It was recently brought to our attention there was a band named Parousia BEFORE the existence of the Buffalo, New York based rock-band Parousia… or at the very least the two Parousia’s existed at the same time. Thank- goodness we never ran into this Parousia otherwise it may have resulted in the destruction of the known universe.
Parousia: “SEDONA” release date: 1975
MUSICIANS:
- Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo– Mark Romano
- Backing Vocals– Dina Galindo, Docie Galindo
- Lead Vocals– Barbara Lloyd
- Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals– Tony Heim
- Producer– Curt Abbott, Jim Dunlap
- Producer, Engineer– Steve Mitchell
- Vocals, Acoustic Guitar– Don Ury
- Vocals, Electric Bass– Carey Casey
- Vocals, Electric Guitar– Bob Lloyd
This Parousia from Arizona has one album available titled “SEDONA” released in 1975 on the Daystar music label. The songs were recorded at A&M studios in Hollywood which opened in 1967 and closed in 1999 after parent PolyGram merged with Universal Music.
A&M Records, Hollywood, CA
The major difference between the Arizona Parousia and the New York Parousia is that Arizona Parousia is from the “Jesus Music” genre whereas the Buffalo, New York Parousia is in the Album Oriented Rock genre.
SEDONA L.P. TRACKLIST:
- Sedona
- Ladies Of The Sky
- Passion Father
- Steadfast Love
- Praise Be The Lord
- Friends In My Life
- God Is Our Friend
- It’s Called Faith
- Take A Long Loving Look
- Good Lady’s Love Song
- Kingdom
Often New York Parousia’s content referenced the age-old struggle of man, good vs. evil, like the song “Revelation”,by Patt Connolly and “Lucifer’s Lament” written by Garth Huels Both songs are a nod to ‘70’s progressive-style music; a fusion reminiscent of Jeff beck, Yes and Jethro Tull, if you can imagine that…
Some of the students and faculty had heard the group last year in Anaheim. The group started off with “Set My Spirit Free.” Robert and Barbara Lloyd, Dave Rama Ley, Jackie Chapin, Lori Dixon, Randv Dixon, Beth Harber, Jim Harber, leaders of the group, gave an introduction, telling about their album “Sedona.”
These young people are ardent Christians. They testify with words and song about their faith in God. The word Parousia means Second Coming. Robert told the students he had had a dream which showed thousands of young people singing and praising the Lord and the word Parousia was written across the sky. They sang such numbers as “God is My Friend.” “Love is More” “Rich Man, Poor Man.”
Between songs, members of the group introduced themselves and told of their religious experiences and convictions. The band consisted of two electric guitar players, a drummer and three singers with small instruments like tambourines and cymbals, and one member who played both piano and electronic organ. The students said the music and the testimonials combined to make a memorable and meaningful experience.
Liturgies Feb. 1977
Although there doesn’t seem to be a free sample of music from Parousia’s ‘Sedona’ album to listen to on the internet, research reveals two distinct descriptions of the band’s style. For example, Discogs describes the music as “Folk, World and Country” whereas Last.FM describes the music as “Folk, Christian, Deathcore, Metalcore, Electronic and Christian Metal.” Not too sure about the accuracy of some of those labels considering “Deathcore, Metalcore and Electronic” did not exist as styles of music in 1975.
PAROUSIA, “Sedona”: Daystar DS 1001 (1975)
“…This is a very pleasant album, but somehow one gets the impression that it’s reaching for some things it just can’t grasp. It’s tries in spots to be progressive, but ends up being as much M.O.R. as anything else. It also edges into some very “New Age” types of music and lyrics, but mercifully (with the lyrics at least) doesn’t make that either. (A lot of that can be explained by Fr. McNamara’s own spirituality, which you can read about here). In the reaching part it resembles A City Set Upon a Hill Cannot be Hid, but that album (which really puts Our Lord’s parousia front and centre) has a stronger orchestration and is more creative than this production…”
Greetings…I am an original member of the “west coast” Parousia. We were from the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles, not from Arizona. The founders of Parousia were followers of Father William McNamara, who was associated with the Spiritual Life Institute, located in Sedona Arizona at the time. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about the early days of Parousia or to hear the music.
Regards,
Don (Ury) Hodgdon
[email protected]