THIS ALBUM CONTAIN( 16-TRACKS)
1-UNBALANCED
2-SEVENS
3-THE YEARS GO DOWN
4-THE BEST I HAVE
5-BLUES SKY
6-RELATED(Alternate Jacked Version)
7-MR.MAGOO(Alternate Mix)
8-FLOWERS IN THE SAND(Alterante Mix)
9-OUTSKIRTS(Alterante Mix)
10-YOU STILL LOVE ME(Alternate Mix)
11-HONEY RUN(Instrumental Mix)
12-SHOTGUN ANGEL(Live)
13-GO WITH GOD BUT GO(Live)
14-PERFECT BLUES(Live)
15-DAVE'S BLUES(Live)
16-DENOMINATION BLUES(Live)
CREDITS:
Mike Roe - Guitars, Lead Vocals
Mark Harmon - Bass, Vocals
Bruce Spencer - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Guest Musicians:
Scott Reams - Percussion, Vocals
Carey Avery - Percussion
David Leonhardt - Guitar
Brian Meyers - Percussion
SEVENTY SEVENS-A GOLDEN FIELDS OF RADIOACTIVE CROWS-2001
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(12-TRACKS)
1-GENUINE
2-DOWN FROM YOU
3-U R TRIPPING
4-ONE MORE TIME
5-RISE
6-LEAVING
7-MR.MAGOO
8-RELATED
9-I'VE GOT
10-THERE FOREVER
11-MEAN GREEN SEASON
12-BEGIN
CREDITS:
Mike Roe - Guitar, Mandolin, Lead Vocals
Bruce Spencer - Drums, Percussion, Keyboards,Vocals
Mark Harmon - Bass, Upright Bass, Guitar, Keyboards
SEVENTY SEVENS-MORE MISERABLE THAN YOU'LL EVER BE-1990
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(11-TRACKS)
1-MISERABLE
2-U U U U
3-THE TREASURE IN YOU
4-COME & GONE
5-JESUS(Live)
6-I CAN'T GET OVER IT(Live)
7-WHAT WAS IN THAT LETTER(Vocal Rehearsal)
8-DO IT FOR LOVE(Stadium Mix)
9-DON'T SAY GOODBYE(Demo)
10-TATTOO
11-MISERABLE(Cover Version)
CREDITS:
Mike Roe - Guitar, Lead Vocals
Mark Tootle - Keyboard, Vocals, Guitar
Jan Eric Volz - Bass, Guitar, Vocals
Aaron Smith - Drums
Guest Musicians:
Sam E. Ching - Bass
Mark Harmon - Bass
Steve Griffith - Bass, Keyboards
John Skinner - Tenor Sax
Larry Tagg - Bass
Mike Urbano - Drums
SEVENTY SEVENS-DROWNING WITH LAND IN SIGHT-1994
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(12-TRACKS)
1-NOBODY'S FOOL BUT MINE
2-SNOWBLIND
3-SNAKE
4-INDIAN WINTER
5-FILM AT 11
6-MEZZO
7-COLD COLD NIGHT
8-DAVE'S BLUES
9-SOUNDS O' AUTUMN
10-THE JIB IS UP
11-ALONE TOGETHER
12-FOR CRYING OUT LOUD
CREDITS:
Michael Roe - Guitar, Lead Vocals, Harp, Mandolin
David Leonhardt - Guitar
Mark Harmon - Bass, Keyboards, Backing Vocals
Aaron Smith - Drums
SEVENTY SEVENS-PRAY NAKED-1992
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(12-TRACKS)
1-WOODY
2-SMILEY SMILE
3-PHONE EYES
4-KITES WITHOUT STRINGS
5-HAPPY ROY
6-DEEP END
7-THE RAIN KEPT FALLING IN LOVE
8-HOLY HOLD
9-LOOK
10-NUTS FOR YOU
11-PRAY NAKED
12-SELF-MADE TRAP
CREDITS:
Mike Roe - Lead Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Mark Harmon - Bass, Vocals, Electronic Percussion
David Leonhardt - Guitar
Aaron Smith - Drums
Guest Musicians:
Bongo Bob Smith - Ethnic & Orchestral Percussion
Roger Smith - Piano
Bill Harmon - Guitar, Vocals
SEVENTY SEVENS-EIGHTY EIGHT-1991
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(11-TRACKS)
1-PERFECT BLUES
2-I CAN'T GET OVER IT
3-WILD BLUE
4-MARY AND THE BABY ELVIS
5-CLOSER
6-WHERE IT'S AT
7-THE LUST,THE FLESH,THE EYES AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE
8-OVER UNDER SIDEWAYS DOWN
9-MERCY MERCY
10-YOU DON'T SCARE ME
11-I COULD LAUGH
CREDITS:
Michael Roe - Vocals, Guitar
Jan Eric - Bass, Backing Vocals
Mark Tootle - Keyboards, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Aaron Smith - Drums
Guest Musicians:
Sam E. Ching - Bass
Mark Harmon - Bass
Steve Griffith - Bass, Keyboards
John Skinner - Tenor Sax
Larry Tagg - bass
Mike Urbano - Drums
SEVENTY SEVENS-STICKS AND STONES-1990
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(14-TRACKS)
1-MT
2-NOWHERE ELSE
3-THIS IS THE WAY LOVE IS
4-PERFECT BLUES
5-DON'T THIS WAY
6-YOU WALKED IN THE ROOM
7-THE DAYS TO COME
8-THE LOOP
9-GOD SENDS QUAILS
10-LOVE WITHOUT DREAMS
11-DO IT FOR LOVE
12-THE LUST,THE FLESH,THE EYES AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE
13-PEARLS OF LIFE
14-BOTTOM LINE
CREDITS:
Mike Roe - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Jan Eric Volz - Bass, Vocals
Mark Tootle - Keyboard, Guitar
Guest Musicians:
Bongo Bob Smith - Samples, Patches
Chris Hillman - Mandolin, Bass, Vocals
Steve Griffith - Bass, Percussion
Mark Harmon - Bass
Jan Cleverly - Piano
SEVENTY SEVENS-SEVENTY SEVENS-1987
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(17-TRACKS)
1-DO IT FOR LOVE
2-I CAN'T GET OVER IT
3-WHAT WAS IN THAT LETTER
4-PEARL BEFORE SWINE
