Drowning With Land In Sight
1994 - Myrrh

Breaking away from BAI, the Sevens sign on to Myrrh Records. And mired in the anguish of both Roe's painful divorce and David Leonhardt's battle with Hodgekin's Lymphona. According to Roe, this is the first album truly crafted by the group as a group. The musicianship on this recording (and subsequent recordings) takes a decided step up as the standard pop elements begin to become less overt. Mark Harmon's bass notably gains prominance here - and it is clear that he is a much more proficient player than Jan ever was. And the lyrics mature dramatically here - there is no comparison with their work up to this point lyrically.

This record owes more than a little debt to Led Zeppelin - starting with a virtual note-for-note cover of Zep's version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and running through nearly the whole course of the album. There is even a drums-only "Moby Dick"-type track here ("Sounds O' Autumn"). A video was made for "Snake" which was deemed "Way Too Creepy" by the three or four video programmers worldwide who actually gave it a look

Myrrh was heavily involved in the creation of this "product" - and members of the band have frequently mentioned their annoyance with the process. Among their "assistance" with this project were two points of contention:

  • the removal of the words "kicked my ass" from "Dave's Blues." (corrected by backmasking the lyric, which now sounds like "ssa ym dekcik.")
  • the inclusion of at least one freaking uplifting song. (satisfied by inclusion of "For Crying Out Loud" -- which was incidentally made a Christian radio single)

    A more cohesive record than the last few had been, noting that all output since 1987's epopnymous release had been of the hodge-podge variety - more like collections than anything else.

    "Cold, Cold Night" is probably my least favorite Sevens song since the group really got going.

    track listing:
    Nobody's Fault But Mine
    Snowblind
    Snake
    Indian Winter
    Film At 11
    Mezzo
    Cold Cold Night
    Dave's Blues
    Sounds O' Autumn
    The Jig Is Up
    Alone Together
    For Crying Out Loud     		personnel:
    Mike Roe: guitars, harmonica, mandolin & vocals
    David Leonhardt: guitars
    Mark Harmon: bass, keyboards & vocals
    Aaron Smith: the most pounding and thrashing ever


    l-r Aaron Smith, Mark Harmon, Mike Roe, David Leonhardt