Servant - Swimming In a Human Ocean (Vinyl)
- 1895 Word (Original Pressing)
- Pre-Owned Vinyl in VG++ Condition. Small crease on cover, but otherwise perfect.
Released in 1985, Swimming is Sevant's 7th album. It features the Radio Hit - LOOK THROUGH HIS EYES
CREDITS
Owen Brock - Songwriter, Rhythm Guitar
Sandie Brock - Vocals
Jay Healey -Assistant Engineer
David Holmes - Songwriter, Drums
John Jenkinson - Assistant Engineer
Rob Martens - Songwriter, Bass
Lynn Arthur Nichols - Executive Producer
Eric Odell - Songwriter, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Dave Perkins - Producer, Guitars
David Schober - Engineer
Matt Spransy - Songwriter, Keyboards
Jon Vogan - Trumpet
Bruce Wright - Songwriter, Lead Guitar, 12-String Rick
BAND BIO
Servant was a Christian rock group that grew out of the counter-culture Jesus Movement of the sixties and seventies. The band was founded in Victoria, British Columbia in 1976 by Jim Palosaari and performed to audiences throughout North America, Europe and Australia for over 12 years. Originally named “Higher Ground”, the group quickly changed their name to Servant. They were known for challenging the Christian church to turn back to social justice and caring for the poor.
A Servant rock concert was like a festival event. The band was known to incorporate comedy and short skits in their sets on stage. Servant was also the first Christian rock group to use laser lights, flame tubes, fireworks, fog machines, in addition to an extensive light show and quadraphonic sound (a precursor to surround-sound).
In the early 1980s some critics considered Servant's theatrics, light shows, smoke-bombs and flash-pot stage performances too raucous to be authentically Christian. However, the band's mission was to reach the ears and hearts of those who might not feel so comfortable in church buildings. Shying away from the praise lyrics and easy-listening rock styles that typified most contemporary Christian music at the time, Servant instead attempted to offer edgy, rhythmic, passionate rock and an aggressive stage performance filled with an evangelistic Christian message, and spiced with strong social commentaries.
A CCM Magazine review of their 1981 release, Rockin Revival, stated that the band's lyrics reflected Christian communal subculture, and contained elements of social protest and criticism.
Servant toured extensively throughout America, Europe and Australia in concert halls and at music festivals like "Creation" and "Greenbelt". They recorded 6 studio albums with songs that ranked in the Top 40 Contemporary Christian Music Charts including "Come Jesus Come", "Holding on to You", "Thank God", "We are the Light", "Surrender", "Harder to Finish", and "I Will."
The Servant story began in late 1975 in Victoria, British Columbia where the initial members of Servant met. The venue was one of those proverbial “Upper Rooms” located on the third floor of an old building with plenty of character, and served as a drop in center and coffeehouse for transients and misfits. It was during the early months of 1976 that the band began to take shape, consisting initially of Bruce Wright (lead guitarist and songwriter), David Holmes (drums), Rob Martens (bass), and ourselves, Owen and Sandie Brock (rhythm guitarist and song writer, and vocalist respectively). Within a year of its inception Bob Hardy joined the fledgling community that Servant was a part of, and eventually became a vocalist with the band. Matt Spransy whose skillful keyboards would round out the band’s sound, joined in the summer of 1981.
Apart from Bruce, who was a versatile and seasoned musician, the band that emerged was young and inexperienced. Several years of coffeehouses, parks and playing in bars four or five hours each night, helped change all that. And while the band members were growing in their skills, an intentional community was also growing as well. The band’s manager, Jim Palosaari and his wife, Susan, had worked together with Sandie and I in Europe and we shared a vision for a common life similar to what we had experienced while overseas. As the story would unfold, the community’s role would become foundational as our lifestyle and music reflected our shared beliefs about the world, the church, God’s kingdom and the importance of Christian community, simple living, compassion and justice for the poor.
Life for the band and community was nomadic those first few years, and after a brief sojourn in San Francisco in 1978, the group finally settled in Grants Pass, Oregon in April of 1979, where we bought property and began to crystallize our vision of a missional community base.
From 1981 to 1985, opening acts for Servant included Grammy Award winning Petra, Degarmo and Key and many others.
The band reunited to perform a one-off concert at Cornerstone Festival in July 2011
