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One of the cherished Jesus music classics, enthusiastically delivered by the trio of Paul Amschler and Gary & Debbie Cowan. Some good hand-clappin’ jangly folkrock tunes (‘That’s A Start’ and the title track), balanced with heartfelt ballads like ‘Sing A Song Of Jesus’, ‘Lazarus’ and the moody flute-accompanied ‘Faith’. ‘New Life’ is an excellent acoustic rock song with surging organ in the Harvest Flight vein, which shouldn’t come as a surprise since the producer here is Evan Williams. Nice percussion and resonant guitar work on ‘He Died’ and the six-minute ‘Broken Wing’, both of which push their sound into CSN/Buffalo Springfield FM folk-rock realms. Electric guitar and electric piano give ‘Love Of Jesus’ a nice spirited exuberant groove. Three different covers exist: 1) brown logo on red background with yellow and red sun rays, 2) brown logo and sun rays on yellow background, and 3) photo of the band in covered wagon (the latter shows Ron Scribner replacing Paul Amschler). Gary and Debbie were from Phoenix, hence the name of the band. (Ken Scott – The Archivist).
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Tracks:
01. That's A Start
02. New Love
03. Faith
04. Shinin' In The Light
05. Sing A Song Of Jesus
06. He Died
07. Love Of Jesus
08. Lazarus
09. Broken Wing
Members: Paul Amschler, Gary Cowan, Debbe Cowen
Biterate: VBR Download
The name "phoenix sunshine" sounds like a late 60s hippie term for a potent brand of LSD, you know, like "white lightning" or something. On the other hand, it's one of the most appropriate bandnames of those times, not only because of the weather in Phoenix, but because the music on this album just oozes sunshine. It's just so "as it is". The guitar playing is bright and the vocals are youthful and earnest and most of the arrangements seem to scream out how good it is to be young and in Christ, even where dire warnings or reflection are the case. It's just really sunny !!
ReplyDeleteI still think 'Broken wing' is one of the most overrated songs in the annals of Jesus rock though. It was partly through this song that I started checking out blog sites in the first place so I guess I should be grateful, but even when I downloaded it at the start of this year, I thought it was kind of tuneless and everytime I've heard it since, I'm struck by that thought. Happilly though, there's six other good songs on the album that more than compensate.
I kind of wonder if Phoenix Sunshine were a blueprint ( well, a kind of inverse blueprint) for the 2nd chapter of acts or even an influence.
> "The name "phoenix sunshine" sounds like a late 60s hippie term for a potent brand of LSD"
ReplyDeleteTheir name, as the website says was "Phoenix Sonshine", referring to the "Son" of God.
Hi;
ReplyDeleteI had the group Phoenix Sonshine on tour in Norway back in the seventies. I have lost contact with them. Does anyone know how to get in touch?
/ kjell