5-THE LUST,THE FLESH,THE EYES ADN THE PRIDE OF LIFE
6-FRAMES WITHOUT PHOTOGRAPHS
7-DON'T SAY GOODBYE
8-BOTTOM LINE
9-I COULD LAUGH
10-DO IT FOR LOVE(Demo Bonus Track)
11-I CAN'T GET OVER IT(Live 8 Track Demo Bonus Track)
12-THE LUST,THE FLESH,THE EYES AND THE PRIDE OF LIFE(Live 8-Track Demo Bonus Track)
13-FRAMES WITHOUT PHOTOGRAPHS(Live-8-Tracks Bonus Track)
14-DON'T SAY GOODBYE(Demos Bonus Track)
15-MT(Unreleased Alternative Mix Bonus Track)
15-DON'T THIS WAY(Single Version Bonus Track)
CREDITS:
Michael Roe - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Mark Tootle - Keyboards, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jan Eric - Bass, Backing Vocals
Aaron Smith - Drums
Guest Musicians:
Chris Hillman - Bass, Vocals (The Lust...)
Steve Griffith - Keyboards, Vocals
Jim Abegg - Spanish Guitar (I Could Laugh)
Bongo Bob Smith - Ethnic & Orchestral Percussion
Jon Skinner - Saxophone
Sam Ching - Bass
The Cleverly Brothers - Piano
Pete Sturge - Drum Sampling
SEVENTY SEVENS-ALL FALL DOWN-1984
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(16-TRACKS)
1-CAUGHT IN AN UNGUARDED MOMENT
2-SOMEONE NEW
3-SOMETHING'S HOLDING ON
4-YOUR PRETTY BABY
5-ANOTHER NAIL
6-BA-BA-BA-BA
7-UNDER THE HEAT
8-MERCY MERCY
9-YOU DON'T SCARE ME
10-MAKE A DIFFERENCE TONIGHT
11-LOCKED INSIDE THIS MOMENT(Bonus Tracks-Ballad Version)
12-LOCKED INSIDE THIS MOMENT(Bonus Track-Rock Version)
13-SOMEONE NEW(Bonus Track-12 Inch Version)
14-JESUS(Bonus Track)
15-TATTOO(Bonus Track)
16-SKETCH(Bonus Track)
CREDITS:
Michael Roe - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Mark Tootle - Keyboards, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Jan Eric - Bass, Guitar, Backing Vocals
Aaron Smith - Drums
Guest Musicians:
Bongo Bob Smith - Ethnic & Orchestral Percussion
Steve Griffith - Background Vocal
Charlie Peacock - Background Vocal, Keyboard, Electronic Per
SEVENTY SEVENS-PING PONG OVER THE ABYSS-1982
THIS ALBUM CONTAIN(15-TRACKS)
1-A DIFERRENT KIND OF LIGHT
2-HOW CAN YOU LOVE
3-IT'S SO SAD
4-FALLING DOWN A HOLE
5-SOEMONE NEW
6-RENAISSANCE MAN
7-PING PONG OVER THE ABYSS
8-TIME IS SLIPPING AWAY
9-DENOMINATION BLUES(That's All)
10-A DIFFERENT KIND OF LIGHT(Live Bonus Track)
11-HOW CAN YOU LOVE(Live Bonus Track)
12-IT'S SO SAD(Live Bonus Track)
13-FALLING DOWN A HOLE(Live Bonus Track)
14-PING PONG OVER THE ABYSS(Live Bonus Track)
15-DENOMINATION BLUES(Live Bonus Track)
CREDITS:
Michael Roe - Lead Vocals, Guitars
Mark Tootle - Keyboards, Guitars, Backing Vocals
Jan Eric - Bass, Guitars, Backing Vocals
Mark Proctor - Drums, Backing Vocals
Guest Musicians:
Steven Soles - Vocals
Chris MacDonald - Vocals
Tom Goodeluinas - Vocals
Larry Hirsch - Percussion
BIOGRAPHY:
The Seventy Sevens were originally called The Scratch Band and formed out of the Warehouse Christian Ministries Church. They came together as an outreach band. Their debut was released on Exit Records, a label that sought to put out albums geared toward mainstream audiences. The 77s have a very loyal fan base and are thought by many to be one of the best rock and roll bands ever, Christian or otherwise.
Members include:
Mark Harmon (Joined Group, 1992)Bass
David Leonhardt -Guitar
Mark Proctor (Left Group 1984)Drums
Scott Reams (Joined Group, 2000)Guitar Keyboards
Michael Roe - Vocals, Guitar
Aaron Smith (Group Member, 1984-95)Drums
Bruce Spencer (Joined Group, 1995)Drums
Mark Tootle (Left Group, 1992)Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
Jan Eric Volz (Left Group, 1992) Bass
According to Mark Allen Powell in the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), the Seventy Sevens "are typically regarded as one of the two or three best Christian rock bands of all time." Powell noted that the band has received critical acclaim, and that although their fan base is not large, the "fans they have are intensely, even maniacally, loyal."The band got its start in the early 1980s at a small church, Warehouse Ministries in Sacramanto, California, where the pastor, Louis Neely, thought that music would draw young people into the congregation. He called on musical members of the congregation to organize a rock band for the sole purpose of evangelizing. Seventy Sevens' founder, Mike Roe, told Powell in CCM that the music the band peformed "was not art. It was strictly pragmatic, an evangelistic tool." At the time, the