Mark's Most Memorable Albums!
Mark Lajoie has been the lead singer in the band, a composer, arranger, et al. SO! He has had some affect on the type of music Living Waters has produced. Our lead guitarist Greg's love of Rush, The Who and U2, among others, has certainly had an impact. Tony's mastery of jazz drums, Mike being a main songwriter, as well, have added to the flavor. Everybody who's sung or played has contributed a piece to what LW is. But it would be interesting to see what has influenced Mark. Going in time order, Let us join Mark as he lists his top most influential albums:
1. "Meet the Beatles"!
I was seven when the family went to Roseland Restaurant in Augusta, ME circa 1964. They used to have jukeboxes right in the booths where you could put in the tunes, and they would play throughout the restaurant. I don't know why my dad kept feeding me the quarters, but I played "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" about 13 times in a row! Soon the whole restaurant was looking over at our booth - I can't say that I blame them! I watched the Ed Sullivan show, listened to their other songs from that first album released in the US. As an addendum, later on that year, I walked into Woolworth's five-and-dime and bought my first single with my own money; it was "Hard Day's Night/I Should Have Known Better".
This built upon listening to all my brother Danny's 45s when I was younger than this: these included Everly Brothers, Motown, teen idols, and a lot of Dion. Later on, when LW members played school dances and such as a secular band, called "Siloam"(!), we actually performed several of the songs from these early albums.
2. "Peter, Paul & Mary"
This would soon include the folk rock of the Byrds, and others. This happened because after taking advantage of Danny's 45s, I began to devour Don's LP albums during the mid-60s! One I wore out over and over was the double live album by PP & M. This included "Jesus Met the Woman", "Rock My Soul", "The Hour That the Ship Comes In" and more. This affected me! You can hear some of this in the demos I made of "A Stand of Courage" and "Ring the Judas Bell", which also has a fuzz bass like the next entry....
3. "Rubber Soul"
You may think I wore out PP & M?? Well! I just consumed Rubber Soul! The first fuzz bass ever was in "Think For Yourself". Dave came up with the intro to "Sing to Jesus", but I ran with it in a Rubber Soulish direction; it sure sounds kind of like "I've Just Seen a Face", doesn't it? Of course, all the other Beatles stuff found its way to my ears. You can hear later John Lennon in my "Booze Blues Cruise".
4. Classical Music
I got very tuned into chorale-style classical music. At one point, I sang in the city chorus doing "Seven Last Words of Christ" on the altar at St. Augustine's in Augusta. I absolutely loved Handel's "Messiah", and that played a BIG part in my conversion experience later at 15. A love for the Romantic composers was followed by an obsession with Bach and Mozart. As an older adult? Vivaldi is my man.
5. "Best of Cream"
Around 1970 or so, at a time when I felt very lost, I immersed myself in Top 40 radio (a great time to do it, as it turns out), but I once again appropriated one of Danny's albums, The Best of Cream. I just loved it! What a discovery for me! I especially loved "Badge". I had gotten a cheapo $20 guitar from A & P grocery store. I would figure out how to play some of it by ear. Sometime that guitar was missing strings, but that didn't stop me! I just re-tuned it any old way I could get it to talk for me. My very first recording was of "White Room" where I laid down the bass on a cassette recorder and then played the lead over it. I did the same thing with Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy".
6. "Boston - Boston"
The very year our band officially started, when we were living at the retreat center, and were playing music on a regular basis, one of us bought this album. I remember Jim, Mike, and the guys were in Dave's apartment, and put on this album. Our jaws hung to the floor. This was incredible! The local connection was big for us, being in the same area as them. We even tried to do "More Than a Feeling" for Mike Higgins' wedding reception, where we played as "Siloam". No one can do that like Boston. You can hear their influence in a LOT of ways!
7. "Servant - Shallow Water"
Here's where the early classic Christian Rock began to affect us. It was hard to get this cassette!! And it was rushed out so fast, the song order was messed up! But I listened to this SO many times, and then to "Rockin' Revival". I would drive around in my 1970 Mercury Marauder, windows open, blasting this album. They seemed to be very genuine people. I lost track of them when they segued to 80s-type albums. Some of us went to go see one of their live concerts in Mass., and even helped them to load their bus after. That was one of the best concerts I ever saw. That affected me!
8. "JMT - The Lord's Supper"
John Michael Talbot was a leading Christian music guy, who became somewhat of a contemplative monk-style musician. We were Catholics, so I knew this album would be right up our alley; I didn't know how utterly impressive the songwriting, arrangements & orchestration would be! It is a masterpiece. We actually regularly did a couple of responses from this album when we did weddings, Confirmations and such, as we often did. We got to play a concert with him in 1988, which is a precious gift indeed. I later also enjoyed "Heart of the Shepherd", "Come to the Quiet" and others.
9. "2nd Chapter of Acts - Rejoice"
I went out to Estes Park a couple of times in the early 80s, to the Christian Songwriters' Conference, once by myself, once with Mike. I really began to radically tune in to those doing similar music to what we were doing. The classical-tinged power vocals of the Wards just utterly floored me. I latched onto this album in particular, because it featured the matchless guitar of Kerry Livgren of Kansas. Perhaps you can catch a whiff of this album in some of the later songs I wrote. At one point, I was singing "Bread of Life" with a choir I had.
10. Christian music - all sorts
(U2 was a major influence on us in so many ways, but I am not including them. I feel like they sold out in several ways; I don't want to patronize them. They were an adjunct to Christian music in the 80's and 90's, but I will not talk about them here.) I will toss in a couple of other Christian albums that I wore out and had a big effect on me. Phil Keaggy's "Play Through Me" is one, and "Something New Under the Sun" by Larry Norman is another. I've definitely had a bluesy streak in me, as in "Roll the Rock Over" or "It's Not the Same", and I think Mr. Norman probably helped with that. There is so much more music of all sorts that I could mention, but I think I've hit the big ones that are part of me and colored my writing style. :)
I hope you enjoyed this little tour. Go and listen to some of these and then listen to Living Waters, and see what you can hear!
