Way Back Home is the ninth solo album by Christian singer/songwriter/guitarist Phil Keaggy. It was released in 1986 on Pan Pacific Records. Keaggy produced and arranged the album himself.
Way Back Home is a collection of quiet songs as a tribute to family, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren with Keaggy playing classical, bass and acoustic guitars, in addition to vocals, along with other studio musicians and string ensemble arrangements by Tom Howard. Since it was a low-key release, this album did not chart the first time around.
On June 4, 1994, Keaggy re-released Way Back Home on Sparrow Records with a different track listing order. The album is partially re-recorded and remixed with some differences with the songs and instrumentation from the 1986 release:
*- the instrumental track "The Reunion" is not on this re-issue but does appear in a nearly identical recording in his 1987 instrumental release The Wind and the Wheat.
*- "Here and Now": the string sounds from the original 1986 version were removed for the 1994 version, and the 1994 version is faded slightly early.
*- "A New Star": the 1994 version includes new keyboard sounds and replaces the original soprano sax part with a penny whistle part.
*- "Maker of the Universe": string sounds from the original version were removed for the 1994 version.
*- "Let Everything Else Go": it's a new recording, originally from the 1981 Town to Town album. For this 1994 version, it fades out about a minute earlier than the original 1986 re-recording.
*- Noah's Song": the string sounds from the original version were removed for the 1994 version.
*- "In Every Need": the 1994 version has a brief section with no guitar, only bass.
Keaggy recorded four new songs as bonus tracks continuing the family theme of the album, including the duet "Father-Daughter Harmony" featuring his daughter Alicia. The re-issued album debuted and peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart.
Track listing of the 1994 reissue
All songs were written by Phil Keaggy, except where noted.
1. Way Back Home -4:20
2. A New Song -3:37
3. Father-Daughter Harmony (duet with Alicia Keaggy) (Phil Keaggy, Alicia
Keaggy) -4:27 *
4. It Could Have Been Me (Phil Keaggy, Sheila Walsh) -5:13 *
5. In Every Need (music by Phil Keaggy, words by Samuel Longfellow and
anonymous) -4:59
6. She's a Dancer -3:00 *
7. Let Everything Else Go -4:56
8. Olivia -3:27
9. Once I Prayed -(music by Phil Keaggy, words by Helen McDowell) -3:16
10. Noah's Song -4:02
11. Maker of the Universe (music by Phil Keaggy, words by Frederick William Pitt)
-3:13
12. Be In Time (music by Phil Keaggy, words by Phil Keaggy and anonymous) -4:26
13. Here and Now -2:43
14. The 50th (instrumental) -9:22 *
(*) -newly recorded bonus tracks
NOTE: the four tracks, "In Every Need," "Once I Prayed," "Maker of the Universe" and "Be In Time" were printed through the courtesy of the Loizeaux Brothers,
publishers of The Continual Burnt Offering.
Previous release: Getting Closer! (1985)
Next release: The Wind and the Wheat (1987) (instrumental album)
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