Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

In the early '70s, there wasn't much of an official Christian music scene in the UK. Record labels were still emerging and some of the bigger artists were still trying to work with mainstream labels. Consequently it wasn't unusual for Christian groups to record "custom" albums on their own and sell them at gigs. One such group from Hertfordshire were the 10-piece folky group The Harmonizers. Looking at the album cover, a squarer looking bunch of people would be hard to find. Whilst the charts were being set on fire by Roxy Music, David Bowie and a host of glam rock acts, Christendom was grooving to this nice folk-based music with the girls in the band wearing matching yellow dresses and the boys in nice blue shirts and are those cravats? I'm guessing that band leader Allon (there are no surnames on the cover - to protect the innocent?) is wearing the brown cravat while the other guys have yellow ones! And of course no drums. But there is a double bass, some acoustic guitars and a banjo! Actually at this distance in time, it's easy to be superior about The Harmonizers when they were creating music that was designed to reach out and minister to believer and unbeliever alike. In a traditional church setting of the era, this would have sounded pretty radical. Ultimately it's a gospel version of The Seekers and the album's combination of original material, traditional songs and a couple of covers works pretty well though there are no writers' credits on the sleeve or label. Highlights for me include the opening cut "Sing Out If You're Feeling Happy" and the obvious cover of Larry Norman's most popular song of the time, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready". Wonder what all the group members are doing now?

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.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.