Description

Perfect Timing is the sixth album by the American rock group Sweet Comfort Band, released on Light Records in 1984. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Dino Elefante at Pakaderm Studios in Los Alamitos, California; between October 1983 and March 1984. Cover artwork by Kernie Erickson.

The band went their separate ways the summer of 1984, culminating at their final concert near their home at Riverside Municipal Stadium after releasing six studio albums and garnering a large fan base. On June 30, 1984, Sweet Comfort Band officially folded after 10 years of ministry. Lead vocalist and keyboardist Bryan Duncan continued as a solo artist releasing his first album Have Yourself Committed on Light Records in 1985. Guitarist Randy Thomas went on to found the rock band Allies together with Bob Carlisle of Good News fame, releasing their self-titled debut album on Light Records in 1985. (Thomas and Carlisle later co-wrote the radio hit “Butterfly Kisses.” Carlisle’s own rendition of the song becomes a major radio hit in United States, reaching the top 10 of Hot 100 Airplay and becoming a number-one single on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song also received a Dove Award for Song of the Year, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Country Song.) Later Thomas also formed Identical Strangers. Rick Thomson became the drummer for the Benny Hester Band and toured with them for about a year. (In 1988 Thomson built a recording studio, Shelter Sound Studio, to write and record his own music. He eventually relocated the studio in 1993 and it developed into a state of the art recording studio.)

Forget the Sweet Comfort Band you’ve always known. Forget the deft r&b horns and the brief excursions toward disco’s borders. Replace it with a mental image of Queen or, more accurately, Kansas. Now you’re in the proper frame of mind to hear Sweet Comfort’s final project.

What? Sweet Comfort as a power rock band? Yep, and the band almost pulls it off, too.

The presence of this record, expensively mastered at half speed for brillant sonics, immediately hits the listener between the ears. Synthesizers soar – now ethereal, now menacing. Drummer Rick Thomson seems to be laying down thunder claps. Bryan Duncan‘s consistently arresting vocals shine like crystal set in ebony. Producer Dino Elefante has pushed the technical forefront of Christian music ahead, or at least stretched it substantially.

But Sweet Comfort a power band? While the anthem-like «Sing for the Melody» works, and «Envy and Jealousy» builds irresistibly, tunes like «Lookin’ for the Answer» suggest metal that lacks muscle. Randy Thomas, a skilled jazz guitarist, puts plenty of sweat into his rock leads, but the results don’t quite go over the top.

The beauty of the album’s two ballads confirms that the band has strayed too far from its musical home on the other songs. Still, «You Led Me to Believe» is worth the price of admission for any believer betrayed by fellow Christians.

One must commend Sweet Comfort. They took a risk: hired a rock producer so their band could go out with a bang, gave that producer complete creative control, hedged their bets with some extremely commercial songs, and scored big with an impressive display of talent.

Perfect Timing should sell like candles in a blackout, but though the timing may have been perfect, the aim could have been more true. [Scoff Pinzon, CCM, July 1984]

Sweet Comfort Band was both slightly ahead of its time and a product of its time, reflecting the currents of the day’s musical trends, carving out a unique place in the history of Christian music, and setting a standard that few groups can match even today. The band’s sixth album, 1984’s ‘Perfect Timing’, was aptly named: they’d gone as far as they could go. Charismatic front-man Bryan Duncan was ready for a solo career and Randy Thomas would go on to join with Bob Carlisle to form the funk-filled rock power-band, Allies. Still, Sweet Comfort Band’s demise left little comfort for the legion of fans that lost Christian Music’s premier soul/power ballad/pop/rock powerhouse. ‘Perfect Timing’ is once again available as a remastered limited edition.

‘Perfect Timing’ features all of the earmarks of a classic Sweet Comfort Band album, although with less emphasis on horns and more of an eighties rock sound. Duncan’s blue-eyed soul vocals are there in all of their glory, as are Thomas’ soaring guitar solos. Kevin Thomson turns in his usual fine job on bass and Rick Thomson delivers a fine drum performance, slightly hampered by the period tendency to combine electronic percussion sounds in the mix wherever possible – this is most notable on the album’s only track that really suffers from sounding dated – «Computer Age» – which also features that ‘eighties’ keyboard sound and is the only song featuring Thomas on lead vocals instead of Duncan. In this case, Duncan is probably feeling pretty good about that….

