Hidden Gems: Cathedrals – “Evergreen”
January 11, 2013 3 Comments
While the Cathedrals remain one of SG’s most popular and enduring groups, even now some 14 years after their retirement, there remains a lot of the group’s catalog that is fairly undiscovered by most fans of this music, especially in the pre-Danny Funderburk years. This song comes from their 1981 album Colors Of His Love featuring Kirk Talley, Glen Payne, Mark Trammell, George Younce, and Roger Bennett.
This mellow sounding ballad starts with some swirling strings that put the listener in mind of wind whirling through the evergreen trees to which the title of the song refers. It’s an interesting lyric that refers to evergreen trees standing through the storms that come up and blow. The chorus is a prayer for God to make the believer as strong as the evergreen that stands in the forest. It’s a very well crafted lyric that is accecntuated with some beautiful singing from Kirk Talley and some gorgeous harmonies from the quartet. Adding to the creativity is the fact that Talley sings his step out lines on the second chorus an octave higher than on the previous chorus, swooping up from the quartet harmonies to the higher melody. The tag includes the swirling strings, though a bit more subdued than the intro, but features a swirling round vocal tag that features the Cathedrals first, with the repeat done by female studio vocalists, again hearkening the listener to winds whipping through a forest of evergreen trees in winter.
There’s not a whole lot of flash here, but it’s a gorgeous, very well crafted song. Someone needs to bring this one back. If you have the album (or like me, the LP AND the 8-track!), spin it up and give it another listen!
About Wes Burke
Great song, and great hidden gem! Glad you featured this one!
great song…….it’s also on the Kirk Talley “Out Front” CD. Not sure who put those CD’s out and there have been other artists with “Out Front” titles…
I love that song! I bought the LP during my high school days, and recently converted it to mp3 with my Ion turntable. It’s on the iPod and still gets played occasionally. They put out lots of great music during the time Kirk Talley was with them! He did a wonderful job as their tenor!