Скачать или смотреть Tom Howard 1977 LP: View From The Bridge: A5 We All Mean Very Well

Tom Howard
LP: View From The Bridge
Released: 1977
Label: Solid Rock Records
Genre: Rock, Folk, World, & Country

Tom Howard: Composer, Orchestrated By, Conductor, Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Piano, Lead Vocals
Larry Norman: Producer, Arranger, Photography, Acoustic Guitar, Harmony Vocals, Design
Randy Stonehill: Acoustic Guitar, Harmony Vocals
Jimmy Johnson: Bass
Wayne Johnson: Electric Guitar, Harmony Vocals
Max McCoy: Keyboards, Flugelhorn
Jim Coile: Saxophone, Flute
Vance Tenort: Congas, Cabasa
Peter Johnson : Drums, Percussion, Harmony Vocals
Jonathan David Brown: Engineer

A1 Intro
A2 Come On In
A3 Mansion On The Sand
A4 To Learn By Living
A5 We All Mean Very Well
B1 One More Reason
B2 She Likes To Look At Pictures
B3 Blessed Are The Children
B4 Marriage Of Our Souls
B5 All Through The Day

View from the Bridge was produced and arranged by Larry Norman. As with most Solid Rock albums, Larry took the photos and designed the album cover (he was a bit of a control freak in that regard). Norman also contributed background vocals and acoustic guitar. The late Jonathan David Brown engineered the album. The Wayne Johnson Trio served as the album’s rhythm section.
While trouble was looming at Solid Rock, having to do mainly with sketchy business dealings on the part of Larry Norman and marital difficulties being experienced by several of the artists, artistic freedom was absolutely not an issue. “There was complete creative freedom," according to Tom, "because that's how Larry structured his deal with Word Records. Man, we could have put out polka records and they couldn't have said anything! So when you're given that kind of freedom you also have a certain sense of intrinsic responsibility to do a really good job. But we did enjoy writing records that no A&R guy was going to come in and mess with."

Unlike most Jesus Music albums in the 70s, Solid Rock albums often contained songs like She Likes to Look at Pictures – songs that were derived from a Christian worldview, but did not always present a direct, overt Christian message or “sermon in song.” According to Tom Howard, that was part of the design at Solid Rock, and the label mates had many discussions along those lines.
“There were gentlemen's disagreements even within Solid Rock on that very issue,” Tom recalled. “Some people thought you didn't have to say anything about Christianity to make an important statement of faith. And others felt that the name of Jesus had to be exalted. Even within the Solid Rock stable, there were varying opinions. But I think the overall thrust of it was that it was better to be able to stand up at least on some level in the real marketplace. So there was a conscious effort with varying degrees of success to not just co-opt the entire process and pander to a particular ilk of evangelical Christianity. In that sense, it was a contradistinctive movement away from the southern gospel element that had all of its catchphrases. To this very day, I think much of Christian music is a spin-off from that. That's why you have philosophical differences between people who are Christians but just work outside of the Christian industry." We’ve talked before about negative forces and changes that were felt by artists as the 70s gave way to the 80s. Solid Rock Records did not escape the turmoil. Marital strife, personal issues, and business concerns eventually came to dominate the relationships between Norman and his cadre of friends and artists.

In 2010 Tom Howard was a talented pianist, a respected recording artist, and a sought-after arranger and conductor. More importantly, he was a husband, a father and a friend, deeply loved by those who knew him well. On January 29 of that year, snow was falling in Nashville, Tennessee – a rare occurrence. No stranger to winter weather (having grown up in Minnesota), Tom and his wife Dori decided to go for a hike at Edwin Warner Park in Nashville. Tragically, Tom suffered a massive heart attack that day and could not be revived. Tom was less than one month away from his 60th birthday. The lyrics from the Tom Howard song "This Quiet Place" are especially poignant now…