Harmony 1970s UK Jesus Music Contemporary Christian Nutshell Paul Field

$

35

For sale is this self titled LP from HARMONY.

They were four young ladies from Glasgow Scotland, from a fellowship called Seaman’s Bethel.

This the groups debut album is simply titled Harmony and it was recorded in 1972 on a small British label, Breakthrough Records. It’s numbered HP 101. It was recorded by Hildenborough Productions, so I guess that’s were the HP came from.

The names of the vocalists are, Esther Brooks, Edith Stevenson, Maureen McCaffererty and Celia Reid. No mention is made of the musicians, probably studio players. It does mention that Esther played piano in performances.

The music is not real rocking and is more contemporary early 70s pop and inspirational. However a couple of tunes are a bit more upbeat and probably were considered slightly rocky by the churches of the day.

Besides early Jesus Music covers and a cover of the spiritual/mainstream hits What The World Needs Now and Put Your Hand In The Hand there are a couple of tunes that might be originals. A few of the tracks on the album are Oh Happy Day, Every Where I look,I know Where I am Going, I’m Going Back, He Looked Beyond My Faults, Morning Has Broken and I’v Got Confidence. The music at times is pretty upbeat and album doesn’t put you to sleep on the mellow tracks. It definitely sounds like a late 60s, early 70s release. The ladies have really nice voices and the harmonies are fantastic!! The players are not bad, again probably studio players. Production is not up to today’s standards but I have heard worse on some Jesus Music era recordings. I have only played it twice. To see what it sounded like, and to check the sound quality. It was a pleasant album, but not really my cup of tea. I did recognize that the ladies were really good and the playing was good as well.

I have not been able to find out much about these girls. I did see that one of the ladies ,Maureen Mo McCafferty went on to join the UK group Nutshell and play with UK Christian music pioneer, Paul Field.

I don’t know if the group ever played in the US or if this album ever had another pressing or they ever made another album. With this being on a small UK label I doubt there were that many made, and probably not that many made it across the pond to the United States. So this could be very rare.

I know the Jesus music movement and contemporary Christian music was not as big in the UK as the US. So these UK ladies were a pioneering pop group in 1972. I wonder if many of the UK pastors and church’s said they were playing the Devils music back then in the UK like they did in the US?

The record is 50 years old,, and it is used and has been played. However there are not any skips, and while there is some light record noise. It’s the normal pops crackles and hisses you hear in older LPs However there is not as much as I expected and you can enjoy the album without much distraction from them. I think a good cleaning would silence most of them. This album may be nearly 50 years old, but the vinyl was well taken care of. I have newer albums that are much worse. . I have played it twice, I am not going to play it again.

The cover looks pretty good, but the glue holding it together has came loose. It just needs reglued where the sides come together. I thought about doing it, but I did not want to risk possible having the glue run and stain it. When I photographed the cover the lighting made it look like it had splotches,it’s only from the lighting. It doesn’t really look like that. There are some bends and blemishes on the album cover, but no major stains, rips or tearing. I have tried to describe it well. However I am not a record grading professional. I am not describing it as per a professional grading system. It is a used record and it sounds good to my ears. The cover needs work. See the pictures. It’s sold as is. Please ask any questions before you decide to purchase. Once purchased the sell is considered final.

This is a very rare classic and a must have LP for any serious collector of early Jesus music.

I will shop overseas, but the buyer will then be charged shipping by Ebay’s international shipping Dept.

Shipped in the US with USPS Media Mail.