Vision

This song from Rehearsal for a Reunion is the first track on the Simply...Parchment CD collection. It's an interesting and significant choice.

I found myself in a car with a tapeplayer the other day and listened to Rehearsal straight through for the first time in ages. It's an under-recognised album, notable for its new songs and in particular for show-casing Sue McClellan's gift for melody and song-writing and her ability to render her own songs in a peerless fashion.

As if by coincidence I'd been in church the day before and we'd had a medley of the new worship songs. Now it's easy to sound fogeyish about new music and the truth is that in each generation, when there's an outpouring of new music, a lot of its dross and a small amount will last for ever. Nevertheless it struck me forcibly how badly constructed two of the songs were. In one case they had a verse and a melody that wasn't too bad but after a few lines it launched into the chorus. To sing the chorus - and I'm no musicologist - you had to launch immediately into a kind of ecstasy, singing in quite a high register. A lot of people aren't willing to do that, certainly not in a forced fashion. Then back to the next verse. And I thought, how much better it would have been if the song-writer had let the congregation build up gradually - singing the first verse, which wasn't too bad, and then just raising the pitch a little, allowing the singers to contemplate the words so they were ready for the grand finale of the final chorus...and then repeat it spontaneously if you like.

And then the next day I had Rehearsal on the tape and Vision came on. In the lyric sheet it seems to have just two verses and a refrain. The melody is driven by the metre of the words:
Slowly I stand, a vision I see

Taking my breath away it's open to me

Streets filled with life confusion and tears

Music so heavenly the heart only hears.

Then, lyrically, comes the five lines of the refrain (or perhaps not the refrain), No more you weep the angel commands.

Then the second/third verse comes in and the way that's treated, with harmony and playing with the melody, you think that's the refrain, building up to its last line.
When Jesus comes again be ready be wise

And it may be ..or maybe not.

For a second rendering of the refrain follows:
No more you weep the angel commands

Light like a mystery shines from his hands

Jesus is here, the waiting is done

Lay down your heavy hearts

A new world has come

Then the second verse is repeated twice, without the refrain, so that the line

When Jesus comes again be ready be wise

is the hook line.

So it's not a classic verse-chorus construction at all. In fact, treating it as if it has three verses, the construction is:
1,2,
3,2,
3,3

That's how you build a song!

Okay, this song would probably be murdered if used for congregational singing - but then I don't suppose anyone has ever tried to use the songs from Rehearsal for this purpose.

I would say that many of the phrases from Rehearsal have stayed with me all my life. They are those kind of songs. It was a good final album. Another example is Talking to You. Simple and to the point lyrics, beautifully rendered:

Talking to You is part of my day

I'm talking to you and all my fears wash away

Talking to You seems to make my dreams come true

And I know that I don't want anyone else but you

Once you've heard it on the album, it's unforgettable.

And the song-craft was later repeated when Sue McClellan wrote a series of songs for River. The same gift for melody and for rendering of songs is seen on the four River albums, probably most notably on the third short one, Shadow and Flame.

There's one other notable feature of Vision. It has a mandolin intro, making it an ideal candidate to kick off the compilation set.

2008

A year ago we set this site a number of tasks, little realising how well things were going to develop!

2007 was a terrific year and it's been a pleasure to hear from members of the band and from other musicians associated with the Grapevine label. Several people have submitted recollections, pictures and reviews. One or two promised them but haven't got round to it...so please don't give up. We're still waiting.

By January we'd worked out that Grapevine was, in effect, Parchment and therefore set out to find out more about its output. Over the year there have been reviews of albums and we've heard from artists such as Kevin Gould and Dave Kelly, who recorded what seems to have been the last album released by Grapevine. The development of music blogs elsewhere has made it possible for some of this music to be shared widely, as well as raising some difficult copyright issues.

We promised to post some of the features about the band from Buzz magazine. So far have three have gone up.

And we'd heard from John Pac. And a few weeks ago John came on the site and posted a number of comments and recollections, including some details of the lost third album. We also heard from the band's last member Pete Yates-Round and from Jeff Crow, who took over from Keith Rycroft and whose output was lost with the third album.

We've also during the year done work on the archive site, posting track listings for the four vinyl albums along with a Grapevine discography (which remains incomplete).

So what would we like to see happen this year?

First of all lots more contributions and photos!

Secondly we've got more Buzz material to post, especially from the Light Up the Fire era. There's probably also scope to mine material on album inserts and sleeves that not everyone has access to.

