Search - Bruce Hibbard :: Never Turnin Back

Classic CCM -- Without the Pops and Clicks

SkiBum | 06/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When Bruce Hibbard's "Never Turnin' Back" first came out in 1980, I had finally found CCM that took me back to my high school years. I LOVED Earth, Wind & Fire, and I had also listened to a lot of the new style of Jazz ("Fusion") that had emerged in the late 70's -- primarily with the release of George Benson's "Breezin'" ! Yes .. I was a weird dude compared to all of my other friends who preferred Fleetwood Mac (although I liked THEM too!), the Allman Brothers, Boston, Lynyrd Skynyrd, etc.



When I started listening to CCM, I enjoyed Phil Keaggy, 2nd Chapter, Chuck Girard, and the others, but I still missed the Funk, Soul, and Jazz stylings of my past, with extra tight Pop thrown in. "NTB" filled the gap nicely, and the lyrics were uplifting as well.



The CD starts out right out of the gate with the sprightly title cut, and doesn't let up until the final note of "We Are All His Children." If this CD were released in secular radio in its day, it would have sponsored Top 10 singles for three years. This is one of my favorite CDs of a collection of hundreds, spanning 25 years or so of CCM and secular music! I could try as I do with other CDs to mention three to five favorite cuts, but it is not possible with "NTB." It is THAT good!



Yes .. the price of this CD is a little high, but not so of a rare import such as this. It is well worth every penny, plus shipping! The mastering is first rate, and if the producers of the CD didn't have access to the original master tapes, I would be VERY surprised given the sonic quality.



The roster of musicians is from the "A-List" of Christian music of the late 70s and early 80s. Hadley Hockensmith on guitars (Keith Green, Bread, David Gates, Neil Diamond, America, Phil Keaggy), Harlan Rogers on keys (Gordon Lightfoot, Keith Green, Johnny Rivers, Phil Keaggy, Maria Muldaur), Bill Maxwell - drums (Keith Green, Maria Muldaur, the Talbot Brothers, Art Garfunkel), and the BGVs of Kelly Willard, Bryan Duncan, and Randy Thomas.



I find CCM of the last fifteen years or so (with few exceptions -- what's left of the 77s still make some pretty good tunes, for example) to be quite bland, forgettable, and over-produced. What passes for CCM these days is mostly Nashville/Country pop. Thus I find old classics like this one to be pure Gold! (Now .. if we could just get Mylon's first album from MCA from the original master tapes, and the Brothers Johnson's "Passage" album on CD)."