Thursday, March 01, 2007

More albums


Dave and Dana Come on In 1976/1977. Producer John Pantry. Pilgrim Records?
I've managed to obtain a US version of this lost treasure, distributed by Sound III in Kansas, possibly this duo's first album. It's more patchy in quality than Grapevine's Morning Star, relying heavily on songs written by contemporary gospel stars. However Dana Lee Price's voice and Dave Price's guitar work continue to charm and John Pantry's production skills create some neat effects. Pantry produced all four Parchment albums. Parchment's Pete Yates-Round was on the drums. Best tracks and those most likely to appeal to readers of this blog are the self-penned tracks, Come on In and Remain in Me, the sitar-based Melchisedek, a version of the Meet Jesus Music song, and Troublesome Waters, a US country gospel song turned to acid folk.

Dave Price was a Londoner whilst his wife was from Maryland, USA, but gains the title of honorary Brit for her vocal qualities.

Rufaro Rufaro. 1977. Producer John Pac. Pilgrim 432.
This trio, two guys and a girl, seem to have come from South Africa. Despite the blood-drenched album sleeve, they are not heavy metal, as I previously guessed, but a folk trio in the 60s Peter, Paul and Mary style. Best track is the African song Rufaro. Otherwise mostly rather bland with quite a lot of piano. They issued two other albums with Pilgrim so must have had a decent following. These were Person to Person Pilgrim 450 and Take Away the Stone Pilgrim 480

8 comments:

pf said...

After umpteen listenings I've decided that Come on In is probably my favourite Dave and Dana record, especially the first side. Their own songs, Come on In and Remain in Me, are sublime. The three covers on this side are Lou Hayles' complex and melodic song Don't Let Them Fool You, Betty Lou Mills' wonderful Doing My Job for Jesus and Graham Kendrick's How Much Do You Think You are Worth? All great songs rendered incomparably. I posted a link on a later posting to the Lou Hayles original.

Anonymous said...

After wondering for 30 years if I would ever show up on the internet, I was delighted to stumble on this site and read the kind comments about music I made all those years ago. I'm still composing, playing and recording with acts as diverse as a jazz soloist, gospel quartet and 22 piece praise band here in Mobile, Alabama USA, where I have lived for the past several years. Blessings.....Dave Price

pf said...

Welcome Dave. I wondered if you would ever show up!

I've found four of your albums, all terrific. Are there any more?

Anonymous said...

Hello pf. I've wanted to listen to Dave and Dana's album recently, after having listened to it growing up. This album has influenced me positively! Only problem is I don't have the cassette any more. Can anyone post the audio tracks in youtube? Thanks in advance. Nv.

pf said...

Hi nv,
If you let me have your email address using the contact link on the left and tell me which album you're after I will let you have a recording

regards
pf

Dana Winner said...

I am writing my first book, "Hardware, Software; Womenware" - a 50 year history of the computer profession from a woman's perspective - and was reminiscing about the events of 1972 when "Dave and Dana" and my IT career got started and "Dave and Dana" got married all in the same year. A highlight of that year was the Festival of Light in Trafalgar Square with "Light up the Fire" - so as I was writing I found myself wanting to see the complete lyrics of "Light Up the Fire" and confirm my memories of the events of 1972. I was pleased to find them on the Net and followed the links to see what Sue McClellan is up to which in turn led to the Parchment tribute site and - WOW! bit of a shock - these nice comments about "Dave and Dana" albums. I still listen to many of the songs WE recorded (I noticed that Dave Price mentioned the music "I made all those years ago" but he didn't do it alone :) and I do agree that "Remain in Me" and "Come On In" are fairly good folk-style songs. Graham and Lou Hayles songs are wonderful! My personal favorite is "Cannot Understand the Love of Jesus" which is on the Satisfied album but also on the Come On In album is "I Am The Way" - an amazing Hayles song which I still sing from time to time during private worship. I also love singing John Pantry, Garth Hewitt and John Daniels to name a few favorites. Recently my brother Karl (not a churchie kind of person) listened to the title track from Morning Star and humorously complained that it played in his head all day :) Sue McClellan did a great job as producer of Morning Star and was a great influence as a female role model also. She planted some great spiritual seeds that grew over the next few years helping me to follow The Path with more courage. The songs on the 4 albums mentioned were all wonderful fertile seeds "bearing much fruit" even until now. BTW there was a 5th album in 1981 which was only published on cassette and which I do not have a copy of. I have all the others and can share if anyone wants them. Blessings to all for lovely comments. - Dana

davepace@aol.com said...

Great to read more comments on the site....Of course, I did not mean to in any way diminish Dana's contribution to the music. Anyone has ever had the misfortune to hear me sing would know that Dave and Dana would never have existed without her awesome talent. I am delighted that folks are still enjoying the music that we made all those years ago.

Mary Rossiter said...

I would love to obtain the albums mentioned by Dana who is will to share if anyone wants them, I WOULD LOVE THEM!