Forgotten Albums: Perfect Heart – Command Performance

This was Perfect Heart’s second live album, and is very easily overlooked for their first, Live, which had several songs from their debut project, and some assorted classics and Funderburke sugar sticks from the Cathedrals days, or the later Live At The Forum, which was a much more produced album than this one.  This project has more in common with its predecessor, as it primarily is accompanied by piano, bass, and drums.  There are tracks used on a very few cuts.

However, what the album lacks in production it makes up for in performance quality.  By this time, the group had really hit its stride, and this album consists primarily of selections from their Looking For The Wounded project.  There are standout performances of “In My Wildest Dreams”, “Glory Waves”, “The First Look” and “I Wish It Would Rain” among others, but there are a couple of extra songs thrown in for good measure.  A nice rendition of “I’ve Been To Calvary” opens the disc, and “He Will Come Back” from the debut album, It Comes From The Heart, finds its way onto a live album here.  The real notable performance here is that this is the only place you can find Perfect Heart singing Mark Lanier’s original “While He’s Molding Me He’s Holding Me”, which was featured here as a Hidden Gem.  This album may be forgotten, but it’s worth pulling back out for a couple of listens if you have it, and if you don’t it’s worth scouring ebay or Amazon to find a copy.  It’s a very enjoyable live performance from a fantastic quartet.