1. Can You See Me? - 6:26
2. Children's Fantasy - 4:12
3. Changes (In The Heart of My Own True Love) - 5:55
4. Village Queen - 4:00
5. Black Horse - 2:51
6. Southbound - 3:54
7. Whatever Life Demands - 6:29
8. Look in the Sky - 8:13
9. Garden - 4:19
10. On Our Own - 2:37
The debut album by the band that launched Phil Keaggy, Glass Harp showcases a band that is ambitious, eclectic, and undeniably talented. Though uneven, their songs succeed more often than not.
A high level of production is evident throughout. Several songs include orchestrations, and there are additional uncredited instrumentalists here and there, like the unknown Hammond organ player on "Children's Fantasy". Adventurous and downright progressive song structures crop up in several instances, like the dramatic "Changes", which includes an excellent flute solo from bassist Dan Pecchio and a free-time guitar cadenza from Phil Keaggy. In the stately, atmospheric opener "Can You See Me?", Keaggy's vocals blaze about as brightly as his guitar work, and the anthemic "Look in the Sky" includes a few different movements while making room for exploratory jamming. Other successful but less progressive rockers include "Whatever Life Demands", "Children's Fantasy", and "Garden", where the band's Beatlesque harmonies comes to the fore.
The ballads "Black Horse", "Southbound", and "On Our Own" are solid and enjoyable, but not as compelling as the other songs. The only misstep for me is "Village Queen", an attempt at some sort of humorous honky-tonk boogie. The guitar work is still pretty decent, but the character of the song just doesn't fit with everything else, and the lyrics aren't witty enough to justify it. On the whole, though, this album has more good songs than you can shake a stick at, and the level of musicianship alone is worth checking out.
Arbitrary rating: 4 out of 5 blazing vocals
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