Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

25 years ago a bunch of long hairs from Texas felt called to Belfast to minister through music. Sacrificing everything they had, they moved to Europe and played their unique brand of Christian rock in churches, on the streets and anywhere where they could reach people. Their self-titled debut album is a Jesus music classic and rightly so. Recorded in London at the back end of 1974 with John Pantry producing, Lib Suite's trademark vocal harmonies are layered on top of a mix of music. This album embraces the southern rock'n'roll sound of "Led To Roam", the acoustic folkiness of "My Lord Is A Remedy" and "Run, Run Lucifer" and the quarter of a century which has passed since the tape machine stopped rolling has actually treated it rather kindly. Digitally re-mastered from the original master tapes, it shines up well and although firmly placed in its time by its innocence, there is no doubt that the band's ministry made an impact. The strong presence of the band's horn section have their music a strong identity and garnered comparisons with Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago. The funky "Oh Lord You Know (That I Feel So Fine)" and their cover of Clapton's "Presence Of The Lord" (rumours were rife that Eric was a Christian at the time) both still do the business for me. The Lib Suite classic "Reachin' For The Sky" originates from this set. Surprisingly the band have only made two more albums together in the last 25 years though there are plans for a new album in the near future. They called it Jesus music back then and the current scene could learn something from the uncompromising songwriting contained here where crossing over meant nothing less than getting the cross of Christ over to people listening.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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