It would be good to have more detailed reviews and appreciations of Parchment albums and songs. Our posting on Hollywood Sunset led to a terrific analysis being submitted by an anonymous poster.

The search for the Grapevine story continues. There are still albums and bands to find out about and stories to recount - alongside the work the band did with the Pilgrim label.

We'd also like to know more about the band's early years, especially the story of Trinity Folk.

Then of course there's Roundabout 2008 in Liverpool which is already throwing up memorabilia but also seeking to foster new talent and fresh breath in the city of culture. It's already backing one young artist Rachael Wright and I guess a few people are looking forward to hearing her work. Let's pray for more.

Roundabout 2008

Liverpool's year as European City of Culture was launched today and over at Roundabout 2008 there are some developments too.

Of special interest is a collection of archive photographs. They include several taken at the Greenbelt Arts Festival, two of Parchment, one of Reynard, and several of Keith Rycroft.

The photos of Parchment are taken during a marquee performance, not mainstage. It's difficult to make out which line-up it is but it's not the original

Roundabout was - and I think still is - an arts project and drama group, which also provided a focus for some of the talented musicians who came together to form Parchment and other bands, such as Reynard.

The Roundabout 08 project seems to have developed slowly but also seems to be alive. There's one big event advertised so far, a concert by gospel veterans The Blind Boys of Alabama.

While in Liverpool, we should signpost another interesting site related to the city. This is the Crossbeats site which is packed with archive information from the 1960s and is where we obtained one of the pictures of the Trinity Folk that was posted earlier.

Happy Christmas!

Angel voices singing high

Angel voices singing low

Pointing upwards to the sky

Showing us the way to go

Angel voices sing your song

Sing it loud, sing it clear

Telling us it won't be long

'Til the Holy One is here

from Rehearsal for a Reunion

A very happy and joyful Christmas to all and thanks to those who have participated in this site over the year.

The lost third album

Sometime ago we commented on the mystery of the lost album, the existence of which John Pac revealed in the sleeve notes of Simply...Parchment. The album was to have been the third released by the band on Pye.

Today John's been on the site adding a number of interesting comments, including some information about the lost album. He can't remember all the tracks but has recalled several. Here they are:

Chicago North West, originally recorded by Juicy Lucy.
Fast train byJohn Pac ( similar to Getting Out of This Town on Hollywood Sunset, he says; that would make it uptempo and acoustic).
How can a poor man stand such times as this (a Ry Cooder great, sung by Sue McClellan).
Money Honey, which was "a brilliant version of a classic".
Denomination Blues, a Ry Cooder song later recorded by the band on Shamblejam.
People and Places, the band's own song, later recorded on Rehearsal for a Reunion.

He says there were some "great classic tracks" but the album was unfinished. I wonder if the album had a name or artwork.

John adds: "Unfortunately the 2 inch masters were also missing at least those that had
vital tracks on them, and there has been no sight of the rough mixes. Believe me I've
searched everywhere and asked everyone."

Well the songs give a flavour of the band's direction at the time but given the band's ability to make other people's songs entirely their own, only a part flavour. Let's be sure this album's waiting in heaven if it's not going to turn up down here!

John also separately tells the story of the band's dobro. You can find that here.

Finally a message for you, John! Randy, the Liberation Suite drummer, has tried to reply to your email but his reply's been blocked by an anti-spammer. He's on a gmail account.

Interesting blog posting

A folk-oriented blog, Time Has Told Me, has posted the album of Light Up the Fire, for downloading. The posting has generated some interesting comments and recollections, especially one about the band playing at someone's school and the headmaster commenting that their (acoustic) sound was "a little loud".

There's got to be mixed feelings about the album being posted for a free download. Some download blogs aim to select albums that are not available on CD and almost all will remove a posting if approached by copyright holders. A lot of bands are delighted to see their work being circulated to new audiences and, of course, in many cases it is very hard to track down the copyright-holders.

In the case of this album almost all the tracks are available on the Simply...Parchment CD. I picked up a CD version a few years ago but it seems to have been a pirate. I believe there was a CD release in the early 90s and I saw a copy change hands on ebay a few weeks ago for a little over £10, rather more than the original vinyl fetches. There's no reason why the posting would deter people from buying Simply...Parchment as the collection encompasses all four albums and some of the singles too. So the effect may well be the opposite and collectors may rush to discover the rest of the band's music and even the wonderful songs released by Sue McClellan through her more recent band, River.

