The Seventy Sevens

Item: Echos O' Faith
Author: Brad Caviness

Echos O' Faith

(1996)

Reviewed by Brad Caviness

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music Amazon Music Spotify YouTube Music

Label Fools of the World7ball Online 1996Online 1996

acoustic blues rock roots rock

A bootleg, like the 7&7is cd, tolerated because the band gets to sell copies through the fan club. Echoes O' Faith was recorded in the fall of 1992 during the similarly named venue's acoustic music series which also featured the Choir, Dead Artist Syndrome, Undercover and others (all of which were reportedly recorded by Brian Healey, the producer of this disc).

The disc makes it clear why the "unplugged" was so appealing before it was done to death. Scaled back to the barest of instrumentation, the spotlight is squarely on the melodies, the hooks and the Seventy Sevens ability to make that electric connection with their audience, even when the power is turned off. Echoes gave the band a chance to fool around with the arrangement of their more popular live songs and play a number of other songs - like "Ba Ba Ba Ba" and "Nowhere Else" - that the band couldn't convincingly pull off live with electric instruments, and therefore never played.

Many of the transformations are staggering. The Brian Wilson influence in "Ba Ba Ba Ba" is thrown into sharp relief on this recording and emphasizes a nuance of the song that is easily overlooked in All Fall Down's harsh New Wave arrangement. The ache in the ballads is haunting in these spare arrangements while the band's traditionally more up tempo numbers crackle with the energy transmitted between the performers rather than just volume. The empathy and intimacy with the audience that night (evident by the loud cheering and singing) is magically and effortlessly translated digitally for an experience that goes beyond "you are there" to something closer to "you are part of it," a connection few bands are capable of in any medium.

David Leonhardt and Mark Harmon were present that evening, but Steve Hindalong of the Choir was sitting in on drums for Aaron Smith who had recently moved to Music City. The last minute substitution of a new drummer could have been disastrous, but serendipitously, Hindalong's lighter touch on the drums fits the acoustic performance better than A Train's "pounding and thrashing." Roe does manage to pull out his electric guitar for the last four or so songs. But rather than blowing away the rest of the band, his breaking the rules adds a new color to the sonic palette which indelibly marks the work with the band's signature.