Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

As teenagers Ian Smale and Andy Piercy teamed up to write and perform acoustic Christian music and became the first full time musical evangelists to travel the length and breadth of the country singing in schools, youth clubs and churches. In 1971 they recorded this debut vinyl single, capturing a couple of early songs in a simple production that mirrored the way they performed them live. Both "Benedictus" and its B side "Song Of Praise No 2" point the listener to a simple message of a life-hanging gospel. By today's more sophisticated standard, these songs have a quaint charm and there's no doubting the ministry intentions. The B side points towards Ishmael's future as a children's songwriter. But before all of that they recorded the 'Ready Salted' album in 1973, Andy moved on and joined After The Fire and Ishmael used the emerging punk music to evangelise a new generation. But it all started here.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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