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Lamb

 
Artist: Lamb
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Group Members:

Bob Swanson, Barbara Mauritz, Rick Shlosser, Ed Bogus, Bill Douglass, Tom Salisbury, David Hayes

Similar Artists:

Prism

Performed Songs By:

Louise Rhodes, Andy Barlow, Bob Swanson, Barbara Mauritz
  • Formed: 1969, San Francisco, CA
  • Disbanded: 1973
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "Cross Between," "Sign of Change," "Bring out the Sun"

Biography

The minor San Francisco group Lamb tend to be remembered only for their appearance on the Fillmore: The Last Days concert album, where they were one of several non-star artists on a set dominated by bigger names like the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Boz Scaggs. The band did actually put out three albums in the early 1970s, however, and were quite an interesting group. Not only were they not readily comparable to other acts on the San Francisco rock circuit, but it's debatable whether they could be fairly categorized as a rock band at all. Their music blended jazz, folk, singer-songwriter pop, gospel, and even some classical and avant-garde influences. Certainly the dominant figure was singer Barbara Mauritz, whose bluesy and earthy vocals had considerable resonance, but which could also traverse the band's frequently mystical, poetic lyrics with much delicacy and nuance. Reminiscent in spots of such varied artists as Tim Buckley, Judy Collins (in her art-song phase), David Ackles, and Savage Rose (in that band's most gospel-soaked period), their records were ultimately idiosyncratic enough to defy ready comparison to anyone. And they were, too, ultimately too inaccessible to make much commercial impact, despite plenty of tracks of considerable power, beauty, and enigma. Lamb were formed by the duo of Texan singer Mauritz and multi-instrumentalist (though primarily guitarist) Bob Swanson, who with Swanson (writing both separately and together) was responsible for the band's material. They attracted attention in San Francisco when they opened for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for a few nights at Winterland in November 1969. Impresario Bill Graham became their manager, and producer David Rubinson, who had worked with notable groups such as Santana and Moby Grape, acted in that capacity for their first record. Their debut album on the Fillmore label, A Sign of Change, was perhaps their most uncompromising and experimental, relying largely on jazz-folk acoustic arrangements and spotlighting Mauritz's impressive voice on impressionistic, dream-like lyrics. They moved over to Warner Brothers (while retaining Rubinson as executive producer) for the follow-up Cross Between, which moved toward slightly more mainstream rock arrangements and a more pronounced gospel feel on several tracks. Yet others were throwbacks to the first album in their obscure but enchanting poesy, sometimes owing more to a classical-influenced art song tradition than conventional pop music. Lamb went yet further toward gospel-rockish material on their third and final album, Bring Out the Sun, which was their most mainstream outing, though hardly mainstream overall, with a couple of tracks again giving vent to their more experimental jazz-folk-classical side. The LP was co-billed to Lamb and Barbara Mauritz, though Swanson was still involved as a composer and instrumentalist on much of the material. Whether or not this co-billing was intended as a transition from Lamb to a solo career, Mauritz was soon recording as a solo, putting out Music Box for Columbia. Her solo career didn't take off, however, although she continued to perform and write (composing the music for many commercials). In the mid-1980s, Bob Swanson returned full-time to photography. [The Lamb founded by Swanson and Mauritz, incidentally, had no relation to either the Christian rock band Lamb that began to record later in the 1970s, or the drum'n'bass duo Lamb that began recording in the late 1990s.] ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Lamb (folk duo)
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
For the United Kingdom band and their album of the same name, see Lamb (band) and Lamb (album).

Lamb, a musical duo from the 1970s through the early 1990s, effectively defined Messianic music, was organized in the early days of contemporary Christian music. The original duo, consisting of Joel Chernoff and Rick 'Levi' Coghill, blended Jewish folk music and folk-rock.

Lamb's musical style changed markedly during the course of their career. In the 'seventies, their first four albums were acoustically driven folk, built around the duo's six and twelve string guitars, sometimes with the addition of piano and restrained electric guitar, with guest bass and occasional drums taking the back seat: All topped off with songwriter Chernoff's rich and melodious tenor.

Lamb performed live as a duo, without backing group, as demonstrated on 1980's Lamb Live. 1981's self-explanatory New Mix album, presented a high-class, straight-forward pop-rock ensemble approach, departing significantly from their folk style, and including none of their hitherto characteristic Hebrew lyrics. 1988's Dancing in Jerusalem marked an even clearer musical turning point with the introduction of exclusive synthesised drums and bass. This was used as recorded backing tracks in their live shows, as exemplified on the reedy-sounding Dancing in Jersualem Live in Concert Video Soundtrack, retaining little of the folk vibe of their early years. The final album by the original Chernoff-Coghill pairing, Seer, pushed the stylistic envelope as far as it would go, with a decidedly heavy tone, drenched in the harsh synth drums and cymbals of that period.

After a hiatus, Chernoff returned to form at the turn of the millennium with a brace of solo albums that effectively put the 'heart' back into the 'lamb', complete with the organic warmth of real instruments. In their wake the renaissance Lamb album The Sacrifice, with a new partner for Chernoff, takes the synth route once again, but this time with the subtler touch afforded by 21st century technology - and a generous sprinkling of Hebrew lyrics.


Contents

Band members

Current

  • Joel Chernoff - guitars, vocals, songwriter
  • Ted Pearce - guitars, vocals, songwriter

Original

  • Joel Chernoff - all lead vocals, background vocals, 12 string guitar, piano, composer
  • Rick 'Levi' Coghill - vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, percussion and effects, organ, vibes, harpsichord, xylophone, arranger, producer

Discography

Finding their early music is complicated by the fact that Lamb's first three albums were called simply Lamb, Lamb II, and Lamb III. However in 1993, those first three albums from the '70s were re-released as The Lamb Trilogy.

Original

  • Lamb (Messianic LBA-1001) (1972)
  • Lamb II (Messianic LBA-1002) (1974)
  • Lamb III (Messianic LBA-1003) (1976)
  • Songs For The Flock (Sparrow Records SPD-1045SPC-1045, 1978)
  • New Mix (Sparrow Records SPD-1054 SPC-1054, 1981)
  • Lamb Live (1981)
  • Zola's Songs - Zola Levitt performed by Lamb (ZLR/C-1001, 1983)
  • The Year Of Jubilee (Maranatha/Messianic Publishing MSICD-2, 1985)
  • Dancing In Jerusalem (Maranatha Music/Messianic Publishing MSICD-1, 1988)
  • Dancing in Jerusalem - Live In Concert video soundtrack (1989)
  • Seer (Messianic Records, 1990)
  • Come Let Us Celebrate compilation (Messianic Records, 1993)
  • The Lamb Trilogy compilation of Lamb I/II/III (Messianic Records LBCD113AB, 1993)
  • Lamb Favorites compilation (Sparrow Records SPD-1046, 1980/1995)

Current

Joel Chernoff solo albums

  • The Restoration of Israel (Galilee of the Nations) (1999)
  • Come Dance with Me (Galilee of the Nations) (2002)

External links

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