Fish Co - A Grapevine star

Fish Co. Beneath the Laughter. 1977. Producer John Pac. Grapevine 114.

A few weeks ago I got a listen of Fish Co's first album, which was everything I expected - enjoyable, poppy, easy listening songs performed by a Simon and Garfunkel style duo.

Produced by John Pac, the album, Can't Be Bad, included Sue McClellan and Peter Yates-Round on backing vocals on the track goodnight brothers. The sleeve actually records Sue M as "Sue (Won't you come out of that field and stop writing poetry) McClellan".

Now some samples of their Grapevine-issued second album Beneath the Laughter have become available. According to Ken Scott, the expert on the genre, this album is "altogether much darker" than the first. The duo had transformed into a full scale band

Getting Fish Co was a triumph for Grapevine and a mixed blessing. Grapevine may have been the most progressive Christian label but Fish Co, led by the eccentric and much lamented Steve Fairnie, had its sights on the avant garde.

According to some accounts, the band had transformed itself into a new post-punk electro-band, Writz, even before Beneath the Laughter hit the shops. By the time I saw them perform at Greenbelt 1980 they had changed again into Famous Names.

There's now a website which documents Fairnie's amazing and brave career and also offers the samples I have listened to.

These are a revelation, especially if you are looking for the Parchment legacy. Great songs backed by blues guitar, folkie, harmonising female backing vocals by Bev Sage and Barbie Benson of the kind that Parchment specialised in and amazing fade-outs. The sound is that of Shamblejam.

You can listen to Fish Co's first, Myrrh-issued album, Can't Be Bad, here, at the Ancient Star Song Blog.

You can find the Beneath the Laughter samples and the Fairnie story here at fairnie.net. This link takes you directly to the story of the album.

Grapevine's last album?

Dave Kelly, whose album Crowning of a Simple Man, was, we believe, released as Grapevine 142, has been in contact.

Dave has generously shared some of his experience of that time, giving a terrific insight into the life of a musician of the period and paying tribute to John Pac's skills. Pac produced a flute and fiddle player from Ireland and a bagpiper for the album. Other backing music came from Dylan's then backing band. Sadly the release of the album was overshadowed by an awful personal tragedy which hit Dave. You can find his account here.

The album was initially released by Pilgrim America and presumably was put on Grapevine for a UK release. So far as we believe it was the last release on the Grapevine label although information about the last round of releases in 1980 has been hard to come by.

Dave has supplied the album's tracklisting:
Side One
1/ King of Love
2/ God Knows Your Heart
3/ Tonight
4/ Supernatural Man
5/ Dead or Alive

Side Two
1/ Turn Your Back
2/ Love Night and Day
3/ Trouble
4/ Sandy
5/ Ballad of J.C.

Kevin Gould

Kevin Gould, who was responsible for the marvellous Clear Vision album on Grapevine has been in touch with a number of sites seeking archive material. Kevin's bringing out a new album and it sounds like an interesting project. He plans to link it with a website and is looking for pictures of his early career, which kicked off in 1973. The 1978 Clear Vision album had Parchment providing backing vocals as a band and we wondered if this was the last recording of them performing together as a band.

If you can help, you can find more details at the Ancient Star Song

Pace - The Trial

Pace. The Trial. 1976. Grapevine 104
For their fourth album on the Grapevine label, the team embarked on a musical with a group called Pace. This depicted the trial of Jesus Christ. John Pac joined the performers on mandolin and Pete Yates-Round on the drums. I think I would have enjoyed it in 1976. Now it just seems like a Jesus Christ Superstar imitation, including that annoying way in which rock performers declaimed dialogue during musicals, and doesn't seem to add much to it. It's been posted by the Heavenly Grooves blog. You can download it from there and there's more information also.It would be interesting to know the background - was it written for a touring production?

Some Grapevine goodies

Unity. Changes. 1978.
Producer: John Pantry. Grapevine 123.
A terrific Abba style album of mid-70s pop. Side one bops all the way through. Side 2 is slower, mainly devoted to beautifully sung ballads, but its first track Mr Goodlife is a disco classic which sounds as much like the contemporary Scissor Sisters as anyone else.

This band seems to have hailed from Ayr, Scotland, and included somewhere between 16 and 18 members, of whom five sung as soloists. The mainstays were the Goudie brothers and the drummer Ray Goudie has continued to be influential musically, writing the musical Luv Esther.

