John Fischer
LP: The Cold Cathedral
Label: F.E.L. Records – F.E.L. 362
Released: 1969
Tracklist
A1 The Cold Cathedral
A2 The Road Of Life
A3 See The Lilies
A4 Born To Die
A5 Open Up!
A6 Got To Shout About It
B1 Allelula!
B2 Death In The City
B3 Look All Around You
B4 Hard Feeling To Explain
B5 No Vacancy
B6 The Lord's Prayer
Copyright (c) – F.E.L. Publications, LTD.
Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Hollywood
Recorded At – Audio Finishers, Incorporated
A&R – James E. Schaefer
Arranged By – Al Porth, Ray Tate
Design [Album] – Mark Burnett
Engineer – Al Handler
Illustration [Album] – George Lawlor
Liner Notes [Jacket Notes] – Robert Hughes Mitchell
Producer [Music Production] – Ray Tate
Written-By – John Fischer
John (Walter) Fischer (born 1947) is a Christian author, singer, songwriter, and speaker. He is one of the credited founders of Jesus music and was a Senior Writer with PurposeDrivenLife.com. He released his first Christian album The Cold Cathedral in 1969 (a few months before Larry Norman's Upon This Rock). This is considered the first American contemporary Christian album. Away back in 1969 celebrated singer, guitarist, songwriter, author, and all-around insightful human being John Fischer not only had hair on his head, but also a completely different sound. To quote the back cover, Fischer’s record is “hard, driving beat, cool reflective guitar and flute, pop sound reminiscent of the ‘20s that is almost ‘camp’, western idiom, and dramatic tone pictures which themselves comment on the text.” It’s a far cry from his more polished Light albums on which you’ll find nothing near the go-go organ pop/beat of ‘Got To Shout About It’. Features twelve of John’s songs, some of the other titles being ‘The Road Of Life’, ‘See The Lilies’, ‘Born To Die’, ‘Look All Around You’ and the convicting ‘Death In The City’, the latter a mysterious haunting ballad. John’s vocals are immediately likable - soft, fragile and sincere on the ballads, relaxed and easygoing on the more upbeat numbers. The music has a good natural vibe featuring a low-key yet proficient arrangement of acoustic guitars, piano, flute, beat-ful rhythm section and simple female bgvs (no strings or horns in the picture). A bit harder to find, too, having been released on a small mostly-Catholic label, but seek it out - it’s a folk/pop masterpiece!
