"This album spans the years of my writing and singing career from 1969 to the present. I have wanted to do a retrospective album for a long time. In most cases, the songs in this series are original recordings. I wanted to let you hear the best of the original recordings to give you a sense of my history as a songwriter. I have assembled these songs in chronological order as to the time of authorship. I did it this way, rather than in order of the time of recording, to give you a glimpse into my life and some of the stages I went through. Often when I record albums I am pulling from material written at an earlier time, and in some cases, many years earlier. Technically the older recordings have been processed to eliminate as much tape noise as possible. The recording industry has gone through incredible changes since the late 1960’s. I started writing and performing music when a 4-track machine was a luxury, 2-track stereo tape decks without noise reduction were the norm, and there was no such thing as a synthesizer. Phonograph records were always a letdown to hear your finished product on. The quality was really nothing like the original master recording, no matter how well it was mastered. Then cassette tapes came along and improved performance radically. With the advent of noise reduction, you could almost hear what your master sounded like. When digital audio came on the scene, I was one of the first people to get into it. I remember when I heard my first digital master transferred to an audio CD. It was what we had all been waiting for — finally, a faithful copy of the master tape. You will hear differences in the quality of the recordings because of the difference in recording equipment and technique over the years. