Something New under the Son | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1977 | |||
Genre | Christian rock | |||
Length | 38 minutes | |||
Label | Solid Rock Records | |||
Producer | Larry Norman | |||
Larry Norman chronology | ||||
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Something New Under The Son is an album recorded by Larry Norman in 1977 and released in 1981.
In 1977 Norman recorded Something New under the Son, a blues-rock concept album that some regard as his tour de force, [1] and as "one of the roughest, bluesiest, and best rock and roll albums of his career or the whole industry", [2] that took its title from "an ironic inversion of a phrase in Ecclesiastes", [3] namely: "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9b). Norman indicated that the songs chronicled "Pilgrim's" journey into faith. [4] On this album Norman deliberately "took lots of musical & lyrical parts from old blues songs and from Bob Dylan songs". [5] The album cover replicates Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home's cover on the inner sleeve of the original LP. [5] [6] Jesus Music historian David Di Sabatino described the album as "Musically reminiscent of The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street "(1972). "Nightmare #97" imitates the "false start" of Bob Dylan's 115th Dream and uses the opening line and a similar tune of Lloyd Price's version of Stagger Lee. "Watch What You're Doing" uses the opening line of Stump Johnson's "The Duck Yas-Yas-Yas". With the song "Let That Tape Keep Rolling" [7] Norman pays homage to Mick Jagger [8] and Van Morrison. [9] Norman explained the philosophy behind this album:
The album is called Something New Under the Son. Well my music is not new. "There's nothing new under the sun", Solomon said and my album is not new. I'm not trying to say that my album is new under the sun but I'm trying to say that we are something new under the Son. When we're born again we're a new creature and old things pass away, so on my album I wanted to put some remnants from the past. There are little bits and pieces in the music that some people might recognise have been on other albums before. Just a word there, a little sentence or some musical riff or lick and a lot of people have figured out what they are and when you listen to it you say "wait a minute, I think I've heard that before!" Yes, you have, because there's nothing new under the sun - except us. We are new in Christ. [10]
Norman had intended to release this as a double album with his 1971 song "The Tune" on the second album (and a blank fourth side or a side with a lengthy version of "Watch What You're Doing"). [5] However, Word rejected Norman's wishes as they believed two separate albums would be more profitable, [11] censored some of the songs, and delayed the album's release until 1981. [12] A full length (almost 12 minute) version of "The Tune" was recorded in Hollywood in 1977, but not released until 1983 on the album The Story of the Tune, which is called "the continuation of Something New Under The Son on the back cover". [13]
The CD reissue restores a censored verse to "Watch What You're Doing" and omits a brief intro from "Leaving The Past Behind."
These bonus tracks appear on the 2003 CD re-issue
Larry David Norman was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 albums.
Solid Rock Records is a record label started by Larry Norman. It was established in 1975 to distribute his work after he had been released by Capitol Records. Solid Rock had a distribution deal with Word Records until 1980.
Infidels is the 22nd studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on October 27, 1983 by Columbia Records.
Self Portrait is the tenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on June 8, 1970, by Columbia Records.
Planet Waves is the fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on January 17, 1974, by Asylum Records in the United States and Island Records in the United Kingdom. It is also one of only two Dylan albums not originally released on Columbia Records, but he was allowed to take its release rights back to his former label when he resigned with it and remained ever since.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and songwriter.
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!: The Rolling Stones in Concert is the second live album by the Rolling Stones, released on 4 September 1970 on Decca Records in the UK and on London Records in the US. It was recorded in New York City and Baltimore in November 1969, just before the release of Let It Bleed. It is the first live album to reach number 1 in the UK. It was reported to have been issued in response to the well known bootleg Live'r Than You'll Ever Be. This was also the band's final release under the Decca record label and not under their own label Rolling Stones Records.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning more than 60 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.
Only Visiting This Planet is a Christian rock album recorded by Larry Norman in 1972. The album was selected as the second-best album in CCM Magazine's The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music. In April 2014 the album was announced as one of 25 sound recordings inducted for 2013 into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry, that preserves as "cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures, representing the richness and diversity of the American soundscape", making it the first Christian rock album chosen for the registry.
