Bill Booth Revival Machine
| Bill Booth Revival Machine | |
|---|---|
 BBRM (clockwise from upper left): Geoff Parr, Hans Knutzen, Wes Little and Lionel Prodgers | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Bromley, England, January 1970 |
| Genres | Christian rock |
| Labels | Band's own release |
| Website | Album on Saytunes |
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).
History
The band was formed in January 1970 and was based in the Salvation Army (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 dozens of Salvation Army rock groups around the UK, chief among them Blood & Fire (SA) who played at the Greenbelt Festival of Christian Music in 1986, recorded several albums, as well as touring extensively in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and France.
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.