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Welcome to another edition of “Please Release Me,” in which your Idolators request–nay beg–that an out-of-print, delayed or held-up-in-customs album be issued Stateside:
Artist: The 77s
Hometown: Sacramento, Calif.
Album: The 77s, 1987
What is it?: The 77s are one of the Christian rock acts of the ’80s that few people seem to find embarrassing (check out the commenters here). Formed in 1979 as the Scratch Band, the 77s have resided on the outskirts of Christian contemporary music; aside from a video on 120 Minutes, they remain largely anonymous, even among the church-going crowd. This self-titled album was released on Island Records the same day as U2’s The Joshua Tree, ensuring obscurity from day one, despite some tracks that resemble the Alarm more than Sandi Patti.
Where is it?: Like most of the Christian rock catalog that isn’t by Amy Grant, nearly all The 77s’ catalog is out of print, although this disc appeared in a now-unavailable 1995 box set. Now, we just need to find a Christian musician with some money to burn to start a vanity label and reissue this album, as well as some others lost to time. We’re looking at you, dude from The Fray.
The 77s – The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes, and The Pride of Life [MP3, link expired]
The 77s – Frames Without Photographs [MP3, link expired]
77s.com (Official site)
do i even need to say how much i love this record? probably not. though i would make the controversial counter-argument that their 1992 La’s-loving self-titled record is actually a little better. “The Lust, The Flesh et al.” — maybe one of my top 10 songs of all time. represent.
There was a time in the mid-late 1980s when the 77’s were the best Christian band out there, and the gap between them and everyone else was wider than the talent gap between Justin Timberlake and K-Fed.
OK, I’m probably selling the Choir and Daniel Amos and Steve Taylor and Mark Heard short. But the contemporary Christian genre was a musical wasteland until the mid 1990s. Still is in many respects, but at least good talent is able to bypass the record companies now and make a living at it.
I’m such a geek, I actually have this on vinyl. Autographed, even. But why the Christian-rock posting? Is it the Beaujon Effect?
When you invite Dan Gibson to post on your blog, you’re gonna get some Christian rock, like it or not.