Larry Norman's Father Touch is a very nice 2-disc album that is fairly hard to find because it was a limited pressing of 1,000 and was a "Phan Klubb" only release in 1999. Thanks to eBay, I was able to find one and add it to my collection. It has a nice 16 page booklet with several pictures that I haven't seen anywhere else. It also has some inspirational writings by Larry about fatherhood, family life, Compassion International, as there's even brief descriptions about some of the songs.

As far as the songs go, there are 16 of them and they are broken up into five parts: New Songs (3), Copper Wires Prequel Birthday Party Internet Gig (2), Tribute Recordings (2), Private World (3), and Bonus Tracks (6). The new songs "Father Of All" and "Dark Passage" are now available on other albums. I'm sot sure if "I Need A Touch" is on anything else or not, but it's a great song and it's worth tracking down.

The two internet gig songs on here are similar to those on the Copper Wires CD, but unlike that found on Copper Wires, the version of "Feed The Poor" on this release is complete.

The tribute songs on here are DC Talk's "Jesus Freak," which is an excellent studio version, the same version can be found on the compilation CD The Mother Of All Tributes. The other tribute is "Friendship's End," which is a song Larry did after tracking down one of his bootleggers only to find out that it was a college student named Joel Pierce who died in a fire. It's a really great track. You can also find it on the compilation CD that Joel's friends made as a tribute to him, titled Bootleg, A Tribute To Joel Pierce.

The "My Private World" songs are probably the most unique sounding songs on this collection. They have a very lounge type feel to them. "When All My Dreams Are Ending" can also be found on Essential 3 - Liberator. If you like that one, you'll definitely like the version of "Near" that follows it. Sure, you've heard "Near" on other albums, but I guarantee you that you've never heard one like this before! And yes, in case you're wondering, the song "Ironman Takes The 'A' Train" is Larry's rendition of the Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne classic.

The six bonus tracks are excellent. All of them are instrumentals, making them seem a bit incomplete, but still great songs nonetheless. It would have been nice to hear Larry add some vocals to these.

Disc two is comprised of just two tracks, the "Godspell interview" and the "WZZD radio station interview." These are nice to listen to once or twice, but nothing you'd probably listen to on a regular basis. Still, they're nice to have in the collection though.

Review date: 1/18/09, written by Joshua Collins for Jesusfreakhideout.com