As for the rest of the band members, this is their group picture from the back of the album. A group of denim-clad mid-70s young people. Are you among them?

Full tracklistings

There are now full tracklistings for the four original Parchment albums posted on the archive site. The listings link back to some of the earlier postings on this site with commentaries on individual albums or songs. The next step, I think, is to post the authorship of each song.

There are also comments posted on several of the Grapevine postings with links to other work by the artists or source material for the albums.

Hollywood Sunset

We've spent months working on an article on Hollywood Sunset. It's just been posted but the way the blog system works it's posted when it was first drafted back in March. So follow this link to see it.

Grapevine Discography

There's now a discography of the Grapevine label posted on our archive pages here. There are some gaps so if you can help fill them, please let us know.

Dave and Dana's other records

Before recording with Pilgrim/Grapevine Dave and Dana Price recorded one album, which appears to have been self-published: Satisfied in about 1975. This is an album of beautiful simplicity as it consists solely of Dana Lee Price singing and Dave Price playing the guitar with no accompaniment or embellishments. The songs include a couple of Appalachian folk melodies and quite a few covers, especially of songs by Lou Hayles, who was a member of Meet Jesus Music. The only self-penned song is Remain in Me, which also appears on Come on In.

Their fourth album Right Track was released by the Canadian label Rivendell in 1980 and distributed in the UK by Myrrh. Dave Price himself produced it. It uses one or two contemporary electronic effects and is a much more electric album than the earlier ones. It has six of the couple's own songs. Both albums are hugely enjoyable in their own right but maybe lack the heights that the Grapevine production teams, of Parchment and John Pantry, achieved with this couple on Come on In and Morning Star.

That's four albums by this talented couple but no news of them beyond 1980.

Three Great Grapevine Albums

Bill Davidson Stars Wars of Darkness and Light. 1978. Producers: Sue McClellan and Pete Yates-Round. Grapevine 119.
Bill Davidson was with the Joy Strings, the legendary Salvation Army pop band of the 60s, and later played with another, rockier Sally Ann band, Good News, which, so far as I know, produced one great album of driving early 70s style rock New Life.
Star Wars was the first of two albums Bill produced with Grapevine. The second was I Belong To You, Grapevine 129. It shows him as an under-recognised singer-songwriter, using some of the new electronic backing that was emerging at the end of the decade. Publisher is MCPS, rather than Parchment Music.
Some great, and often biting, lyrics include the following: If Jesus came today he'd be a folk singer/He'd tell the truth like it has never been told./He couldn't blame the church for growing old/But he'd crucify the church for growing cold.

Or this:
See God's holy ministers playing at careers/Treading on the meek to get influential ears/Christian love gets so selective/that it sometimes disappears.

The cover tries bravely to reflect the ambitious theme but there's no light sabres! Drums by Pete Yates-Round, Bill does the backing vocals himself. You can hear the earlier New Life album here on the Heavenly Grooves blog.

(30/8/07) This album's now been posted for download at the Ancient Star Song blog .

Salt Beyond a Song. 1977. Producer John Pantry. Grapevine 111.
Celtic tinged folk from a Northern Irish band of four guys and two girls. Pete Yates-Round on the drums. Wonderful instrumentation with instruments including the Bhodran, claves, flute, tin whistles, mandolin, harmonica and 12-string guitar. Hovers on the brink of being a folk classic but let down by the limited contribution from the women vocalists. Publisher is Parchment Music.

Andy McCarroll Epitaph for a Rebel 1978. Producer Andy Kidd. Grapevine 116.

Hugely enjoyable soft rock album with a Billy Joel piano-bashing feel. One song Tombstone is a Dylanesque epic. Published by Parchment Music but no other input from the band. Keyboards by Pete Banks, of After the Fire and earlier of Narnia. Shaggy-haired McCarroll went on to form a New Wave band, Moral Support. McCarroll's first album Through Different Eyes Now came out in 1975 and you can hear it here on the Heavenly Grooves blog.

Is this the last gig?

Is this the last gig - and maybe even the last song, that last rousing rendition of Light Up the Fire in front of 30,000 people at the Greenbelt Festival in August 1978?
The picture is taken from the Greenbelt 74-83 commemorative album produced by Myrrh records.
Sue McClellan is definitely wearing the same boiler suit as at Kamperland, a few weeks earlier and judging by her attitude may be leading the audience in the final singalong described by band member Pete Yates-Round.
Sadly the album does not contain live recordings. It is a great listen of Greenbelt greatest hits but the Parchment song is Light of the World from the Myrrh-issued Shamblejam three years earlier. Myrrh anthologised this track a number of times. With stunning electronic effects, it is probably the most sophisticated track on the album, if not the most fun.
Does anyone have any better pictures of Greenbelt 1978 - or indeed any Greenbelt appearances?

