Bill Booth Revival Machine
Encyclopedia
Bill Booth Revival Machine were an English
Christian rock
band from Bromley
, southeast London
. The band was composed of Hans Knutzen (electric piano & vocals), Wes Little (guitar & vocals) Geoff Parr (bass guitar) and Lionel Prodgers (drums & vocals).
(Bromley Temple). BBRM continued the fine work established in that organisation for 'contemporary music-making' by such luminaries as The Joystrings
who led the way with regards to evangelising through popular music in the 1960s. After The Joystrings
the Salvation Army continued to produce and encourage groups to spread the gospel through new music and BBRM were, along with the Solid Rock Band (from Gloucester) and Good News (SA) (the official successors to The Joystrings), one of the leading Christian rock groups of the 1970s.
While never matching the commercial success of their predecessors BBRM maintained an excellent quality of both playing and singing and, doubtlessly, inspired many other young people to form groups. By the 1980s there were hundreds of Salvation Army rock groups around the UK, among them Blood & Fire (SA) who played at the Greenbelt Festival
of Christian Music in 1986.
BBRM recorded their only LP, 'Face to Face' in January 1975. It is dominated by the Honer Electra-Piano keyboard playing (and extensive use of the schaller rotosound effects unit) of singer/keyboardist Hans Knutzen and several of the songs on that album became part of the wider Salvation Army music repertoire - most notably the title track and 'Jesus Is All I Need' which is now part of the official SA tune book and has been re-arranged for Songsters (the name given to Salvation Army choirs - the song was republished in 4 part choral arrangement).
Like the joystrings, and a number of other Christian bands of the era, the group used Jennings and / or Vox amplification equipment, and guitars, extensively, along with the then essential (and innovative) home brew range of equipment manufactured by bass player Geoff Parr that were inherited by a number of latter bands in the 1980s.
The studio album recorded by BBRM was produced and engineered by [Les Moir]http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Les_Moir_Survivor_Records_Visionary__And_A_Pretty_Funky_Bass_Player/25891/p1/ at ICC studios at Eastbourne, who is a highly respected figure in modern Christian music up to the present day.The album was recorded and mixed down over a long weekend, between commercial sessions for the studio, which was seeing work from the likes of Paul McCartney.
An interesting feature of the album cover was the way the artists were represented by ASCII art
text images - a new innovation of the time, and typical of Geoff Parr's involvement in cutting edge technology.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
band from Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
, southeast London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The band was composed of Hans Knutzen (electric piano & vocals), Wes Little (guitar & vocals) Geoff Parr (bass guitar) and Lionel Prodgers (drums & vocals).
History
The band was formed in January 1970 and was based in the Salvation ArmySalvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
(Bromley Temple). BBRM continued the fine work established in that organisation for 'contemporary music-making' by such luminaries as The Joystrings
The Joystrings
The Joystrings were a 1960s UK Christian music group led by Joy Webb, an officer in The Salvation Army....
who led the way with regards to evangelising through popular music in the 1960s. After The Joystrings
The Joystrings
The Joystrings were a 1960s UK Christian music group led by Joy Webb, an officer in The Salvation Army....
the Salvation Army continued to produce and encourage groups to spread the gospel through new music and BBRM were, along with the Solid Rock Band (from Gloucester) and Good News (SA) (the official successors to The Joystrings), one of the leading Christian rock groups of the 1970s.
While never matching the commercial success of their predecessors BBRM maintained an excellent quality of both playing and singing and, doubtlessly, inspired many other young people to form groups. By the 1980s there were hundreds of Salvation Army rock groups around the UK, among them Blood & Fire (SA) who played at the Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...
of Christian Music in 1986.
BBRM recorded their only LP, 'Face to Face' in January 1975. It is dominated by the Honer Electra-Piano keyboard playing (and extensive use of the schaller rotosound effects unit) of singer/keyboardist Hans Knutzen and several of the songs on that album became part of the wider Salvation Army music repertoire - most notably the title track and 'Jesus Is All I Need' which is now part of the official SA tune book and has been re-arranged for Songsters (the name given to Salvation Army choirs - the song was republished in 4 part choral arrangement).
Like the joystrings, and a number of other Christian bands of the era, the group used Jennings and / or Vox amplification equipment, and guitars, extensively, along with the then essential (and innovative) home brew range of equipment manufactured by bass player Geoff Parr that were inherited by a number of latter bands in the 1980s.
The studio album recorded by BBRM was produced and engineered by [Les Moir]http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Les_Moir_Survivor_Records_Visionary__And_A_Pretty_Funky_Bass_Player/25891/p1/ at ICC studios at Eastbourne, who is a highly respected figure in modern Christian music up to the present day.The album was recorded and mixed down over a long weekend, between commercial sessions for the studio, which was seeing work from the likes of Paul McCartney.
An interesting feature of the album cover was the way the artists were represented by ASCII art
ASCII art
ASCII art is a graphic design technique that uses computers for presentation and consists of pictures pieced together from the 95 printable characters defined by the ASCII Standard from 1963 and ASCII compliant character sets with proprietary extended characters...
text images - a new innovation of the time, and typical of Geoff Parr's involvement in cutting edge technology.