band was known as the Scratch Band, Roe said, "because we were thrown together from scratch."At first, "I thought I was supposed to make all my songs like evangelistic tracts," Roe told Ted Olson in Christianity Today. However, he added, "After a while, you don't want your music to be just propaganda. You want it to stand outside of its context."Neely went on to establish Warehouse Christian Ministries, sponsor a radio show, Rock and Religion, and build a recording studio, Exit Records, which was devoted to producing Christian music. One of the bands he signed was the Scratch Band, soon to become the Seventy Sevens. According to Powell, as the band made this shift, Roe began working toward his goal of broadening the meaning and context of his music. Powell quoted writer John Thompson, who wrote in his book Raised by Wolves, "[The Seventy Sevens] blended everything from new wave to Zeppelin to the Crampz to U2 into a musical spasm that worked on every level.... The band was tight, and the Seventy Sevens quickly earned respect as one of the most skilled bands ever to play in the Christian market."Members of the fledgling Seventy Sevens included lead vocalist and guitarist Michael Roe, keyboard player Mark Tootle, bass player Jan Eric Volz, and drummer Mark Proctor. The band's first album, Ping Pong Over the Abyss, showed that the band had not completely abandoned its propaganda-driven origins. With songs like "Renaissance Man," which had lyrics such as "You can go to your college, you can go to your school/ But if you ain't got Jesus, you just an educated fool," the album fell short of what the Seventy Sevens would later prove they could deliver. Powell quoted Brian Quincy Newcomb, who wrote in CCM that the album's flaws included songs that were merely "witnessing tools and apologetics ... as opposed to personal artistic statements." According to Powell, Roe later said, "I consider it a Scratch Band album. That album should never have gone out under the name of the Seventy Sevens."For their next album, All Fall Down, the band added drummer Aaron Smith. Thompson described the album as having "a heightened sense of texture, lyrical vulnerability, and candor." According to Powell, Thompson also wrote that the album was "one of the most important records of the Christian music genre, an album that would influence an entire generation of other musicians." The album's influence was heightened by the fact that it was distributed by mainstream label A&M, and enhanced by a video for one of its singles, "Mercy Mercy," which was briefly shown on MTV. CCM chose the album as one of the Ten Best Albums of 1984.Following the success of this album, the band shied away from being labeled as "Christian," hoping they could make the transition to a major mainstream label. "The minute you're called a 'Christian' band it becomes a cartoon," Roe told Mark Brown in the Rocky Mountain News. "We felt our music and art were legitimate and didn't want to ghettoize it in any way. That limits your throw. We wanted to have the widest throw possible."In an attempt to cross over to the mainstream, in 1987 the band released a "debut" album titled The Seventy Sevens on Island Records. However, the debut was overwhelmed by the release of U2's phenomenal album The Joshua Tree by the same label in the same year. The Joshua Tree drew so much attention from the public that the label's other releases were lost in the shadows. Even so, according to Powell, Rolling Stone critic Margret Mifflin commented that the Seventy Sevens "have come up with a sound that suggests not only that they know where they're coming from, but also that they're going places."Perhaps because the album didn't receive the attention it deserved, it did not take the band into the mainstream as they had hoped. Roe told Powell that the failure convinced him that he would not achieve widespread acceptance and commercial success in the mainstream market. He concluded that he should drop the idea and concentrate on the artistic merit of his music: "I figured, if we can't get on the radio with [this album], well, it isn't going to happen."In 1992 the band broke up and then re-formed, with Roe and Smith and new members David Leonhardt and Mark Harmon. They recorded another album, also titled The Seventy Sevens by the record label, although the band