Parchment's last member

We've been privileged to hear from Pete Yates-Round, the last band member to join Parchment.

Pete has answered a number of questions for us and also given an account of his time with Parchment and how he came to join the band. It's a great story. We'll report on some of his other answers in the future - as they relate to other topics covered on this site.

Pete places the band's last gig, and effective end, at the Greenbelt Festival in summer 1978, when they ended with a rousing performance of Light Up the Fire.

We asked Pete what it was like playing with Parchment.

His reply: "A fantastic experience: It was a great blessing and honour to be involved with such great people as Sue and John. I think it is fair to say we pushed the boundaries of Christian music during our time together. I know I came in at the tail end but my time with the band was the most concentrated and rewarding time. I met and worked with the best and hopefully the albums which I worked on with the others will stand the test of time and be an inspiration to others.

"As for our public and fans? Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant! The lasting memory of Parchment will always be the final Greenbelt gig when we sang as final farewell 'Light up The Fire' and 30,000 people sang the entire song back to us!"

Pete told us how he came to join the band. Here's his story:
"I think that it is safe to say that Parchment helped change the way that Christian music was accepted by an older Christian generation that was struggling to understand the then modern music culture.

"I remember seeing Parchment from afar at the Festival of Light concert in Hyde Park when they were appearing with Gordon Giltrap and others. I really felt inspired to go back to my church youth group and start writing and singing songs of a more contemporary nature. The Christian music revolution had begun; we suddenly had a bridge that connected our secular tastes with our worship music. We were able to express our beliefs and feelings with our own musical styles. Suddenly we had Christian 'pop stars' and although there was suspicion from some of the older Christian folk that this would lead us all away from the light, others were delighted that suddenly more young people were joining congregations across the country.

"Apart from my local performances in my home town Tonbridge, my Christian musical career really leapt forward when I was asked to join the Christian band Narnia, fronted by the couple Pauline and Jack Filby. We all lived at Cliff Richards house in Little Dunmow, Essex which he donated as a Christian Arts Centre and which was run by Jack and Pauline.

"These were great days as I was able to write and play with great musicians as John Russell (Starship,ATF) Tim Hatwell and of course the hugely talented Pete Banks (After the Fire). We rubbed shoulders with Cliff and guests which included, Mick Abrahams (Blodwyn Pig) Tony Rivers (Strawbs) and even Eric Clapton.

"It was whilst working with Narnia I was first exposed to TV, Radio and appearances at such venues as Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's, The Marquee club and the famous Concerts in St Pauls Cathedral.

"I then had the opportunity of joining an international rock youth group named Credo, (this is where I met and worked with Jan van Srallen, lead guitarist with Whitsuntide Easter, we became firm friends, and it was my influence to include them and new band Voiz onto the Grapevine label) which was based in Holland but then toured Europe and the USA. At 17 (1973) this was a real adventure for me, so I joined and so began my love of being on the road, I lived out of a suitcase for the next eight years.

"After my tour with Credo, I returned to Holland and started to work on the Youth for Christ coffee bar circuit. The Dutch loved the English Christian musicians, and I toured with some great acts, such as Fish Co, Nutshell and of course Parchment.

"I worked for two weeks in Steenwijk with Sue, John, Nick, and Brian as their support and naturally we all got to know each other extremely well. We would jam together and I was overawed that these guys really appreciated my music.

"To complicate matters I was talent spotted by the then CBS label one night and put under contract. The terms insisted that I stay in Holland and wait for my turn to be groomed. I had no real desire to stay and wanted to get back to England and re-establish contact with Sue and John. I did a bunk, and met up with the band in Covent Garden, Brian had decided to leave and they needed a third person for the Chepstow gig. I naturally obliged, and that was the start of the new era."

He added: "You will notice that during those early years a lot of the most gifted and musically influential young Christians' emerged. Paul Field, Steve Rowles, Steve Fairney, Mo Macaferty, Mal Grolsh and many others helped influence and inspire a whole succession of generations to give Christ inspired music the recognition and acceptance that it needed to prove an effective witness."

Pete still lives in Bristol where the band was based in its final years.

