#85 A PORTRAIT OF US ALL by Farrell & Farrell (1979)

A PORTRAIT OF US ALL by Farrell & Farrell (1979)
NewPax (NP33076)

Pop music gave us several interesting husband-wife duos in the 1970s – Sonny & Cher, Michael & Stormie Omartian, Ike & Tina Turner, even the Captain & Tennille.  And while some were more famous, none were more versatile than Bob & Jayne Farrell. The Christian music power couple known as Farrell & Farrell has seemingly lived several lifetimes, musically speaking. They were members of the early Jesus Music bands Millennium and Dove; they were a very popular pop duo in the late 70s/early 80s; they reinvented themselves as a highly successful techno group in the mid to late 80s; and all the while, Bob Farrell was a respected and sought-after songwriter for other artists, both Christian and secular.

Bob and Jayne met as high school students in the Lone Star state. They were in bands together from the early days of their relationship, playing cover tunes for proms and frat parties. They soon married and Bob became a student at the University of Houston. But the marriage got off to a pretty rocky start. “Jayne and I had been married just about a year and a half. We were having problems in our marriage already, and I was ready to bolt,” Bob Farrell told Jerry Bryant in a recent radio interview. “I was in college at the time. This was 1970. There was a traveling ministry that came to town. Jayne went to the crusade and she got born again at First Baptist Houston, downtown. And I left! I left home. I left my baby, my wife, my college. I just split. It was very unlike me. But I was being chased by the Lord, in truth. I came back in three months, not really ready to have anything to do with God, but just to try to make something work. Within a month I was miserable. And then I got born again! I started writing songs, and it’s just continued since then. The phone started ringing, and it never quit ringing.”

MILLENNIUM

DOVE

Bob & Jayne, pre-Farrell & Farrell

The Farrells relocated to Oklahoma and became part of a music scene that included the likes of Kelly Willard, the Archers, Jonathan David Brown, Sonlight, Andrae & Sandra Crouch and several others. “It was just a wealth of talent,” remembers Bob Farrell. “There was a lot of recording going on!”

Bob later went to Nashville for what he now terms “a totally weird reason,” to audition for a Southern Gospel singer named Doug Oldham. Apparently, it was a divine appointment. Bob ended up meeting Bob MacKenzie, Bill Gaither, and Gary S. Paxton. “They heard six of my songs, and the people at Paragon Music and NewPax Records just freaked out. But Bob MacKenzie wanted Farrell & Farrell, he didn’t want just me. So we made a record with Shane Keister and John Thompson, the first album. And it did well, went to the radio real quick.”  

Not aware of Millennium or Dove, I was a little late to the party, if you will. My introduction to Farrell & Farrell came via a 1978 promotional sampler album called, Bringin’ A New Song. It was a full-length vinyl LP that came as a bonus when you purchased an album from one of the featured artists. It was a pretty effective way for Word to introduce a lot of their new artists to a wider audience. The sampler contained songs from a fresh-faced Amy Grant and a young Steve Camp. There were songs by full-on rock bands such as DeGarmo & Key, Pantano/Salsbury, and the Alwyn Wall Band. There were secular transplants – Nedra Ross and Wendell Burton. An acoustic folk group called Gospel Seed appeared on this sampler and then apparently disappeared from the face of the earth. Fireworks, Andrew Culverwell, and Terry Clark were also included. And that song that Bob Farrell said “went to the radio real quick?” That was a tune called Earthmaker. 

It was featured on that Bringin’ a New Song sampler album and it served as a fitting introduction. Punchy rhythms and swirling synthesizers accentuated a message that played on the ecological concerns that were front and center in the 70s, reminding the listener that Creator God is the author of nature and has it all under control. Today’s propagators of so-called “climate change” would do well to give Earthmaker a spin:

Speak the word and set the elements in motion

Tell the rains when to fall

Tell the trees and the flowers when to grow

You are Earthmaker

You made all the world I see

The song’s most memorable lyric reminds us that seasons and weather patterns reliably follow the leading of the Lord, while we sometimes drag our feet: 

Earth’s creation never waits to do what You say

Seasons always change on time

Would that I might respond to You that way 

    

Earthmaker was the first single from the Farrells’ self-titled debut album, and it was a bonafide hit on Christian radio. The songs Lifesaver and Homesick Soldier were also audience favorites and helped set the stage for greater things to come.

