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\n <\/div><\/div> <\/p>\n Larry Norman’s Only Visiting This Planet (1972) is the Abbey Road (1969) of contemporary Christian music and both shared the same producer, Sir George Martin. It has attained the status of a classic but was not popular at the time. Notice the cutout mark on the bottom left corner of this copy.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Broadway hits like Godspell (1971) and Jesus Christ Superstar (1972) showed music about religious faith could be popular. The crossover success of Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Stryper in the \u201880s was further proof.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n The following is a list of less famous Christian-themed music. Some are dated artifacts, others are worth listening to. If not available streaming check your local record stores or dollar bins, which is where I found these.<\/p>\n Double-LP rock opera that continues the popular God-as-hippie theme. Lots of love, not much repentance. Occasional stings like the flute freakout in \u201cBabylon\u201d bring it to life but won\u2019t make you forget Tommy (1969).<\/p>\n Some of it was composed by blind musician Turley Richardson, who was on Warners the same time as Van Morrison.<\/p>\n Debut by gospel-folk trio is the first of their two LPs before breaking up mid-decade. Their pretty harmonizing reminds me of CS&N, but they\u2019re a bit too pious and mellow\u2014a problem with most Christian music.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lazarus shared the Bearsville label with Todd Rundgren and Foghat at the time. Produced by Peter Yarrow.<\/p>\n Poetry based on the life of Christ narrated against a backdrop of generic rock. Similar to Ken Nordine\u2019s spoken jazz records of the \u201850s, and probably the first to present Jesus-as-Buddhist-hippy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBetrayal and Crucifixion\u201d reminds me of Dick Shawn\u2019s \u201cLove Power\u201d from The Producers (1968), which is not a compliment. The blues of \u201cChildhood\u201d comes off best.<\/p>\n This opera based on the Catholic mass was commissioned by Jackie Onassis to christen the Kennedy Center\u2019s opening. It centers on a character called \u201cthe celebrant,\u201d who sings hymns and has a nervous breakdown when the ugliness of the world clashes with his faith in God. \u00a0<\/p>\n Mass was too contemporary for Catholics, too Catholic for Protestants, and too Christian for Jews. Bernstein and his co-writer, Stephen Schwartz\u2014both agnostic Jews\u2014provide the doubt and their honesty is admirable. Impressive and thought-provoking but not much fun. The Quadraphonic production loses a lot in stereo. \u00a0<\/p>\n Sort-of sequel to Stonehill\u2019s Welcome to Paradise (1976). Instead of the original\u2019s wimpy folk-rock\u2014Stonehill sounds a lot like Dan \u201cSometimes When We Touch\u201d Hill\u2014he opts for rustic folk in this peaceful record about aging, death and the consequences of freewill.\u00a0<\/p>\n Producer Mark Heard\u2019s Appalachian sound is 20 years ahead of its time. Choice cuts: \u201cChristmas at Denny\u2019s\u201d and \u201cWeight of the Sky.\u201d<\/p>\n Another ambitious double-album, this time from jazz superstar Dave Brubeck. It was his first composition after breaking up his classic quartet, and the Cincinnati Symphony provides the orchestra.<\/p>\n This is classical with jazz flavoring, using the words of Christ as a theme. Long, but some great moments here\u2014especially when Brubeck solos on piano. \u00a0<\/p>\n Triple live album of soft rock draws from 18 concerts by Second Chapter of Acts (the Herring family), A Band Called David and guitarist Phil Keaggy that summer. Youngstown, Ohio native Keaggy was Hendrix\u2019 idol.\u00a0<\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t shred here, but \u201cTime\u201d and the long jam \u201cRejoice\u201d are worth a listen. So are \u201cEaster Song\u201d and \u201cWhich Way the Wind Blows\u201d\u2014the Herring family\u2019s signature songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of Bob Dylan\u2019s favorite records. He was a personal friend of Green, who went from child prodigy to adult singer-songwriter. Piano was his forte, and this first LP is his best\u2014full of standards like \u201cYour Love Broke Through\u201d and \u201cSatan\u2019s Boast.\u201d Green died in a plane crash on July 28, 1982, along with two of his children.<\/p>\n The Moondance of contemporary Christian music\u2014a soulful masterpiece by one of its pioneers. The arrangements shine here, like the trilling flute on \u201cI Love the Son\u201d which mimics a bird in flight. A classic.<\/p>\n Norman was an industry insider, having opened for The Doors, Van Morrison, Hendrix and Janis Joplin as lead singer of People! in the \u201860s. He was also a street evangelist and the father of Christian rock.<\/p>\n \u2018Planet\u2019 was the first of a trilogy, and Norman focuses on contemporary problems honestly. A little too honestly for some. \u201cI Am the Six O\u2019Clock News\u201d and the blues-rock \u201cWhy Don\u2019t You Look Into Jesus\u201d are highlights. Arranged by Beatles producer George Martin and inducted into the Library of Congress\u2019 National Recording Registry in 2013. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Brian Hess<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.daytondailynews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Larry Norman’s Only Visiting This Planet (1972) is the Abbey Road (1969) of contemporary Christian music and both shared the same producer, Sir George Martin. It has attained the status of a classic but was not popular at the time. Notice the cutout mark on the bottom left corner of this copy.\u00a0 Contributed Broadway hits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2502046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2502045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Forgotten-record-review-Christian-themed-music-Entertainment-News.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2502045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2502047,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502045\/revisions\/2502047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2502046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2502045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2502045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2502045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n10) Because I Am (1973) George Andrews & Don Andreson<\/h3>\n
9) Lazarus (1971)\u00a0<\/h3>\n
8) Some Beautiful Day (1970) Bill Cormeau<\/h3>\n
7) Mass (1970) Leonard Bernstein<\/h3>\n
6) Return to Paradise (1989) Randy Stonehill<\/h3>\n
5) The Light in the Wilderness: An Oratorio for Today (1968) Dave Brubeck<\/h3>\n
4) How the West Was One (1977) Second Chapter of Acts<\/h3>\n
3) For Him Who Has Ears to Hear (1977) Keith Green<\/h3>\n
2) Just Right (1976) Dallas Holm & Praise<\/h3>\n
1) Only Visiting This Planet (1972) Larry Norman<\/h3>\n
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