He told us: "I stayed in Bristol met my wife and have two grown up girls. I have had a succesfull time in the motorcar business and now work as a consultant to several Prestige manufacturers. I also have a magazine which is just coming up to its first anniversary. I am still involved with the local village Church and community. I keep in regular contact with my great mate Nick Ryan (Bass player writer and producer) and spend quite a lot of time at his mountain home and studio in Kerry South West Ireland writing and recording."

Hollywood Sunset

Hollywood Sunset was released in late 1973 by Pye with publicity in the national music press. In December 1973 BUZZ magazine promised a review of the album and an interview with the band in the next issue.

The interview appeared but not the review. And, remarkably, throughout the interview the new album was never referred to by name but only as "the new album".

Why could this have been? Hollywood Sunset was one of two albums to break the mould of the Jesus music scene at this time. The other was Larry Norman's So Long Ago the Garden. The magazine was similarly dismissive of Norman's controversial album, which, in its various pressings, contained little "evangelistic" material and a great deal of sharp comment and introspection.

Whilst BUZZ's parent organisation, Musical Gospel Outreach had pioneered the use of contemporary music styles, it's name indicates the belief that the music was largely there to support evangelisation.

Hollywood Sunset never once mentioned the name of Jesus or God. Just two songs had an explicit Christian message, Gift and Death in Jerusalem. You are my morning was a worship song with ambiguous lyrics. There was road music, urban angst, mysticism and some mild eroticism.

It was intended to break Parchment out of the Christian ghetto and establish them as serious recording artists. It was a professionally produced, early 70s pop album - but was probably about 12 months too late in terms of the rapidly-shifting 1970s pop tastes. It remains a great album and like all four Parchment albums is best listened to as a whole.

Although its pop-style makes it in some ways more dated than the other three albums, it's also probably the strongest lyrically. Songs like You are my morning, Gift and Getting out of this town are beautifully crafted whilst Dobbie's Song and I'm a Man expressed a thoughtful mysticism. The title track, written a couple of years before Star Wars transformed Hollywood's fortunes, seems quite meaningless now but has a classic Parchment sound whilst Death in Jerusalem's freaky electronic effects make it a psych folk classic.

John Pac told Buzz interviewer Danny Smith: "I think it's wrong to trick people into the concert and then to bang the gospel at them. If the music is related to their lives, they're prepared to listen."

Danny Smith wrote: "Parchment's struggle to retain their artistic integrity has caused concern - even doubts and rumours about their Christian commitment."

Pac responded: "People might feel we've compromised but that's not so..."

Curiously the water-coloured sunset cover was echoed by Sue Mack's band River on their second album Rise Like the Sun.

Here's the review that Buzz could have written: "A mould-breaking second album from our greatest band. You don't think it's a Christian album? Check out the ballad Gift and the barnstorming Death in Jerusalem. The album shows the band at their song-writing best with profound and poetic lyrics in songs such as You are My Morning and sing-a-long melodies on songs like Butterfly. Are Parchment still a folk band? This is as much pop as folk but there are still the distinctive harmonies, the mandolin, the dobro and the furiously played acoustic guitars.This is very much a road album, a bunch of musicians leaving their native Liverpool to see the wider world. But will it break the band out of the Christian ghetto? We fear not but hope they won't give up and will continue to write and record innovative and cutting edge music."

Here is that BUZZ interview in full from January 1974.

Live in 73!

Thanks to Roel Velema for these pictures of Parchment performing live in the Netherlands in the summer of 1973. The pictures show John Pac, Sue McClellan and a third member, who must be Jeff Crow. Crow joined them in 1973 but never appeared on a published album with the band although he may have performed on the third lost album that was never released by Pye.

Here is Roel's account:
"Friesland, Summer 1973. Together with two friends, we sailed the lakes of Friesland (the northwestern province of The Netherlands). One afternoon we tied up the boat in Sneek, a town in Friesland. Soon we discovered that Youth for Christ had tent meetings there. We - convinced and dedicated Christians - decided to visit those meetings.

To our surprise we were treated that evening to a concert of extraordinary quality by a British group I never forgot: Parchment.

Promptly that evening I bought their two records: Light up the Fire and Hollywood Sunset. The group personally signed the latter album and I treasured both albums ever since.

Later Parchment also performed a few songs on Dutch television.

So enjoy the three pictures I took that evening in Sneek."

Note: We're planning a feature on the Hollywood Sunset era in the near future. The album was officially released in late 1973.