did not start once I became a Christian, and in the words of Steve Taylor, I do not only drink milk from a Christian cow. I am pretty selective when it comes to secular music in regards to my faith but I do eat at both Chick-fil-A and McDonald’s so I see no reason I can’t enjoy both Petra and Rush. If that offends you, then that’s your problem not mine.

While All The World’s A Stage is not what I would label as the best album Rush has ever created, it does have a special place in my memory bank. This live album came out in 1976 after the tour for what is one of their best albums, 2112. It was about this same time that I met my best friend in Jr High and High School, Steve Core. In my youth I was fortunate to have two best friends actually, and both were named Steve (I wonder if that is why I named my son Stephen?) but Steve Jackson had been my best friend since 2nd grade. According to Brian Regan one can have two favorite snow cones, grape being the favorite but if they’re out of grape cherry’s ok because it’s a favorite too. Therefore I conclude that one can have two best friends growing up because they’re both best. Core was grape and Jackson was cherry – simple as that.

Core was the new kid on the block (no relationship to the boy band) having moved from up north about a year or two earlier. We would jam together with the Jacksons (also no relationship to that boy band), Billy, Mark & Steven, in the Jackson’s garage on Davidson Ave along with Mike Rodgers. The six of us played the song “2112” A LOT! But the story of the garage band is for another day.

While I knew and jammed with Core prior to 1976, it was about this time that he became my best friend. I use to hang out in Core’s room and he would put All The World’s A Stage on so we could play along. Steve did not own a drum set at the time. If I recall correctly, he sold it before the move down south. He did have a weight bench in his room with books strategically stacked around it. He would point his drumstick at various weights and books and say, “This is my crash, this is my ride and here’s my hat. This stack of books is my floor and this one’s my snare” and so on until he had accounted for and described his entire kit that he was someday going to buy. Then he would place the needle right on “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Professor on the drum kit” and Core would proceed to play that solo right along with Neil Peart.

I thought Core had to be the best drummer in the world too because he was tearing those weights and books up! I would play my guitar while he would play those weights and books pretty much every day it seemed like. “Fly By Night”, “Working Man”, “Bastille Day”, “By-Tor & The Snow Dog”, we could play them all. In hindsight, maybe not quite as good as I thought especially since I have always been a rhythm guitarist, but in that bedroom we were awesome! We were the original Wyld Stallyns. We just needed Geddy Lee instead of Van Halen.

It wasn’t too long after that before Core finally bought his Rogers drum set that he still plays today and a couple of years ago when I went to see him play live, those drums still sounded so good. In hindsight though and after years of listening to Peart, maybe Core was not hitting every click of that drum solo – he’s a great drummer and probably the best I have ever known personally or played with but we are talking The Professor here. What I do know without a shadow of doubt is Peart can’t hold a candle to Core on a set of weights and a stack of books. And I think those were some of the best jam sessions of my entire life because in my mind’s eye I was playing guitar with a drum superstar that was my best grape friend.

As for Rush, this particular live album focuses mainly on their pre-prog days which was pretty good in its own right. The linear notes state that it is “the end of the first chapter of Rush”. The music that follows this album is simply prog-history. But when I listen to this one, I hear drumsticks hitting weights and books and very few things in life sound cooler than that! It just goes to show you that even in a teenager’s bedroom we find that All The World’s A Stage!

Rick E. France

 

Fallen Splendor – Jeff Johnson

Rick France 1986, Ambient Rock, Prog Rock ,
Fallen Splendor
Jeff Johnson

Jeff Johnson is a category unto himself. He has moments where he falls into the progressive rock category. Then his instrumental albums are often dubbed as “New Age”, yet he was doing that style years before “New Age” was even a term. At other times you could say he is a fantastic jazz artist and yet he puts out some wonderful music for times of personal worship and meditation. He has been labeled as “Intelligent Pop” as well but some of my favorite music would be his Celtic works with Brian Dunning and Stephen Lawhead. With over 40 albums to his credit, and I own almost every single one of them, the listener of his music is constantly being given something new to immerse themselves into.

In 1986 I had been a Christian for not quite a full year and I was not listening to any secular music at that time, for I was discovering this new world of Christian music that was suddenly coming into its own as an industry with artists and albums that were as good, if not better, than the secular world of that time period. Yet there was one empty hole in my musical world – I was not finding any artists that were shall we say, very heady.

One day I walked into The Christian Armory on Lawrenceville Hwy. As usual, everyone was nicely groomed and in a shirt and tie like they had come right out of the “Christian Cloning Machine” in back and here I was walking in with my hair halfway down my back, purple lens glasses, jeans and a t-shirt. I approached one of the employees and asked him, “Do you have any – any – deep music?” He said, “What?” “You know – any really, really deeeeeep music?” He sort of cracked a smile at me and asked, “What exactly do you mean?”

