Crimson & Blue

Phil Keaggy

Word, 1994

http://www.philkeaggy.com

REVIEW BY: Michael Ehret

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/23/2007

Phil Keaggy’s career as a guitar icon comes in three distinct phases: instrumental electric guitar (see Jammed!), instrumental acoustic guitar (see Beyond Nature or The Wind and The Wheat), and my personal favorite, vocal pop/rock. Crimson and Blue is the highlight, musically, lyrically and vocally of this third phase.

Interestingly, Keaggy and Myrrh released this disc in three separate formats, with Crimson and Blue as the main piece. Blue, marketed as “the rock” version, and Revelator, a collection of outtakes and extended jams of several of the tracks, are each worth having because of the different focus they bring, but grab up C&B for the best.

From the opening of “Shouts of Joy,” which briefly echoes U2's opening of “Zoo Station” from Achtung Baby, through the soft, delicate closer, an acoustic version of the classic hymn "Nothing But The Blood," Keaggy is in top form.

“Shouts of Joy” is a call for the peace and brotherhood found in service to Jesus Christ: "The King of all the earth has made his message known / That we should offer Him ourselves and everything we own / We do this by the way / We live through everyday / So live each day in peace and joy." my_heart_sings_the_harmony_web_ad_alt_250

Throughout, the guitars are clanging and the drums are driving and the song moves and rocks. Keaggy has some serious technique; especially considering the second finger of his right hand is cut off at the first knuckle (see back cover photo). But he plays with such skill that not only do you never notice his technique (unless you take time to analyze the tracks – which you should), but it never seems like grandstanding. As they say, “it ain’t bragging if you can do it” – and man oh man can Keaggy do it.

From “Shouts of Joy” the disc moves into another highlight of this album, “World of Mine.” Keaggy begins the song talk/singing about how everyone he meets wants to know what it’s like to be him. But he barely knows himself, he’s just an observer, pointing the way to Christ, helping others to see what he’s seen and know what he’s known, in lines like "Standing on the corner, watching as the world goes by / Sometimes I connect and sometimes I reflect and cry / To see myself in a wounded heart / And be of help if I can do my part / To be a flicker in this fallen dark world of mine."

Like many of his contemporaries, Keaggy sometimes wears his influences on his sleeve. The delightful “Love Divine” is 2:24 of 1965-era Beatles. On the next song, “Reunion of Friends,” he moves up to the Sgt. Pepper era, to great effect. But he never simply apes his influencers. He borrows and extrapolates, and adds his own unique spin on the sound. Even in his cover of Van Morrison’s “When Will I Ever Learn To Live In God,” Keaggy breathes his own life into the song.

Other highlights? Forget that reviewers trick, because I can’t say that there is a track on here not worth hearing. Thirteen tracks, thirteen highlights, for thirteen different reasons. Let’s do this instead:

Highlights from Blue, the “rock” version of this classic: A cover of Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” and a Keaggy original that doesn’t appear on C&B, “All Our Wishes,” where he shares the heartbreak he and his wife Bernadette went through trying to conceive and carry a child to full term.

Highlights from Revelator, the extended jam EP version: (caveat: I am not fond of extended guitar jams) The shorter, radio-ready version of “John, the Revelator” and two shorter, untitled instrumental jams.

Rating: A

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