Next up for the Farrells was our featured recording – 1979’s A Portrait of Us All. Recorded at Gold Mine Studio and Sound Stage Studios, the album was produced and engineered by a young Brown Bannister. “I loved Amy Grant’s first record and I knew it had done really well,” said Bob Farrell. “Brown didn’t know me and vice versa, but I called him and told him what we did and played some of our first album for him and he said, ‘I want to do a record!’ So we went out to the Gold Mine and made ‘Portrait.’”

Photographer Michael Borum presented Bob and Jayne in a fun, playful mood on the album’s cover.

Side One begins with I Couldn’t Live Without You, a very-70s pop tune that acknowledges our total dependence on the Lord in every aspect of life. “I Couldn’t Live Without You was just one of those sweet little pop things,” said Bob. “I had written the verses. I played them for Brown and he really liked them. So I got with him and we wrote the chorus together.” 

The pronoun “You” is used in the lyrics of this song (I couldn’t live without You…Life is amiss without You…I need You more than the air that I breathe, You are all that I need…), allowing the listener to decide whether the song is talking about God or an earthly lover. This device was also used a lot by Amy Grant, Dan Peek, Chris Christian, and several others during this particular era. I understand why it was done, but I was never a big fan of the tactic. 

The next song began with Shane Keister’s dark, foreboding Prophet 5 synthesizer but quickly transitioned into a gentle acoustic ballad that became a favorite of many. Fallen lamented the sinful state of man but rejoiced in the sacrifice that Jesus had made to redeem us back to the Father:

Out of the dust there came a man

But he went back to the dust again

He had a choice but he took a fall

He was a portrait of us all

And time after time, we’re like Adam again

With fall after fall, will the circle never end?

I’m fallen, fallen with the rest of man

I’m fallen, but He’s picking up the pieces again

Out of the sky there came a Man

Then He went back to the Father again

He made a choice, He opened the door

So we could be blameless forevermore

And time after time I have failed Him again

With fall after fall you know His mercy never ends

When it seemed impossible, when my hope was at an end

He died and rose, and broke the power of sin

And I’m risen because He took the place of fallen man

I’m risen, and I’m thankful that I’m livin’ again

Yes, I’m risen, ‘cause He crushed the power of Satan’s hand

I’m risen because He puts me back together again

It really is a 4-minute Bible study set to music…a simple yet beautiful retelling of the plan of salvation. Bob took the lead on this song vocally and co-wrote the song with Brown Bannister.

Put More Love In Me was a slice of pure 70s pop, followed by a song that Bob Farrell co-wrote with another pretty doggone good songwriter, a young Pat Terry. 

Can’t Ask Anything More was an upbeat testimony song – a bouncy rocker that sounded like it could’ve just as easily been recorded by the Pat Terry Group. The track features a pretty mean lead guitar solo from Jon Goin.

Finishing out Side One is one of the reasons this album made this list. Boundless Love is a classic. Written by Dennis Loewen, this song succeeds in offering a beautiful description of God’s love for us, but it goes beyond that. If you were called upon to use a song to explain to a non-believer why you choose to be a Christian…you could do a lot worse than Boundless Love. In the span of 3 and a half minutes, it’s all here – joy, redemption, strength, rescue, answered prayer, God’s grace, His faithfulness, His character, and attributes.  The line, “I guess I’d have to say that He’s my all” sums it up pretty well.

Side Two opens with No Need, another pleasant 70s pop tune that, sonically, would’ve fit right in on a Carpenters or Captain & Tennille record (complete with Wurlitzer electric piano). Bob Farrell’s lyrics encourage the listener to not be sidetracked by familiar sins or by condemnation:

No need to ever pass this way again

No need to fall into that same old sin

No need goin’ back where you’ve already been

But when you stumble, when you fall behind

No need to hide it when He knows your mind

No need when His love is so patient and kind

The song’s 2^nd verse reminds us that Jesus’ finished work on the cross was all we’ll ever need:

No need to carry all that guilt and blame

No place for martyrs over sin and shame

No need tryin’ to pay what He’s already paid

No need to hammer in those nails again

No need to spill His precious blood again

No need to crucify the Master again

The Jayne Farrell-penned Find It in the Word is a full-throated defense of the Bible as the Word of God and the source of wisdom regarding whatever issues or problems might crop up in life. It’s a funky little number, complete with a horn section.

