Harvest Flight - One Way 1970

Albums that used the trappings of counterculture rock in service of lyrics about Jesus and Christianity weren't yet too numerous when this early example appeared in 1971. As music, it's unremarkable, dipping into a generically laid-back early-'70s California rock sound. As for the lyrical message, as is common in albums advocating faith-based beliefs, it's usually blatant, sometimes heavy-handedly and repetitiously so. Unlike some rock (and other music) motivated by Christian religion, it's unlikely anyone's going to get more than a few minutes into this without realizing that it's something of a mouthpiece for Jesus worship, particularly when the chorus of "One in the Spirit" repeats, over and over, "And they'll know we are Christians, and they'll know we are Christians, and they'll know we are Christians, by our love." Yes, we know you're Christians. How could we not after a song like that? That wouldn't be so much of a problem if the music were good, but it isn't, with its lukewarm melodies, adequate harmonized folk-rock-ish singing, and enough touches of then-contemporary rock instrumentation -- some swelling organ here, a dab of fuzz guitar there, a bit of country-rock -- to make it seem not too out of touch with what was going on in the secular world. AMG.

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