First encounter: a girl on the bus, a girl from youth group, with an LP under her arm. A strange albino-looking man swimming through blue ink. She didn’t talk to me much, but I peered over her shoulder and wondered what the record sounded like.

The record was called Upon This Rock, and although I didn’t hear it until a few years later, it was played on alternative radio stations and became a kind of cult record. There are at least two versions in circulation, one of which lists a non-existent ‘Prelude’ as track 1. The music is somewhere between gospel, blues, folk and rock, with strange string and brass arrangements, manic screaming on ‘The Last Supper’, and a slurred spoken word retelling of the story of Moses. Between these are exquisite and surreal gems such as ‘Ha Ha World’ and ‘Forget Your Hexagram’.

Second encounter: the Royal Albert Hall, London. A group of us out for the night sometime in the early 70s. I think Malcolm & Alwyn, along with Parchment, were support to Larry Norman, but I could be wrong (I’ve also got a memory of Liberation Suite shaking the place on the massive organ there). He was mesmerizing, just him and a guitar or piano standing in the spotlight. I bought the last copy of Only Visiting This Planet on the record stall. It was scratched on one track and the lyric sheet was missing, so I got a discount.

Now it’s even more scratched and the spine is crushed beyond repair. I have a CD copy, but the vinyl is still a friend from teenage days. In its own way the songs are quietly shocking: who else in christian music was discussing love, lust and venereal disease? Or criticizing the Apollo space program or television war coverage? Who else would offer an overview of the current music scene in such a scathing and witty way? No-one, that’s who.

Larry would, in my and many other’s opinion, never top Only Visiting This Planet, which is regularly voted (for what it’s worth) ‘Number 1 Christian Record Of All Time’, but he came pretty close with the follow-up So Long Ago the Garden. The LP includes some revisited tracks from his 60s pop band People! as well as new ballads and pop songs, along with the long Dylanesque satire of ‘Nightmare #71’ which closes the album. From the cover art on in, this album would for some reason confuse his christian fan-base, who not only couldn’t deal with the (implied) nudity of ‘Adam’ on the sleeve, but couldn’t quite grasp the idea of fictional narrators in songs, let alone some of the satirical and riddling lyrics on offer. The whole affair wasn’t helped by the fact MGM records went bust pretty soon after the LP’s release, and only a few thousand were released. Despite a number of reissues, remixes, original, classic and anniversary editions, the original tracks in the original order have never been made available again.

A few years later, however, came In Another Land on christian record labels around the world. It’s never been a favorite of mine, simply because its sound and lyrics are too sanitized. Gone is the sarcasm and wit, in are squeaky clean studio versions of many songs originally recorded at home and released on ‘underground’ albums in LA, and hymnlike declarations of faith. The album concludes ‘the first trilogy’ and also a whole sequence of planned albums that have mostly never seen release, nor it seems always been recorded.

Strange encounter 1: a cold and windy Greenbelt Festival. I have published a little fanzine about Larry to sell in the musician's tent and on my poetry stall. Larry ends up buying most of them – whether to burn or archive I will never know. He insists on paying for them before stuffing them into his bag and wandering off.

The fanzine listed some of the unreleased, rumored and non-existent albums of Larry’s, which along with seemingly never-ending releases on his own Phydeaux and then Street Level would in the end discourage even the most ardent fan from buying yet another version of Larry Greatest Hits live just to hear one or two live versions or studio demos of unreleased songs.

Don’t get me wrong, in the last 20 years Larry has recorded a number of amazing songs, and one or two good albums. I should certainly mention Something New Under the Son, a raw blues collection from the late 70s. Even this, however, was originally released in differing American and UK editions at the time of release, and later in several CD versions.

The trouble was, it seemed, twofold. Firstly, Larry had suffered an injury to his head which was causing concentration issues, so he didn’t properly finish recording his music, and secondly, he didn’t see music as anything more than a vehicle for evangelism. Thankfully, this didn’t mean simply ‘witnessing’ in the traditional sense, but it did mean that in the end he was more concerned with the message in and around his music than the music itself. Which, it has to be said, to music fans like myself was no consolation.

Strange encounter 2: a sunny Greenbelt Festival and Larry is chatting behind the visual arts tent, trying to persuade a bemused actor how famous he is, and that their drama is just what is required on his next tour of the States. Before too long, the actor scuttles away, and Larry chats about poetry and music, before heading off to do an interview for the festival magazine.

Like several interviews and features that appeared over the years, this article would attack and question Larry about his motives, his ill-health, his music and his frown. Larry learnt to shut up and avoid the press when required, although he was also an expert at turning some criticisms to his advantage. For years after a performance where he chose to do a few songs between preaching, Larry stated that he was banned from Greenbelt, when actually he’d just been asked if he would be prepared to sing rather than talk if he was booked again!

Eventually, of course, Larry simply became accepted as a quirky elder of christian rock. Punk, indie, heavy metal, disco and techno came and went around and occasionally with or despite him, but Larry remained a constant presence, encouraging, questioning and singing. For the last decade he struggled with serious health and financial problems, but despite that seemed to be sorting out a sensible reissues schedule and tracking down genuinely unreleased new live performances and other recordings. However expected his death was, it was still a shock and a surprise to get an email with the news.

Final encounter: the interval of a Larry Norman concert in a church hall in West London. Having arrived late and gone straight into his performance, Larry is resting and drinking water, with his broken leg on a chair, but is only too happy to chat. It’s a chance to catch up, say hi from a mutual friend, and discuss some emails we’ve exchanged. Larry is on fine musical form, with some great comedy routine intros, and some unusual song choices. This is the last time we’ll meet. It’s a good way to remember him, sprawled out, relaxed and smiling.

I shall miss him. If I haven’t spelled it out, his music has been part of my life now for over 30 years, a constant presence and encouragement, a reminder of my youth and my faith, of time passing, and of how important music can be.

          I've been sitting in this garden

          in the middle of my days

          and my memories fade and harden

          as the years they slip away.

          And been looking in this mirror

          at the age around my eyes.

          Time is such an earnest laborer,

          precession is his neighbor.

          Lay my body in the ground

          but let my spirit touch the sky.

          I hope I'll see you again some day

          but if I don't,

          I hope I'll see you in heaven.       

(from ‘I Hope I’ll See You in Heaven’, Larry Norman)

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1. BEYOND THE STARS
   

2. i.m. Larry Norman
   

3. 
   

4. A celebration. Projected memories
   

5. and the sound of a scratched record,
   

6. the descent of the first man, Adam,
   

7. as song echoes against the casket.
   

8. Find the fragile path into the future
   

9. and wait for me beyond the stars.
   

10. 
    

11. Today I wrote nothing. There will be
    

12. no more words flying between us,
    

13. nothing developed as a metaphor.
    

14. Death is as easy as lying, as rumour
    

15. spread against you, around you,
    

16. stories you pretended not to hear.
    

17. 
    

18. At the limit of translation, you
    

19. reinvented the wheel. Practice
    

20. can be observed, evaluated;
    

21. what you did cannot. Take
    

22. that fragile path into eternity
    

23. and wait beyond the stars.
    

24. 
    

25. Today I wrote something. This
    

26. is not an obituary or a memorial,
    

27. nothing here feels deliberate
    

28. or right. In another future,
    

29. where you are fit and well,
    

30. we see you in a new light
    

31. 
    

32. and understand love's defiance.
    

33. 
    

34. (by Rupert M. Loydell)
    

8 March 2008 | Rupert is editor of Stride Publications, a publishing company in the UK