And, speaking of the Word, next up is a song based on a Bible story that became a live concert favorite for the Farrells. Like Honeytree’s Go to Church and Andrus, Blackwood & Co.’s (Jesus, You’re So) Wonderful, Jailhouse Rock by Farrell & Farrell was a full-on, authentic 50s rock ‘n roll song. I mean, it would’ve sounded right at home on an episode of Happy Days, that’s how 50s it was. Bobby Ogden’s piano really shines on this track. The lyrics were a retelling of the story from Acts Chapter 16, when Paul and Silas were in jail and the Lord sent an earthquake…remember that? "Jailhouse Rock," get it? See what they did there? It really was a fun song and concert audiences ate it up.

Next came what was probably the album’s piece de resistance – All You Need. It’s a complex song that goes through 2 or 3 different ‘movements’ in order to make the simple point that “all you need is Jesus.” When Shane Keister’s Arp Omni synth and the “ooh la la la la la la la” background vocals get things started, the track initially sounds like it’s going to be a fairly standard pop song...then out of nowhere comes what Bob Farrell has called “the first Christian rap” – all of the fun pop culture references recited in a stiff staccato..then, after returning to the original chorus, the song crossfades into a soft reprise at the end that’s almost reminiscent of a dream sequence. You know, just your everyday, run of the mill, 3-minute pop song! Here’s what Bob Farrell had to say about the song: “All You Need became one of those mini-operas, right? All of those different ‘scene changes’ within the song – very Queen, you know? I love rock opera. Jesus Christ Superstar was one of the first things that drew me to Jesus. Really and truly, it did.”

Bob was asked about writing the lyrics for what he calls the “rap” section of the song. “Jayne was pregnant and had gone home, and Brown was falling asleep at night” recalls Bob. “I ended up, with that part, just writing the whole lyric because Brown, he could fade on you. That boy could fade and just fall asleep on you!”

You can own an island where you own a lovely sunset

You can fill your head with fashion / fill your closet up with threads

And you can drive a new Mercedes while you keep up with the Joneses

You can meditate your life away inside your own pagoda

You can fight for E.R.A. or fight Mohammed at the Garden

You can move just like Travolta / very macho at the disco

You can work to get ahead or you can work until you’re dead

But there’s only one thing you really need

All you need

All you need is Jesus

The album continues with yet another highlight – Scars. It’s a sobering reminder of what Jesus went through to purchase salvation for us all. And a caution that if we want to share in His love we can expect to share in His suffering as well. Scars should be a Good Friday/Easter season staple for believers everywhere.

The album closes with a song that just sort of seems like filler material. A Place In His Heart sounds like a MOR ballad that should’ve been pitched to Andrew Culverwell or Pete Carlson. But, my goodness…with Fallen, Boundless Love, Jailhouse Rock, All You Need and Scars all on one record, who can complain?

Much excitement still lay ahead for this couple. In the mid-80s they famously reinvented themselves as a techno group (of sorts) with enormously popular songs like Get Right or Get Left, People in a Box and Jump Up. They continued to travel internationally and record into the early 90s, experiencing a lot of success in radio airplay. Bob eventually focused almost exclusively on songwriting, penning songs for Christian, pop, and country artists, as well as music for films, television, and advertising. He was heavily involved in creating !HERO - the Rock Opera as well as other award-winning Christian musicals and compilations.

Bob Farrell today

And now Bob is an author! On May 1 and 2, 2010, catastrophic floods came to Nashville and destroyed the Farrells’ home and belongings. You may not have heard much about this flood because it happened in the heartland – in Tennessee – where people practice personal responsibility and take care of themselves and their neighbors. It’s a very different ethic and mindset from that which is found on the coasts and in major urban areas. But I digress. Many of the Farrells’ friends in the music business held benefit concerts to help Bob and Jayne turn calamity and loss into triumph. Bob has written a very personal and humorous book about how God has brought order out of chaos for Jayne and himself. It’s called When the Rains Fall: Trusting God When Things Look Impossible.

Jayne & Bob in a recent photo

What’s their greatest achievement? Dove awards? Grammy nominations? Being invited to play 30 concerts in Moscow and Leningrad a year before the Wall fell? No.

If you ask me, it’s the fact that they have recently celebrated 45 years of marriage (sadly a rare achievement, even in the Christian music industry). Bob and Jayne Farrell clearly love the Lord and they love each other. And their reaction and response to the devastating events of May 2010 reveal that they still believe the words they sang on A Portrait Of Us All back in 1979…

All you need

All you need is Jesus