Phil Keaggy: Town To Town (1981)

1. Wished You Were There
2. Full Circle
3. Life Love and You
4. Town to Town
5. What a Wonder You Are
6. In Between
7. Our Lives
8. Rise Up O Men of God
9. Let Everything Else Go

Phil continued his journey into CCM on his next effort, Town to Town.  The album has a lot of the same qualities as Ph'lip Side, except it's not split down the middle between acoustic ballads and uptempo rockers.  Phil's still cranking out melodic, radio-friendly pop rock with a playful spirit and aurally deep soundscapes.  If anything, his sound is shifting into the middle, as there's nothing as purely acoustic as "Little Ones" or "Spend My Life With You," but also nothing as rocking as "Pulling Down" or edgy as "Sunday School."  

The big single off the album, "Let Everything Else Go," is strangely placed at the end of the album, as it's a gentle pop ballad with a huge chorus, and doesn't seem like much of a finale song, with its verses about "chasing down hot air balloons on Sunday Morning."  Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I'm usually chasing my socks and burning toast on my way to church on Sunday morning--maybe the scene from the album cover is Phil and the boys loading out after a Saturday night service?  

Still, the song is probably the best thing on the album, although I could cast a vote for some others: The title track, which seems like a younger brother to "A Royal Commandment" in that it opens with a mellow acoustic prelude, then cranks into an uptempo, heavy chorus riff before shifting into a nice pop verse.  Indeed, the "Town" riff could the heaviest thing on the album.  

Or there's the gentle nose-thumbing of "Wished You Were There," Keaggy's account of his old band Glass Harp's reunion shows in Cleveland that year.  The "Stacy" that never mentioned the shows was Plain Dealer rock columnist Anastasia Pantsios, and Phil's "complaint" is really just a good-natured nostalgia trip.  Phil, ever the well-read scholar, may have unconsciously borrowed the line from chapter 30 of Anne of Green Gables: "Miss Stacy never mentioned such a thing to me, Anne, and its only your guilty conscience that's the matter with you.'" (Here's the rest of the chapter)

Speaking of early 20th century literature, there's "Rise Up O Men of God," PK's cover of the old William Merrill hymn.  It's suitably epic, with punchy acoustic chords and marching cadences by Alex Acuna, who would re-visit these rhythyms on The Wind and the Wheat.  The only thing that takes it down a bit for me is that Phil tries so hard to sound "manly" that it almost feels like his vocal is pitched down a semitone.  Which is really odd, considering this album is his most vocally-adventurous one yet.  There's lots of falsetto grace notes, big crescendos, and lots of belting out, without the squeakiness that used to mar some of his attempts to sing big. 

Overall, a nice album with nothing earth-shattering or groundbreaking, but then, Phil was never much of an earth shatterer anyway.  He's always been more of a "song in the air" kind of guy.