In Another Land is a studio album recorded by Larry Norman and released in 1976. It is the third album in Norman's "trilogy", which began with Only Visiting This Planet and continued with So Long Ago the Garden. The album contains some of Norman's most well-known work.
So Long Ago the Garden is an album recorded by Larry Norman, released in 1973. It is the second album in what came to be known as his "trilogy," which began with the album Only Visiting This Planet and concluded with In Another Land. So Long Ago the Garden was controversial because Norman's previously blatant Christian beliefs were more veiled on this album. In the song "Shot Down", on the album In Another Land, Norman responded to accusations by fellow Christians that he had abandoned his faith in search of fame and fortune.
Upon This Rock is the debut solo album by pioneering Christian rock musician Larry Norman, released in 1969. It is considered to be "the first full-blown Christian rock album" and was produced by Hal Yoergler.
Great White Wonder, or GWW, is the first notable rock bootleg album, released in July 1969, and containing unofficially released recordings by Bob Dylan. It is also the first release of the famous bootleg record label Trademark of Quality. Several of the tracks presented here were recorded with The Band in the summer of 1967 in West Saugerties, New York, during the informal sessions that were later released in a more complete form in Dylan's 1975 album The Basement Tapes. Much of the other material consists of a recording made in December 1961 in a Minnesota hotel room, studio outtakes from several of Dylan's albums, and a live performance on The Johnny Cash Show. It was the first time that these previously unreleased recordings came to the market; many more would be released in similar formats over the coming years, though most were single albums, not double albums like this record.
The Basement Tapes is the sixteenth album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and his second with the Band. It was released on June 26, 1975, by Columbia Records. Two-thirds of the album's 24 tracks feature Dylan on lead vocals backed by the Band, and were recorded in 1967, eight years before the album's release, in the lapse between the recording and subsequent release of Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding, during sessions that began at Dylan's house in Woodstock, New York, then moved to the basement of Big Pink. While most of these had appeared on bootleg albums, The Basement Tapes marked their first official release. The remaining eight songs, all previously unavailable, feature the Band without Dylan and were recorded between 1967 and 1975.
James Norman Scott was an American R&B and jazz singer and songwriter. In his early career, Norman had a charting single of his own, "I Don't Love You No More ", as well as performing session work with Jimi Hendrix, but he is better known as a lyricist and songwriter. He wrote the expanded lyrics of the song "Time Is on My Side", which became a hit for The Rolling Stones and was later re-recorded and produced by Stephen Vanderbilt featuring "St. Tropez" as the A side of a 45 released from the album Home throughout Europe. Norman composed a number of songs performed by well-known musicians including Johnny Nash and Bob Marley. In 1969 he became involved with doo-wop band The Coasters, first as a producer and then as a touring member. He was also recording independently, releasing a solo album in 1998, the same year poor health forced him to retire from performance. Like many other musicians of his time, he was not financially prepared for retirement or heavy medical bills, and with few royalties for his writing soon found himself in economic crisis. With the assistance of charitable organization Jazz Foundation of America, Norman regained his feet and resumed performing, releasing his first wide-distribution album in 2004, Little Pieces. He performed in the Manhattan area until shortly before his death.
Stranded in Babylon is an album recorded by Larry Norman in Norway in 1991. It was re-released in 1993 as Stranded in Babylon: The American Re-Mix. The album comprises 13 new songs written by Larry and represents some of his best work since the early days of his career. Larry and his brother Charly play all of the instruments, but the sound is full and well-produced.
"The Duck Yas-Yas-Yas" or "The Duck's Yas Yas Yas" is a hokum jazz-blues song, originally recorded by James "Stump" Johnson, but the most well known version was recorded by Oliver Cobb and his Rhythm Kings. The song is perhaps best known for the lyrics:
Tourniquet is an album recorded by Larry Norman and released in 2001.
Albert Sidney "Sid" Griffin is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist-mandolinist, bandleader, and author who lives in London, England. He led the Long Ryders band in the 1980s, founded the Coal Porters group in the 1990s, has recorded several solo albums and is the author of volumes on Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons and bluegrass music.
"Jokerman" is a song by Bob Dylan that appeared as the opening track of his 1983 album Infidels. Recorded on April 14, 1983, it was released as a single on June 1, 1984, featuring a live version of "Isis" from the film Renaldo and Clara as its B-side.