Pioneers of CCM: Parchment

Keith, Sue and John in 1972

I have told this story before, but it bears repeating. I came to faith in early September 1973 after a day at the Bromyard Folk Festival where I heard a folk-rock trio called Parchment play.

I can still remember the rich aroma of the trampled grass that had been baking all day under the warm canvas, as the hot late summer sun beat down upon the large marquee we were sat in. The stage was small, and rather make-shift, but the sound system was powerful, and the microphones on their stands glinted silver.

Parchment came onto the stage, looking a little dishevelled and Bohemian, and also quite hairy - and performed a short set that included several of their new songs, but also the CCM classic Light Up The Fire. It was this song that hit me like a ton of bricks. The classic chorus is still sung in schools and churches all over the world today:

'Light up the fire, and let the flame burn. Open the door let Jesus return, take seeds of His Spirit and let the fruit grow. Tell the people of Jesus, and let His love show.'

The debut album released by PYE Records in 1972

Parchment were formed in Liverpool in 1972 by singers, poets and guitarists John Paculabo, Keith Rycroft and Susan McLellan. The trio had already played the scene for several years in various other bands including Trinity Folk, Gospel Light and Dovetail. It wasn't until they banded together though, that things really began to happen. In the early 70s, the fledgling Christian music scene in Britain had very little infrastructure to support it. There were no dedicated Christian record labels or broadcasting channels for musicians to call on, unlike those enjoyed by their brothers and sisters across the Atlantic.

Parchment's second album for PYE, Hollywood Sunset

Parchment had a lot of success with their recordings and appearances. They changed personnel several times including musicians such as Brian Smith and Pete Yates-Round in the line-up. But Parchment's sound and style of music was sustained, whoever else was playing because John and Sue were always at the core, and they garnered several different labels, as people attempted to describe them, including progressive-folk, folk-rock and even acid-folk. John Pac passed away in 2003 and so ended an era. They were a dedicated, hard working, and independent band, who would play anywhere and everywhere to share their important message that Jesus is very much alive and cares for us all.

The third album, featuring Brian Smith (L) in the line-up

Writing on the CrossRhythms main website, journalist Kate Nesta tells how hard it must have been for the members of one of the hardest working bands on the 70s circuit:

The historic chart success of Parchment hid a stark financial reality for the band. Buzz magazine spelt it out for their readers. "What might surprise you to learn is that they have nearly always been on the bread line - even when their single was enjoying some success, when their record albums were selling well and when they were touring abroad." John told broadcaster Mike Rimmer 18 months before his death, "There's only two types of musician: those who eat and those who don't. We were the latter; we often had a really tough time. There were days when we had nothing. Christians seem to want music for outreach but don't seem to be prepared to pay for it." Despite the hardships of their time as struggling musicians, Parchment prevailed and became one of the most successful Christian bands of the era.

Clive Price writes about why Parchment were different to the run-of-the-mill Christian bands of the day on the Parchment Music blog:

This progressive folk-rock outfit from Liverpool – initially John Pac, Sue McClellan and Keith Rycroft – had become local heroes in north-west England. They achieved far more than many other acts of their genre at the time, in the 70s. They made the charts at home and abroad, recorded Top Of The Pops, played Wembley, the Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square. Their song Light Up The Fire became the anthem of a socio-political movement, and to this day is still one of the most sung compositions in school assemblies.

But all of that was secondary to me. I appreciated Parchment because, even though they were part of the religious music scene, they wrote about fear and doubt – words you weren’t meant to mention in church circles. They also understood that not everyone spoke Christian jargon with an American accent, and so their lyrics were down-to-earth, sometimes even mystical and often coloured with Scouse! And they used unorthodox sounds of wailing guitar, sitar and haunting vocals.

I own four of their albums, and if time and space permit, I intend to do retrospective reviews of each in the coming months on this blog. Until then, below is a great track from the trio for you to enjoy. It's a gentle track that really showcases the great harmonies between Sue and John, and it's called Long As I Can See You:

Pioneers of CCM: Parchment by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.