Recorded October 2002, February and May 2003

The material for what became the 8th Warhorse album was not initially conceived as its own album but as demos of songs in consideration for ILLUMINATION (my first CD, released in 2007 under my real name) and other tracks I felt like recording. Once there was enough material it made sense to compile them as a Warhorse album.
The first 10 tracks were recorded on the Fostek analogue 4-track I’d been using since late 1997. In May, I began using the Yamaha MD8 digital eight-track and recorded the final eight songs that make up the album (including five digital new versions of songs previously recorded in analogue). All the songs that are not a cappela feature backing tracks created by Michael Coderre in 2002.

1. Kyrie 1 (Feb)
Michael had this instrumental and originally I was going to feature it as such and call it Illumination. Then I got the idea to put the kyrie eleison text on it and renamed it. Illumination then became the name of the CD project (and another song).

2. Prayer For Guidance (Oct)
(John Michael Talbot)
Coincidentally this is meant to be a cappela.

3. Gathered in Love of Christ 1 (Feb)
(Marty Haugen / Pachelbels Canon)
When I was listening to tracks Michael had prepared for me, I noticed he had this one too. It wasn’t a serious candidate for my CD but I wanted to do a home version of it.

4. You are the Voice (Oct)
(David Haas)
For a time I thought of this for my CD.

5. Gloria 1 (Feb)
Technically this was the second recording. I was having increasing issues working my the analogue 4-track with inconsistent playback (tape-tightening)and did another take. Michael had the music for this piece which he envisioned in the style of a French pop song. I moved the text around of the Gloria to fit the music.

6. Behold Now the Kingdom (Oct)
(John Michael Talbot)

7. The Bread of Life 1 (Feb)
(John Michael Talbot)
Working with the four-track meant I was limited to only two vocal parts.

8. Behold the Wood (Oct)
(Dan Schutte)
Three part piece,I did two tracks of the descant which I wrong thought was the melody until Marina (my late wife) told me it was the descant.

9. Lead Us to Your Light 1 (Feb)
Michael had made the music for this. Late one night I tested out a refrain a came up with and was inspired to continue working adapting psalm 27 and recording the verses. I remember when I shared this demo with Armando he was moved by it.

10. Nightprayer (Feb)
(Rory Cooney)
When I decided the CD project would be called Illumination instead of Passion, I was considering songs like this that had a light theme. In retrospect it was soon clear that doing the canon in four parts negated the effect.

11. Long Awaited One (May)
(Tom Lawler, incorporating Coventry Carol)
It was coincidence that we same this the Christmas right before I visited my brother in Massachusetts 2002 and noticed he had tracks for this which otherwise I would not have recognised. So I brought this home with the rest of the tracks he had thus far prepared.

12. Gathered in the Love of Christ 2 (May)
(Marty Haugen / Pachelbel Canon)
I had begun to use the Yamaha MD8 Track and decided it was worth it to have another go at some of the songs I previous did with my analogue gear.

13. Kyrie 2 (May)
This version sees the evolution of the song closer toward the final version with more vocal parts and what had been the spoken intro now sung as a bridge.

14. Eternal Light (May)
(John Michael Talbot)
I was first introduced to this piece when my church choir sung it in Dec 1989. Unknown to me, my director had swapped out the middle part with The Mercy of the Lord. So when Michael first prepared the track I commented he was missing the second part and learnt that the real song has a different second part. The third part meanwhile was to be played by acoustic guitar which is why is not included in this demo.

15. Gloria 2 (May)
Using the 8-track allowed me to feature more vocal parts.

16. The Bread of Life 2 (May)
(John Michael Talbot)
In this second version I was able to feature all the vocal parts.

17. Lead Us to Your Light 2 (May)
A second go at this original piece based on psalm 27

18. Lord of Our Nation (May)
(Stephen Grant / O Canada)
This was actually the second time I did a home version of this having first recorded it in 1990.