called it Pray Naked. The band's own title was meant to refer to prayer in which one was totally honest with God, but many conservative radio stations, marketers, and listeners found the title offensive. The official name The Seventy Sevens simply resulted in confusion with the earlier album by the same name. According to Powell, the album was "probably not one of the best Christian albums of all time, but it's a solid collection of alternative rock and pop songs." On 1994's Drowning with Land in Sight, the band included a cover of Led Zeppelin's song "Nobody's Fault but Mine," which was originally a gospel song performed by Blind Willie Johnson. The band combined Zeppelin-style playing with the original Christian lyrics of the song, setting the tone for the rest of the album. In addition to drawing from Zeppelin, the band was influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Alice in Chains, and Black Sabbath while making the album. They also incorporated their own emotional struggles into the songs: Roe's marriage was heading toward divorce, and Leonhardt was undergoing cancer treatments for Hodgkin's disease throughout the creation of the album. Although some listeners were uncomfortable with these darker emotions, Roe felt that this emphasis on darkness and suffering fit into the Christian concepts of sin and struggle, and the resulting need for Christ as savior. According to Powell, Thompson called the album "one of the best records the Christian music industry has ever seen." In 1995 the band changed its membership again; Leonhardt and Smith left, and the band now consisted of Roe, Harmon, and drummer Bruce Spencer. The new trio produced Tom Tom Blues, an eclectic collection of tunes inspired by such diverse artists as Jimi Hendrix, Tommy James and the Shondells, and Tom Petty.
In 2001 the band produced a long-awaited album, A Golden Field of Radioactive Crows, which Powell called "one of the group's finest works." Powell noted that "there is probably no other [Christian music group] that would offer a better entry point for open-minded fans of classic rock ... to discover what the parallel universe of Christian music sometimes has to offer." Roe agreed that the band's music should not be pigeonholed. "We don't fit into any corporate structure whatsoever," he told Mark Brown. "Our music is essentially American music. It no more belongs in a church than in an alleyway. It belongs to anyone who digs it.".
The truth is that the 77's might be the best rock & roll band in the world. From their inception in the early 80's, this Sacramento-based unit has built a well-earned reputation as quite simply one of the best rock and roll bands anywhere, gathering a strong following of committed fans who insist that of all the bands that matter, the 77's are among the few that matter most. They have left many a critic's thesaurus tattered and torn, searching for the right adulatory adjectives, and have for many come to epitomize the very essence of the "cutting edge."
There's just one problem. After twelve years and seven releases, very few people have ever heard them, and their reason is simple: they're a relentlessly intense "alternative" rock and roll band, who are also explicitly, although far from typically, a "Christian" rock and roll band. The 77's are also a perfect example of what Larry Norman meant when he talked about being "too Christian for the radio, and too radio for the Church." Indeed, the enigmatic 77's have been a puzzle to the CCM establishment, who have been unable to find a place for the band's thoughtful and dark lyrics in the context of positive Christian radio. Meanwhile, the arbiters of mainstream radio might welcome the band's intense honesty, but are terrified of that honesty in the context of an explicit faith. In many ways, the 77's have been caught in the middle, the quintessential "underground band," seemingly destined to perennially set trends without ever being trendy.http://robertigno.webs.com/
But with their newest release for Myrrh Records, Drowning with Land in Sight, the 77's seem poised to reverse that destiny. A perfect follow-up to their 1992 self-titled release, Drowning is as an intense and provocative record as any that will be released for any market this year, and one that cannot be ignored by either Christian or mainstream radio.