This was harder than I thought. How do you ask this straight laced guy you want some Christian music that sounds like the stuff that many listen to when they are in an alternate state of mind? So I lowered my glasses and looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You know, Jesus is for the heart, the soul – and the head?” Now he was smiling really big and he leaned closer and in a low voice he handed me a cassette of “Fallen Splendor” and said, “You mean like Pink Floyd? You can listen right over there”. So I put the headphones on and popped in the tape and it was queued somewhere in the last 2 minutes of the song “Old Germany”. There was this squeak going thru my head with this constant booming from the depths of Moria. A fretless bass was groaning out a melody in the background while this musical tapestry was weaving in and out. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

Thirty seconds of one song is all it took and I walked out of there with two Jeff Johnson albums – “Fallen Splendor” and “Icons”. Within a month I had purchased his entire repertoire to date, spoken to Jeff Johnson several times on the phone (a story for another day) and they knew me by name at The Christian Armory. That employee would have tapes set aside for me when I came in that he thought I just might be interested in. As I grew as a Christian, so did Jeff Johnson as an artist. Like I said, he never stuck to one style of music and while something like “Fallen Splendor” might not be for the Ruth Graham’s of the world, other stuff must have been because she asked him to arrange and record her favorite hymns for meditation which became his CD entitled “A Quiet Knowing: Canticles for the Heart”. I’ve played his instrumental CD’s during communion at church or prior to and after service and someone will always ask “who is that and where can I get it”.

To this day “Fallen Splendor” is one of my favorite albums. I listen to it frequently and I honestly think I am discovering something new to my ears on this album every time I listen to it. It has so many layers of interesting and creative art woven throughout. The delicate cymbal work of “Wind and Water” and all the clockwork woven into “Time Waits For You”. The album is magnificent and yet he has so much more in other albums that it would be very difficult for me to label this one as his best. One of his best but Jeff Johnson has so much to offer I could never settle on a single album. Let’s just say as I listen to it right now, it is my favorite at this moment in time.

Jeff Johnson reminds me that we are all God’s magnificent creation. We are His masterpiece. Yet without the reality of God in our lives; in our schools; in our country; in our world; well, we see the results of trying to rule ourselves without God in the headlines every day. Society continues “Looking For God Using A Spotlight” when all along He is right here in front of each and every one of us. Thankfully by faith, I am no longer a Fallen Splendor.

Rick E. France

 

Unfortunately, I could not find “Old Germany” on you tube which is why I went with “Looking For God”.

No Glasses Needed – In 3-D

Rick France 1986, Alternative, Prog Rock , ,
In Another Land Larry Norman
No Glasses Needed
In 3-D

It’s obvious that I have not been very loyal to working on this blog. After all, it has been almost three years since the last entry and even that one was only the second entry I had ever made. I can’t guarantee that I will improve on this, but at least I know that improvement is needed and I’m going to make an attempt at it.

For the past several weeks, thanks to a gentleman on Facebook who I guess should remain nameless since I have never met him – we shall just call him Jeff Parker because, that’s his name. Thanks to Jeff, I have been listening to an album I thought had been long lost since it has never been released on CD. This was one of my favorite albums in the 80’s by a band named In 3-D and the album was “No Glasses Needed.” Released in 1985 just before I became a Christian, it was one of the first albums I purchased after my conversion.

In those early months, I was hanging out at the Christian Armory in Atlanta, GA on a regular basis. Mainly because if it was available – the Armory usually had it in stock. “No Glasses Needed” was suggested to me by one of the music department employee’s and after listening to the demo I purchased the LP on the spot. In 1985, very few Christian albums were being released on CD thanks to the industry being reluctant to change after being burned so bad with an overstock of 8-tracks in the late 70’s. So the only choice at that time was to either purchase a cassette or an LP. I chose LP’s because you could easily record them to cassette and usually at a higher quality than the ones you could purchase.

Any ways, this album became a staple in my car. Heavily influenced by the Police with a little bit of Floyd thrown in here and there with some very tasteful guitar work. It was perfect for my newly found faith in helping me to let go of my past life. However the main memory I have of this album happened a year later. Fast forward to sometime in 1986 where I was working as the Youth Pastor at Decatur Wesleyan Church where Jack Vandiver, the associate pastor, had taken me under his wing and leading me through discipleship.

I started the youth group at Decatur Wesleyan with only two teenage girls attending the church at the time, but it quickly grew to over 30 kids in just a matter of months. One of those kids was a twelve year old named Michael. Michael’s mom and dad did not go to church, but his mom liked the fact that Michael had taken interest in something that she saw as a positive influence. I would swing by his house every Sunday morning and evening on my way to church and Michael would grab the “No Glasses Needed” cassette and pop it in every single time. He couldn’t carry a tune to save his life, but he knew every word to every song and we would sing and talk week after week.

