Love Song (band)
Encyclopedia
Love Song was one of the main Jesus music
bands, one of the first Christian rock
bands. It was founded in 1970 by Chuck Girard
, Tommy Coomes, Jay Truax
, and Fred Field. Additionally, the earliest members included David Ingram
on keyboards, Ernie Earnshaw
on drums and Jack Schaeffer
on bass. It was Schaeffer who came up with the group's name. Denny Correll
, formerly of Blues Image, also sang with the group early on before they became Christians. Field was replaced by Bob Wall, who played guitar on all three albums. Drummer John Mehler
, who had joined the fledgling group in its infancy, then left with Field, rejoined in time to play on Final Touch and Feel the Love. Another latter-day member was Phil Keaggy
, who joined to replace departing Wall in 1973 but had already left the group before the recording of Final Touch and Feel the Love.
They were a part of the Jesus Movement
of the late 60s and early 70s, coming out of Chuck Smith
's Calvary Chapel
. Their classic debut album, Love Song (1972), is considered one of the greatest Christian music albums of all time. The group toured heavily in the early 70s, becoming very popular both in the US and abroad. By 1976, the Jesus Movement
was being replaced by Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) as the leading style of Christian rock
, and it was becoming more business than ministry. Many of the bands that had started the movement began to break up, and after a final "Reunion Tour" in 1976 which resulted in the Feel The Love double live album, Love Song was no more.
Many of the original members continued with solo careers and a few are still performing today. In 1994, the band recorded another reunion album, Welcome Back which included new versions of the songs off the first three albums.
Love Song has released a box-set containing their first three albums plus a DVD of their 1973 concert in San Antonio. All original tapes on all three projects (Love Song, Final Touch, and the live Feel the Love albums) have been re-mastered at Mastering Lab. Recording engineer Bill Schnee assisted Tommy Coomes and Chuck Girard in “the work. The drum solo has been re-included in the live album, which will mark the first time that there has been a full digitally re-mastered version of that album. All 3 original albums and the DVD of the 1973 concert are also available to buy separately on the Love Song store.
Love Song started a reunion tour in 2010 with Calvary Chapel founding Pastor Chuck Smith touring throughout the U.S..
Jesus music
Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music which originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movement...
bands, one of the first Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
bands. It was founded in 1970 by Chuck Girard
Chuck Girard
Chuck Girard is a pioneer of Contemporary Christian music. He was born August 27, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and moved to Santa Rosa, California in his young teens...
, Tommy Coomes, Jay Truax
Jay Truax
Jay Truax is a bass player and singer with Love Song, a pioneer Christian rock group. Jay formed a Salt Lake City rock group with John Mehler and Fred Field called Spirit of Creation...
, and Fred Field. Additionally, the earliest members included David Ingram
David Ingram
David Ingram was a Hollywood, California based studio session musician, songwriter and arranger. As a keyboard player, Ingram was a member of the Marin County based group AnExchange, who toured Europe with The Platters and The Coasters, backed up Carlo Thomas, worked with record producer Bob...
on keyboards, Ernie Earnshaw
Ernie Earnshaw
Ernie Earnshaw is a musician and recording artist. He began playing drums with the popular surf-band of the 1960s, the Royale Monarchs at the Bob Eubanks Cinnamon Cinder night clubs in Los Angeles and performed on Sam Riddell's Ninth St. West dance program. Producer Gary Usher signed the new...
on drums and Jack Schaeffer
Jack Schaeffer
Jack Schaeffer is an American musician, recording artist, record producer and arranger.-Music career:...
on bass. It was Schaeffer who came up with the group's name. Denny Correll
Denny Correll
Dennis "Denny" Correll was a singer in the 1960s rock music group Blues Image as well as a Contemporary Christian musician active in the 1970s. He was an early touring member of the seminal Jesus music band Love Song, writing their tune "Changes" which appeared on that band's debut LP Love Song...
, formerly of Blues Image, also sang with the group early on before they became Christians. Field was replaced by Bob Wall, who played guitar on all three albums. Drummer John Mehler
John Mehler
John Mehler, born August 27, 1948 in Long Beach, California, drummer for Love Song, Spirit of Creation, Noah and other bands. John graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1969 and soon thereafter moved to Salt Lake City with two musician friends, Chuck Fraher and Jay Truax to form Spirit of...
, who had joined the fledgling group in its infancy, then left with Field, rejoined in time to play on Final Touch and Feel the Love. Another latter-day member was Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 50 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets...
, who joined to replace departing Wall in 1973 but had already left the group before the recording of Final Touch and Feel the Love.
They were a part of the Jesus Movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
of the late 60s and early 70s, coming out of Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith (pastor)
Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith, , is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement...
's Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches with over one thousand congregations worldwide. Calvary Chapel also maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of...
. Their classic debut album, Love Song (1972), is considered one of the greatest Christian music albums of all time. The group toured heavily in the early 70s, becoming very popular both in the US and abroad. By 1976, the Jesus Movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
was being replaced by Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) as the leading style of Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
, and it was becoming more business than ministry. Many of the bands that had started the movement began to break up, and after a final "Reunion Tour" in 1976 which resulted in the Feel The Love double live album, Love Song was no more.
Many of the original members continued with solo careers and a few are still performing today. In 1994, the band recorded another reunion album, Welcome Back which included new versions of the songs off the first three albums.
Love Song has released a box-set containing their first three albums plus a DVD of their 1973 concert in San Antonio. All original tapes on all three projects (Love Song, Final Touch, and the live Feel the Love albums) have been re-mastered at Mastering Lab. Recording engineer Bill Schnee assisted Tommy Coomes and Chuck Girard in “the work. The drum solo has been re-included in the live album, which will mark the first time that there has been a full digitally re-mastered version of that album. All 3 original albums and the DVD of the 1973 concert are also available to buy separately on the Love Song store.
Love Song started a reunion tour in 2010 with Calvary Chapel founding Pastor Chuck Smith touring throughout the U.S..
Discography
- Love Song (1972)
- Final Touch (1974)
- Feel The Love (1977) - double live album
- Welcome Back (1994)
- Love Song : The Book of Love Box Set (2010) contains three original albums plus a DVD of early 1973 concert and a CD of demo sessions titled The Early Years.
Reissues
- Love Song (2010) Remastered
- Final Touch (2010) Remastered
- Feel The Love (2010) Remastered - double live album. Now includes "Solo drum"
Videos
- "Live In San Antonio '73"-DVD (2010) Includes Live performance, photos and footage of a baptism led by Pastor Chuck Smith
Compilations
- First LoveFirst Love: a Historic Gathering of Jesus Music PioneersFirst Love is a documentary that looks back into the Jesus Music of the 1970s. In 1997, a group of Jesus Music pioneers gathered in southern California for a memorable 3 days of music and fellowship . The event was both recorded and filmed, and was released in a 2-CD/2-DVD set simply titled “First...
(1998) Various Artists