VINYL RECORD REVIEW: The Talleys – As For Me and My House (1983) / Lift Up Your Voice (1984)
The Talleys – As For Me and My House (1983) / Lift Up Your Voice (1984)
In December 1983, Roger and Debra resigned from the Hoppers, and Kirk resigned from the Cathedrals, and sang for the first time together in public as the Talleys in January 1984. In fact, before they ever officially started the group, they had already gone into the studio to record their first album, “As For Me and My House”. Produced by Roger Talley, the album was recorded at Granite City Studios in Mount Airy, NC, with Jimmy Edmunds, Steve Easter, and Roger Fortner handling engineering duties. Musicians included Roger playing piano/keyboards, along with Dean Hopper on drums, Steve Easter playing steel guitar, a young Jeff Easter blowing on the harmonica, Jimmy Edmunds playing banjo and fiddle, and Roger Fortner playing guitars, organ, and percussion.
Right out of the gate, the Talleys made a musical statement with their first song, “As For Me and My House”, which was a popular song in the CCM/Inspirational market at the time. Interestingly, the song (and a couple of others from this album) would have actually sounded right at home on the Hoppers 1983 recording, “Think on the Good Things” (which Roger and Debra were a part of), produced by Lari Goss, as it was a pretty forward-thinking album at the time. I felt the song, “As for Me and My House”, set a precedent for the Talleys, as they often would include family-oriented type of songs on their recordings and in their concerts, and they always went over exceptionally well. Speaking of CCM/Inspirational sounds, they also included an excellent rendition of the Sandi Patti hit, “They Could Not”, which features Debra, and the Talleys do a really great job making the song their own.
A year or so before Kirk left the Cathedrals, he wrote a gem of a song called “Step Into the Water”, and the song became the Cathedrals very first #1 song, and it made sense they included a great version of the song on this album. They also included a couple of other popular tunes from Kirk’s days with the Cathedrals including “Everywhere I Go” (which Kirk also wrote) and Kirk’s sugar stick during his time with the Cathedrals, “I Know a Man Who Can”.
There are a couple of newer songs including “God’s on Our Side” (which was a popular tune for the Spencers at the time), and the now classic tune, “I Know What Lies Ahead”. Written by Jean Canter, she had sent it to Kirk when she found out the Talleys were forming, and Kirk published the song in his publishing company, Kirk Talley Music. The song has become one of Southern Gospel’s legendary classics, having been recorded by Charles Johnson & the Revivers as well as the Oak Ridge Boys. Originally recorded as a 4/4 time song, it was covered numerous times in the 80’s by such groups as the Greenes, Hoppers and Chosen, but when Charles Johnson took hold of the song in the early 90’s, he changed the time signature to 3/4 time, giving the song a strong soulful feel. It’s that particular version that the Oak Ridge Boys recorded on their 2001 recording, “From the Heart”, and they enjoyed immense success with the song.
Rounding out the list of songs for “As For Me and My House”, we come to the classic, “I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy” and the campmeeting favorite, “What a Meeting”. The song “I Bowed on My Knees” had seen a rebirth in 1982 when Michael English recorded it on the Goodmans 1982 album, “Chosen”, but the song hadn’t quite made legendary status yet, as it would be later in 1984 that he would record his iconic version with the Singing Americans on their “Live and Alive” album. Ironically, this was a song Kirk sang as a kid in church, and they thought it would be a perfect song to add to this first album by the “new” Talleys.
“As For Me and My House” was an excellent first album for the Talleys, and after they started singing in January 1984, they realized instantly that they needed to record a new album, and very quickly ushered themselves back into the studio in early 1984 to record, “Lift Up Your Voice”. While it was an excellent album, their first release was a little disjointed musically, as most of the songs were initially chosen because they liked it, regardless of the musical style. I think with “Lift Up Your Voice”, they had a bit more direction as to where they wanted to go musically, and while it’s not as cohesive sounding as their label albums, it appears to have more definitive musical direction. Once again, Roger Talley produced the recording, while also playing piano and multiple keyboards, with Roger Fortner assisting on multiple keys along with guitars, Steve Kirkman on drums along with Jeff Cranfill and Kirk playing bass. One thing that stands out for me with “Lift Up Your Voice”, is there are a number of songs with a highly synthesized music track, which gives this album a little quirky uniqueness over “As For Me and My House”.
