Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

In the late 1960s tragedy struck the Ward family, leaving nine children orphaned. Annie, who had not been long married to recording engineer Buck Herring, took in two of her younger siblings, Matthew and Nellie, and the rest is musical history. The family sang together, became popular on the church circuit, were heard by Pat Boone and ended up with a contract with MGM. The 2nd Chapter Of Acts were truly pioneers in Jesus music's founding years. This album is based upon The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe by C S Lewis and was recorded in 1977 but held up for release until 1980 (apparently due to legal issues over using Lewis' characters in the songs). It does not quite manage to tell the story in music but is rather a reflection upon and a response to the story. If you do not know the story you are probably not going to be interested enough to track down the album. The music is good, though. The Wards sing well and have that blend that only siblings can generate. Some excellent musicians back them up: guitar solos by Phil Keaggy and keyboards by Michael Omartian, for example. The sound is of its time: pop meets prog, not entirely dissimilar to the Moody Blues. The message is eternal, those high harmonies still work their spell and the concept album points to 2nd Chapter Of Acts' place in the history of CCM. If you are keen on Jesus music history it's worth visiting the band's website to hear and maybe even buy this classic, now available on a reissue.