Musically, this record captures Mike Roe and company at their finest, hard-rocking best. Perhaps the most intense disc on a Christian label in years, Drowning flows in the trajectory of songs like "Woody" or "Look" from their last project, or "Perfect Blues" from their 1987 release for Island records. The opening track, the infamous "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (which Led Zeppelin stole form Gospel pioneer Blind Willie Johnson) sets the tone for the disc, an all-out, no-holds-barred, sonic assault on the listener. With the rhythmic foundation laid relentlessly by bassist Mark Harmon and legendary drummer Aaron Smith, Roe's searing lead guitar work and second guitarists and co-songwriter Dave Leonhardt's exceptional support work have opportunity to shine on the disc's 60 minutes worth of music. There is little doubt after listening to Drowning that the 77's are no sanitized studio creation: they are a real, live, sweaty rock and roll band who cheerfully celebrate their musical influences, among whom they count such a diverse grouping as Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys, and even recent modern rockers like Pearl Jam or the Stone Temple Pilots.Nobody's Fault's" original Gospel lyrics set the thematic tone for Drowning as well, with their three-fold affirmation of the life and death difficulty of life, the possibility of redemption, and our responsibility to live in the light of both these truths."I got a Bible in my house/I got a Bible in my house/If I don't read it and my soul dies, well/It's nobody's fault but mine"For Roe, the 77's brutal honesty and intensity are essential to the mission of the band, an intent that he insists is first and foremost a ministry, albeit one not normally thought to fit into most "Christian" radio formats. There is no "happy, happy, joy, joy" Christianity here, but instead an absolute commitment to find the heart of the Gospel - unmerited favor - for the absolute worst in us."The record is about being taken to the deepest and darkest parts of ourselves and our lives," says Roe. "It's deep into the theme of abandonment - complete loss of moral foundations and moorings, both emotionally and spiritually. In other words, it's a state that many Christians find themselves in today, but are either unwilling to admit or simply cannot face.""The theme of the album," says Roe, revolves around "someone so far gone that they finally get to the point where they realize they need a Savior at least. This is after knowing God in their youth, in having a Savior all along, but finally coming to the realization that your actually need one."Drowning is at once a cry to those who are coming to recognize their need, and to those who haven't recognized it as well. "I think a lot of people that grow up in church get sort of strong-armed into the whole business of Christ as Savior," says Roe plaintively. "They don't really appreciate what it means to be saved from oneself, from the world, from sin. In fact, until you're a victim of all those things and realize how totally strangulating they are on your freedom and well-being, you may always resent the fact that you had to have a Savior from something you weren't sure you wanted to be saved from, or even know what it was worth."This return to desperate spiritual need which Roe speaks of is no theory for the 77's. Last year, guitarist David Leonhardt was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease, a kind of cancer, and Drowning was recorded in the wake of that news, some of it during his treatments. While overwhelming in and of itself, through the making of the record, Leonhardt's struggle with the disease became a paradigm for the Christian's struggle with self. But while the disc reflects "the most desperate" of the band's despair and struggle coming from that turmoil, it also was born out of a commitment to and belief that in telling the truth about their despair, they could reach out to the despair that others experience, regardless of its source. Roe's conviction that what Christians need most is to know that they are not alone in their struggles - regardless of their nature or source of those struggles - is the driving force behind Drowning, and indeed, the band itself.Out of that commitment to "helping heal what made me sick," Roe and company have written an album of gut-wrenching, truth-telling, no-rules rock and roll that both nods back to the raw energy of early rock, and paves the way for the ground-breaking sounds of the new alternative movement.But more importantly, Drowning clearly leads, not only to a recognition of our common, desperate need, but to that cry of a need to a God who meets us in it. The closing cut, "For Crying Out Loud" reintroduces the themes of "Nobody's Fault" and makes the source of redemption unmistakable, as well as the truth that, in reality, ultimately, no one need drown. While seemingly an excursion into despair, Drowning with Land in Sight is in reality an examination of our first step toward redemption: recognizing its need, and telling ourselves the truth about ourselves. That's where Drowning begins, and it's where grace will meet us(http://www.holymetalrob.com)