“Lift Up Your Voice” kicks off with an early Michael W. Smith classic, “Great is the Lord”, which is where the title of the album comes from. Much like their first album, the Talleys made a musical statement with this song, as well as this album, by once again including songs from the CCM genre. Along with “Great is the Lord”, the Talleys included the emotionally tinged Chris Christian classic tune, “Love Them While We Can”, which was the type of song the Talley’s really created their own niche with, as they went on to record other songs aimed at the family unit such as “We’re Building Temples” and “Hold on to the Years”.
There are also a couple of newer tunes such as “I’m Happy in the Lord Anyway”, which was written by Shirley Cantrell and published by the Cathedrals publishing company, Homeward Bound Music. The song also showcased Kirk’s outstanding whistling abilities and is a fun highlight of the album. Another newer song included here is the Kyla Rowland penned, “Heavenly Honey”, which was a highly popular campmeeting favorite, and eventually went on to be recorded by the Inspirations and Hoppers.
The Talleys also served up their own renditions of a few favorites that they both sang and recorded with their respective groups…Kirk recorded the Dianne Wilkinson penned, “Jesus, I Believe What You Said About Heaven”, with the Cathedrals, and on this new version, they really give the song a distinct Lanny Wolfe Trio feel, and I love it! They also recorded the fun, Kirk Talley penned tune, “Come on Over”, which Roger and Debra recorded on the Hoppers 1983 album, “Think on the Good Things” (the Lesters also recorded a really great version of the song on their 1983 album, “Gloryland Gold”). The Talleys also recorded the very first song that Kirk wrote as a 16-year-old kid, “When I See His Face”, which he originally recorded with the Hoppers on their 1976 album, “Higher”, and ironically, the Cathedrals recorded a couple of years later, on their 1978 album, “Sunshine and Roses”.
As the Talleys worked to create their own niche within the industry, they discovered early on that worship tunes worked very well in their repertoire and along with the Nelons, were leaders in the industry for recording these types of songs during the 80’s. For this album they covered “We Shall Behold the King”, which the Rex Nelon Singers recorded in 1983, and they also included the worship classic, “Holy Ground”. Of course, at the time, this was still a brand-new song that the Talleys had discovered on the Cheryl Pruitt album, “Desires of my Heart”, which was released in 1983. Interesting side note…Cheryl Pruitt was crowned Miss America in 1980!
The album concludes with the absolutely stunning gem of a song titled, “When Jesus Breaks the Morning”, which was done acapella. Roger and Kirk grew up hearing a local female group sing this song at church during one of those 5th Sunday night sings, and they adapted their version of the song as the grand finish for this album. The Talleys brought the house down numerous times in their early years with this impeccably perfectly executed acapella tune. I wish they had included a couple of acapella tunes like this on their future recordings, as this was truly a classy jewel of a song.
I did not get the opportunity to hear these albums when they were released, but I was able to add them to my collection about 10-12 years ago, and I have enjoyed listening to them over the past decade, especially as I prepared for this series. Both albums are very good and do an amazing job highlighting the outstanding vocal quality of Roger, Debra, and Kirk. The premise of these two recordings were simply recording songs they liked, regardless of style, and while they may be a little disjointed musically due to the varying styles represented here, they do a great job showcasing the prowess of the Talleys and their ability to basically sing anything and any style they wanted to. The Talleys were still trying to find their footing and their niche in the Southern Gospel market, and it wouldn’t be until later in 1984, when they signed with Canaan Records and released their “Wherever I Am” album, that we finally get to hear what “Talley Music” truly was…and it was marvelous!
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