As an indication of where Duncan was going, the penultimate track is the impressive ballad, «Prodigal’s Regret (Never Should Have Left You)», which is the kind of powerful, confessional writing and performance that would characterize much of his work in the years that followed.

«Neighborhood Kids», the album’s last song, is an ambitiously progressive jazz/pop effort that shows Sweet Comfort Band in a more socially-conscious mode. The song is refreshingly devoid of any eighties trendiness, has a wonderful sound, and shows the band at its fullest musical potential – seemingly, a perfect jumping-off point for the next step in their musical evolution. …but timing, being what it is, said otherwise.

The album is produced by Dino Elephante and features ex-Kansas vocalist John Elephante singing back-up and adding to the generally bigger production sound that characterized the Elephante production style.

Unquestionably one of the finest, most accomplished bands of its day, Sweet Comfort Band capped off their history with a fine album of well-crafted songs featuring fine musicianship, state of the art production, and typically impressive cover art. Not a bad way at all to put the lid on your legacy. This, like most SCB albums, needs to be part of the collection of any serious collector of Christian Music. [Bert Saraco, The Phantom Tollbooth, 2010]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/perfect-timing/1313442682)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Perfect Timing” – 3:26
A2. “Habit Of Hate” – 3:32
A3. “You Led Me To Believe” – 5:08
A4. “Don’t Bother Me Now” – 3:49
A5. “Computer Age” – 3:32

Side Two
B1. “Sing For The Melody” – 3:42
B2. “Lookin’ For The Answer” – 4:45
B3. “Envy & Jealosy” – 4:20
B4. “Prodigal’s Regret (Never Should Have Left You)” – 4:10
B5. “Neighborhood Kids” – 3:48

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Light Records. Later re-issued on CD by Light Records. Remastered by J. Powell at Steinhaus and re-issued on CD by Retroactive Records in 2009 as Digipak, distributed by Brutal Planet Distribution.

Sweet Comfort Band (L-R): Randy Thomas, Rick Thomson, Bryan Duncan, Kevin Thomson.

A full-page advertisement for the Sweet Comfort Band album Perfect Timing was featured in the June 1984 issue of CCM Magazine.

[responsive_vimeo 246471566]Prodigal’s Regret (I Never Should Have Left You) 2017.

I was a young man from Rialto California who could play guitar. In the early seventies, I had kicked around San Bernardino in a little-known Christian band called Sonrise. Later I joined an Orange County horn band known as Psalm 150, which played prisons and churches throughout California. Both of these bands appeared with Sweet Comfort on occasion.

Sweet Comfort got hounded about needing a guitar player. I joined in 1976 and we immediately went to Martinsound studio in Alhambra to make the first record. We were loaned $8000 by Bryan’s future wife, Jodi. What followed was a grueling self-inflicted schedule of touring and recording.

Bryan Duncan brought brutally honest lyrics and a soaring vocal to match. Rick Thomson had a smooth voice, was a solid drummer, and was the joker of the band. Kevin Thomson was known for his bass solos, and probably did the most work behind the scenes, keeping the band going. I came in quietly and developed my songwriting and playing as the band matured.

The debut record was largely Bryan’s songwriting. Breakin’ The Ice was more of a group effort and was the sound that set us apart. Hearts Of Fire and Hold On Tight continued the quality songcrafting. Cutting Edge, produced by Jack Joseph Puig revealed the band stretching artistically. Perfect Timing may show evidence of the struggle that artists face, when the choice is between becoming stale, or moving on. It was our last record together.

Sweet Comfort Band spanned a decade, from the laid-back seventies to the more pretentious eighties. We stayed true to the original vision: we were musical missionaries. The band preached the gospel in concert and explored deep emotional issues in the studio. I think what we did has worn well with the passing of time. Those fans that loved it then, still love it now. I hope these releases create more than fans. If you listen closely you’ll hear the gospel; “Somebody loves you. Somebody died for you.”

– Randy Thomas, Sweet Comfort Band [Liner notes featured in the “Perfect Timing: Limited Edition – Remastered” CD released by Retroactive Records in 2009]