I believe Michael was the first person that I was blessed to lead to Christ. If he wasn’t the first, he was the first one that I remember and just like me, he was on fire right out of the chute. He loved Jesus; he loved his new found faith and he wanted to be at church every time the doors were open. When I started my first discipleship group, he was in it and he was like a sponge. But no matter what the event was, if there was a cassette player involved, at some point In 3-D’s “No Glasses Needed” was going in.

I remember one time his parent’s asked me to drop by their house. They told me that Michael was not doing very well at school and they had tried everything they could think of to motivate him to bring his grades up but nothing seemed to work. They had decided that the one thing he seemed to enjoy the most was church. They had made the decision to ground him from church until he brought his grades up, and they would let me know when, and in my mind if ever, I could pick him up again. They asked that I not contact him during this time. I left that day thinking I would not ever get to see him again, but the youth at my church evidently had more faith than me. They would pray for him every week, even when I forgot to mention him. Some of them, I later found out, were actually helping him study at school and after a couple of month’s I got the call from his parent’s that I never thought I would get.

A couple of the teens asked if they could ride with me when I went to pick Michael up for that first youth meeting after the grounding. I remember knocking on his door and the smile on his face as we returned to my car. When I started the car up, one of the guys had already put this tape in and the singing began right off the bat, “He’s Livin’ In The Real World! Livin’ In The Real World! He Can See, It’s Right In Front Of His Eyes!”

As I listen today, I can see Michael’s face as well as that smile of his that seemed to never quit. The memories of the joy in that car on that one day are so real right now that it’s hard for me to believe that it was over thirty years ago. I have no idea where Michael is today. I don’t know what he grew up to do in life. I don’t know if he has a wife and kids but I truly believe that he has kept the faith; that he continued the course; that he will finish the race. From time to time I continue to lift his name in prayer before the throne. I have spoken of  his story to others as an example of dedication and accomplishment. And I know that someday we will meet again and we are going to walk those streets of gold together and we are going to sing, maybe even on key for a change. Most of all, we will see our Savior face to face in all His glory, No Glasses Needed!

Rick E. France

 

From The Beginning – Emerson, Lake & Palmer

Rick France Prog Rock ,
From The Beginning by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
From The Beginning
Emerson, Lake & Palmer

It was August of 2013 when I last posted on Facebook my attempt at a musical journal regarding what I was listening to that day with all the related memories, insights and whatever else seemed to creep into my mind while rocking down the highway. I was attempting to post every day and it lasted almost a full month but time eventually caused me to skip a day and a day turned into a month which somehow turned into almost two years. My thought at the time was to have some sort of time capsule of stories for my grand children to access someday revolving around the soundtrack of my life so they could have a way to know me if something unexpected happened. Needless to say, Facebook is not really setup for that (I even got a few complaints from some people) so I thought I would try doing something I never dreamed I would attempt – blogging.

What triggered this new found interest in starting this up again, albeit with no intention of doing this every day, was a combination of my recent run in with the cardiologist and a post from Ed Peace yesterday which I will talk about in my second post. For this first post though I wanted to sort of get the tape rolling, you know – From The Beginning; and yes – I was listening to the Emerson, Lake & Palmer song earlier today which is why my first post got bumped to my second post; and what an awesome song it is. One of my favorite songs to play on guitar whenever I’m just relaxing or warming up and yet when I listen to the original recording I realize just how poorly my rendition really is because I leave out notes and take little shortcuts in an attempt to cover up my lack of ability.

Lack of ability is part of what also has kept me from blogging in the past. While I am an avid reader, grammar was never one of my better subjects. Back in school, my English teachers were not usually complimentary of my work ethic or language skills. Top that off with a daughter that’s an English Prof at Brenau University and let’s just say she might not be letting my grand kids ever see this to begin with so that they don’t pick up any bad habits. Paraphrasing ELP in an attempt for a disclaimer, there might be things I miss but don’t be unkind.

Still I want to share my thoughts, my prayers and my music with all of them here From The Beginning as well as anyone else that might find a little bit of entertainment here and there. I plan to share the link on Facebook and if a story involves one of my friends I’ll tag you in the link. Oh and there might also be things I repeat from the 2013 Facebook posts so you might get tagged for something you’ve seen before but my goal is to cruise down memory lane with the stereo blasting! Sort of a musical retrospective in the key of life, From The Beginning.

Rick E. France

You See It’s All Clear
You Were Meant To Be Here
From The Beginning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtGjJVcrKQU