Friday, February 16, 2007

Grapevine Records


Here are some samples of lost treasures:
Dave and Dana Morning Star. 1978. Producer Sue McClellan. Grapevine 124.
Terrific breathy vocals from Dana Lee Price, who also demonstrates a great rock and roll voice.
Starts with a funky late 70s style number and then ranges through self-penned songs and standards by well-known song-writers of the period. He's not a rumor is their own rock'n'roller. Enjoyed it enormously. Cannot find any trace of any other work by this couple. A shame.

Kevin Gould Clear Vision. 1978. Producer John Pac. Grapevine 122.
A surprisingly strong offering from this Welsh crooner. Gould had a brief moment of fame on the gospel scene but was not regarded as a top league musician. This album is lyrically strong with decent melodies and strong production. He later became a pastor in Alaska, USA, and continues to produce the occasional album.
Backing vocals are attributed to 'Parchment' and song rights are also attributed to "Parchment Ltd". Wonder what happened to Parchment Ltd. And does this mean this is the last album on which they appear as a band?


Malcolm Wild Broken Chains. 1979. Producer John Pac. Grapevine 131
Despite early promise from the opening track, Love is you, a disappointing solo album by one half of the highly rated Malcolm and Alwyn. The combined talents of three great British gospel combos of the 70s, Malcolm and Alwyn, the Alwyn Wall Band and Parchment, together with numerous other musicians, failed to rescue a production relying too heavily on string arrangements. A classic case of the parts of a great song-writing team not being as good as the whole. Enjoyable enough for hardcore Malcolm and Alwyn fans.

Koinonia Gentle as Morning. 1977. Producer Sue McClellan Pilgrim 427
Perhaps where Sue Mack learnt the choral management skills she later applied with such good effect to her own band River. This was an Irish choir, decked in the long pinafore dresses that were fashionable about five years earlier. An enjoyable gallop through some lesser known worship songs of the period. I cannot find any indication they wrote any of their own material.

Pilgrim Records and the Grapevine Label was owned by the Christian publisher Marshall, Morgan and Scott which in turn was owned by the Pentos Group. I believe Pentos went into liquidation in the mid-90s, so who owns the rights of these labels is an intriguing question.

Do you own a Grapevine Record that's not been reported on this site? Could you submit a short review in the above style? Post it here.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was wondering if you have copies of the albums you listed in this section or post? Had not heard of a couple of them.

Randy

Anonymous said...

Hi Randy
The first three are still readily available on the second hand market eg musicstack.com

Koinonia is a little harder to get hold of.

Anonymous said...

The picture is NOT taken on the kamperland festival, allthough the picture resides on a kamperland site. The band was not allowed to play on the festival. The picture is taken at a Youth for Christ coffeebar in The Hague. It was an awesome concert! I ordered there their album, which I am now about to sale... If you want to know more details about band, album or kamperland, you can write me at jjdoorn@REMOVETHISPARTwanadoo.nl

pf said...

Thanks for this info, Jan, and good to correspond with you. It refers to the previous post about Whitsuntide Easter.

pf said...

There's an earlier Kevin Gould album True Stories, from 1975, posted here by the Ancient Star Song blog.