Malcolm & Alwyn, 1975 LP: Wildwall: A4 Someone To Sing To

Details

Description

Wildwall pumps up the volume a notch with more rock and roll (‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Spaceman’, and ‘Buried Alive’). A bit of George Harrison-styled guitar graces ‘I’ll Carry You Through’, while harmonica and a Byrdsy guitar solo adorn the pure folk-rock of the title track. ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Someone To Sing To’ are up there with the best autoharp’d acoustic gems from Fool’s Wisdom. Horns enliven the folk-rock/pop number ‘I Love’, while the ballad ‘I Love You More Than Yesterday’ receives a saxophone solo. Also some string orchestration in parts. Mandolin, harmonica and brass decorate the closing ‘England Goodbye’. Includes a fold-out poster with lyrics. Released in the US on Myrrh records (MSA—6534-LP). Both these albums are essential Jesus music classics. The gents would go on to release solo albums, form separate side projects (The Alwyn Wall Band, Malcolm & The Mirrors) and reunite for a live album in 1981. (The Archivist, 4th edition by Ken Scott).

Malcolm Wild & Alwyn Wall wandered around the churches and coffee bars and concert halls of mid '70s England playing as an acoustic duo. They were like the Phil & John of their day except that for this, their second album recorded in 1974, they decided to plug in and turn up the volume a little bit. Only a little bit mind. Rockers like "Burried Alive" and "I Feel Fine" are very influenced by Larry Norman's brand of mid '70s pop rock whilst the poppier groove of "I Love" is a particular favourite of mine. (Cliff Richard liked it too, he covered it on his 'Small Corners' album.) "Spaceman" has a brilliant quirky '70s vibe to it which sounds like fun now and slower songs like "I Love You More Than Yesterday" and "Stay With Me" are similar to the acoustic material on their debut album 'Fool's Wisdom'. 'Wildwall' comes complete with three bonus live tracks recorded in California including a version of "Fool's Wisdom" and a hilarious "I Feel Fine" which captures their live spirit. Ahhh.memories!
(Reviewed by Mike Rimmer, Cross Rythyms)

The UK’s Malcolm & Alwyn, the Simon and Garfunkle of Christian music, return with their second album that was released in both the UK and the US. Their first album sold well and developed a following for this duo and this album continues the sound from their first album but is a little more upbeat. Personally I came to the Malcolm & Alwyn train late after I heard Alwyn doing work with Larry Norman in the 80’s. Luckily I got caught up on their work and while I think their live work is their best this album is certainly a must listen to. In 1999 Footstep Records reissued this album on CD and added 3 bonus Live tracks (Ray Mansfield, Real 80s CCM)

Wildwall (obviously a play on the surnames of Malcolm & Alwyn) was produced by Jon Miller and Roger Hand. Alwyn Wall played acoustic guitar, while Malcolm Wild played autoharp. Both men provided vocals and co-wrote all of the album’s songs. Studio musicians on this record included James Litherland and Davey Johnstone (Elton John’s guitarist) on guitars, Johnny Gustafson (from the original cast of Jesus Christ Superstar) on bass, Rod Edwards on keys, and Mike Giles on drums. The album’s horn section was comprised of Malcolm Duncan, Roger Ball, Chris Payne, and Henry Lowther. Rod Edwards and Roger Hand contributed backing vocals. Denny Bridges and Bill Price served as engineers.

Malcolm & Alwyn
LP: Wildwall
Released: February 1975
Label: Myrrh, Waco, Texas (Issued On Green Myrrh Label)
Genre: Rock, Pop, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Folk Rock, Pop Rock, Acoustic, Gospel
Producers: Jon Miller, Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Writers, Composers: Alwyn Wall, Malcolm Wild
Recorded at Redan Recorders

Autoharp, Lead Vocals – Malcolm Wild
Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals – Alwyn Wall
Acoustic Guitar – James Litherland, Roger Hand
Backing Vocals – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Bass – Johnny Gustafson
Drums – Mike Giles
Electric Guitar – Davy Johnson, James Litherland
Saxophone – Malcolm Duncan, Roger Ball
Trombone – Chris Pyne
Trumpet – Henry Lowther
Keyboards – Rod Edwards
Additional Music: Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Brass Arrangements: Roger Ball
Arranger, Co-producer – Rod Edwards
Arranger, Producer – Jon Miller, Roger Hand
Engineer – Denny Bridges
Remix Engineers: Bill Price, Denny Bridges
Sleeve – Paul Welti

Side 1
A1 I Feel Fine
A2 I Love You More than Yesterday
A3 Spaceman
A4 Someone To Sing To
A5 I'll Carry You Through

Side
B1 Buried Alive
B2 Stay With Me
B3 I Love
A4 Wildwall
A5 England Goodbye

All songs composed by Malcolm Wild & Alwyn Wall