VerMir ACA-6647/8 (1976)
Who Shall Spread the Good News? was brought to reality by Roger Smith and Michael Howell, through their group the New Commitment. Roger Smith, a Catholic priest from Corpus Christi, TX, also performed on albums for North American Liturgy Resources. This music was connected with the “Search” retreats which are still ongoing for Texas Catholic college students.
In our opinion, Who Shall Spread the Good News? is an outstanding–maybe the outstanding–example of the music that came out of the “Catholic Liturgical” movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Especially notable are their rendition of De Profundiis (“If You, Oh Lord”) and “As the Rain.”

The songs:
- Who Shall Spread the Good News?
- Song of Revelation
- If You, Oh Lord (Psalm 130)
- Lift your Voice
- The Lord is My True Shepherd (Psalm 23)
- Did You Ever Wonder Why?
- Praised be the God and Father (Ephesians 1)
- Jesus
- Holy, Holy, Holy
- Anaphora/Acclamation
- Doxology/The Lord’s Prayer
- Lamb of God
- As the Rain
The Performers:
- Conrad Hayden — Acoustic and Electric Guitar, Vocals
- Mary Ann Edel — Piano
- Matt Walsh — Bass Guitar
- Russel Buenteo — Vocals
- Janie Gillespie — Vocals, Guitar
- Kay Vorhies — Tambourine, Vocals
- Michele Brinkman — Vocals
- Gary Henneke — Flute
- Serge Timecheff — French Horn
- Therese Edel — Organ
A few notes about this album:
- The album artwork is not original, although the photo is roughly contemporaneous with the album.
- The album used had a terrible pinch warp, which accounts for the quality. If a better digitisation is forthcoming, please contact us.
- My much belated thanks to John and Tracy for this music. It was the first music to be posted on this site and remains a favourite of mine.
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