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General

Timeline Playlist – 1980

Here are the songs of 1980, as featured on the Jesus Music Timesweep 1980-89:

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General

New Dimensions

I tend to do posting here on a sporadic basis, and the last time I did consistent posting was over two years ago. It’s not that I’ve lost any interest in Jesus music and the lyrics for it, but other activities take my attention for a while.

In the past two years, I have discovered the ability of posting some of my unique recordings as videos on YouTube. The audio recordings of The Larry Black Show and the Maranatha! Concerts are now available on YouTube in playlists:

The Larry Black Show:

Maranatha! Concert (Isaac Air Freight, Keith Green, Tom Howard, Randy Stonehill, and the Sweet Comfort Band):

But the project for which I am most excited are two Jesus Music Timesweep videos. I have one for 1969-79, and one now for 1980-89.

What the heck is a Timesweep, you might ask? All of you have heard these in the past for top 40 rock music, even if you didn’t realize that is what it was. On WLS in Chicago, a tradition was started in the early 1970s in which at New Year’s Eve the station played a spliced cut of music in the history of rock, from 1960 to the current year, brief clips that originally lasted about 1 minute for each year of music. As time went by, the Montage become (obviously) longer and more complex, including some of the WLS jingles during each of the eras of music that were featured. Like many others, I enjoyed these, and recorded them when I was able.

When the Drake-Chenault History of Rock ‘n Roll “rockumentary” appeared on radio stations across the country, they featured their own version of a montage, based on the number 1 songs for each year from 1955 to the year in which the History was played. They called it a “timesweep”, and I like that term better.

What I realized last year was that although there were brief little such montages that were used on Christian radio stations for their own promotional purposes, no one (to my knowledge) set up a full-blown survey of the music of the Jesus music era. Thanks to the research tools available on the Internet now in the early 21st century, it became possible for a person like myself who did not work at a radio station or had a huge personal collection to create a montage/timesweep that was as professional as any produced by radio station engineers “back in the day”.

I produced the first Jesus Music Timesweep for the years 1969 to 1979 over a period of several months, and published it on YouTube back in April of this year.

Don’t know why I didn’t promote it here; it just didn’t occur to me, and I did share it on Facebook. However, WordPress has made it easier and easier to share videos with their later revisions, and so putting a video here is no more complicated than including the link.

After recovering from the work of producing the first one, I began to research the next decade of music, and just now completed it.

The work in creating these is not trivial. I first have to combine several different lists of top songs for each year, and then look for the audio of those songs. Surprisingly, YouTube has an incredible amount of music that has been uploaded in the form of videos, sometimes from the record companies themselves. There was some music that I could not find on YouTube, and since I wanted to create a playlist of music for each year, I later uploaded a number of these songs myself.

Once I had access to the songs themselves, it was a matter of capturing a 3 to 7 second sampling of each song, which I then spliced together using Apple’s excellent GarageBand software.

Creating the audio was only a part of the job. Since a video is more interesting if there is something to watch, I decided to create a slide for each song that displayed the album cover for that song, the title, artist, and what place it had on the top songs list.

The final result is something that I myself enjoy listening to, and hope that there are others who also enjoy it.

In the next few posts I will include the links to video playlists for each of the years from 1969 to 1989 that are featured on the two Timesweeps.

Categories
General Life

Don’t Wanna

Today’s featured song: I Don’t Want To Go Back by Alan Robertson from the 1983 album of the same name.

The last track on Tape JM-31 from 1984 is a fun one. In the realm of Jesus music, there were a handful of big names, with multiple hit songs that got a lot of airplay, did lots of touring, and became well known. And there were many thousands of less well-known performers who have ministered through their music for many years, to much less public acclaim. Despite not having the careers or notoriety of an Amy Grant, Love Song, Keith Green, or The Imperials, these people have had a dedicated life of serving the Lord through their music.

