MASS FOR THE SECULAR CITY
“Side 2” is subtitled Mass for the Secular City and is, I suppose, a proper Mass set to popular rhythms, or at least the song listing seems to indicate that: “Introit: Sing to the Lord”, “Kyrie: Lament of the City”, “Gloria: Joy in the City”, etc. The repetition of “they can’t kill me, for I have already died” in “Credo: Death in the City” is particularly moving.
The performance also tells the story of a musician named Johnny Lamb who comes to the city in search of fulfillment. The choir is accompanied by a full band, and the same powerful organ on the Search Party’s Montgomery Chapel is in evidence on this music. There are a few bonus tracks at the end of this CD that include Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in G Minor” – over which the history of St. Pius X Seminary is told – and “Hail Mary”.
(September 2014)
