Goldie's Last Day (1993)

Goldie's Last Day is the second studio album by the Christian rock band PFR, released on December 20, 1993 by Vireo/Sparrow Records. The album was produced by Jimmie Lee Sloas with Brown Bannister as executive producer.

After the success of their debut album Pray for Rain, especially winning a Dove Award and earning a Grammy nomination, PFR releases their second album continuing their melodic pop rock sound with some Beatles influences. The title song, "Goldie's Last Day," is a delightfully quirky, slightly humorous, and bittersweet rock eulogy dedicated to bassist Patrick Andrew's real-life golden retriever, who had recently passed away. "That Kind of Love," written by Gordon Kennedy and Jenny Yates, is an acoustic-driven ballad reminiscent of The Beatles' 1968 classic "Blackbird." Lyrically, the song explores the theme of divine, unconditional love through a lens of childlike wonder and curiosity.

The final track "Wait For the Sun" transitions into a partial cover of "Let the Sunshine In" taken from the 1968 Broadway musical Hair, also made famous by The Fifth Dimension in 1969. The song is also a play on words that Joel Hanson wrote and intertwining the natural "sun" breaking through dark clouds with the return of the "Son" (Jesus Christ) bringing brighter days ("So wait for the sun to come out again... So wait for the Son is comin' again"). At the end of the song, there is about 20 seconds of silence and then a hidden track of PFR goofing around in the studio while making this album that last about 48 seconds.

Goldie's Last Day charted and climbed to number 9 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums chart in February 1994, giving them their first Top 10 album. Also in early '94, PFR released their first long-form video on VHS entitled PFR Unleashed - On Stage. On Film. On Life. It contains three videos from this album and "Do You Want to Know Love" video from Pray for Rain, plus interview segments. PFR was nominated for two Dove Awards for Rock Album of the Year and Rock Recorded Song of the Year for "Walk Away From Love."

Track listing

1. Walk Away From Love (Joel Hanson) -3:57

2. By Myself (Patrick Andrew) -3:42

3. That Kind of Love (Gordon Kennedy, Jenny Yates) -3:35

4. Dying Man (Joel Hanson) -3:28

5. Spinnin' Round (Jade Hanson) -4:01

6. Goldie's Last Day (Joel Hanson, Patrick Andrew) -4:16

7. Satisfied (Joel Hanson, Patrick Andrew) -5:07

8. I Don't Understand (Joel Hanson, Patrick Andrew) -3:11

9. Mercy Man (Joel Hanson) -4:54

10. Shine (Joel Hanson) -3:35

11. Wait For the Sun/Let the Sunshine In (Joel Hanson/James Rado, Gerome Ragni,

Galt MacDermot) -4:49

a.) (silence) -0:20

b.) (hidden track) -0:48

Personnel

PFR:

Joel Hanson -lead vocals, guitars, wurlitzer

Patrick Andrew -backing vocals, bass guitar (all tracks except 5)

Mark Nash -drums

additional musicians:

Jimmie Lee Sloas -chipper bluegrass intro on track 1, bass guitar on track 5,

backing vocals

Gordon Kennedy -chipper bluegrass intro on track 1, additional guitars on track

3, fingersnaps on track 10, backing vocals

Paul Franklin -steel guitar on track 10

Blair Masters -keyboards

Phil Madeira -B-3 organ

Eric Darken -percussion

Steve Bishir -fingersnaps on track 10

David Sloas -chipper bluegrass intro on track 1

John Hammond -rocking chair and shoebox on track 1

Radio singles

1994 "That Kind of Love" -#1 Christian CHR for 3 weeks, -#3 Christian AC

1994 "Wait For the Sun/Let the Sunshine In" -#2 Christian CHR

Previous release: Pray for Rain (1992) 

Next release: Great Lengths (1994)

Watch the long-form video PFR Unleashed - On Stage. On Film. On Life. here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujZXC0EGft0