Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Narnia were really a vehicle for singer Pauline Filby, who following the band's demise maintained a career as a UK folkie. This 1974 album is a bit of a classic for mixing folk and pop together with a strong production and the album has generally survived the intervening years pretty well and still sounds fresh. These days the band are best remembered as being a project featuring future After The Fire band mates John Russell on guitar and Pete Banks on keyboards and certainly they add a solid musical backing to Filby's well crafted songs. Bassist Tim Hatwell and drummer Ginger Dixon completed the line up and provided a very effective rhythm section. The combination of folk and pop excel on songs like "Muddy Ground" and "The Juggler" but on songs like "Agape" and "Living Water" the band really stretch out towards rock, occasionally perhaps even in a prog rock direction. Thematically, for the times, the band are exploring spiritual themes but doing it in a creative fashion. The band sadly only survived for a year but they did play at the very first Greenbelt festival in 1974. Ultimately this was one of the better UK Christian albums of the period and overdue a CD re-release.

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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