The artist I am focusing on today is Alan Robertson. I heard this song of his on KCRO and taped it on this cassette, and must have had a friend who bought the album, as one of my other tapes has a short song also from this 1983 album. He has been singing and ministering to people for over 30 years, and on his web site (where he goes by his full name, Alan Root Roberson), he identifies himself with the great name, a “musicianary”, and has done many things in his years. Until I tried to find something about this obscure album on the Internet, I had not known of work he’s done over the years. Enjoy this song that looks at what life was without Jesus, how it is with Him, and why you don’t want to go back to the way things were!

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go back

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go back (back back back)

Speeding down the road of life, out of control
Satan was the driver, and he wanted my soul
God knows how I bailed out and I hitched another ride
And when I say I don’t want to go back, that’s no lie

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
Had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go back

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
Had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go back

Living in a garbage can with the top on tight
Eating lots of trash and I just couldn’t see the light
The noose around my neck was close to running out of slack
Then God sent me some liberty, and I don’t want to go back

I don’t want to go back (don’t want to go)
I don’t want to go back (don’t want to go)
Had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go back (don’t want to go back)

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go back

When your host is wicked, and treats you like dirt
When the food he feeds you tastes just like an old shirt
When someone comes along and shows He loves you for a fact
It kind of tends to make you never go back

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all the sin that I can hack
And I don’t want to go back

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back
I had all that I’m going to have, Jack
And I don’t want to go back

I don’t want to go back
I don’t want to go back …

I Don't Want To Go Back
Categories
General Life

Shine

Today’s featured song: Shine Down by Sandi Patti from the 1984 album Songs From The Heart.

Today’s excerpts from Tape JM-31 involve more than just one song. The offering today covers tracks 34 through 38 on the tape. I’ll explain why there are so many included here.

First up is station ID from KCRO, still from the same “jingle” collection as we’ve previously heard here from WHME, WEMI, as well as from KCRO. Interestingly, it includes a cut from Sandi Patti, the artist for today, from her 1982 album, Lift Up The Lord, and the Bible verse is from Psalms 145:1-3. I do not know the song excerpt that follows the verse, however.

After this is a brief bit of Let The Whole World Sing by DeGarmo & Key, which was mentioned on this blog back in 2009 on this post, and so I will not repeat it again here.

Next is yet another song that I’ve previously discussed on this blog, Single Minded Love by Kenny Marks, back in 2010 on this post.

After those two song excerpts, it is still not time for today’s song. Instead is a fun advertisement for the Oxford NIV Scofield Reference Bible, which had, back in 1984, just been released. The ad uses a Howard Cosell imitator to comment on the bout between David and the Philistine giant Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17 for the full story). I like the part at the end where David mentions, “And don’t worry – they don’t call me ‘Rocky’ for nothing!” just as he goes off to fight Goliath.

Finally, we are at the song for today. Sandi Patti was at this time a rising star in the Christian music industry, having already won two Gospel Music Association Dove Awards in 1982, and had the advantage of a style that would play both on more traditional Christian radio stations, as well as on the newer outlets that played the contemporary style that had been pioneered by the “Jesus music” artists of the previous ten years.

Shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
That in Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me

Shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
That in Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me
Father of light
Shine down on me

There’s a land full of glory
In a place where there is no night
And in that holy city
Burns the beacon of everlasting light
A light that keeps reaching
To the people of every land
A love that is longing
To fill the heart of every man

Shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
That in Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me

Oh, shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
That in Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me
Father of light
Shine down on me

There’s no sun in that city
The Father’s throne is its only light
The lamp of salvation
The hope that is always glowing bright
It scatters the darkness
Swept away by His mighty hand
Now all the nations can worship
Sing the song of that glorious lamb

Shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
That in Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me

Shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
That in Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me

Oh, shine down Your light on me
Let the people see
In Your presence darkness flees
Father of light
Shine down on me

(repeated)

Father of light
Shine down on
Father of light
Shine down on me

Songs From The Heart Purchase MP3 on Amazon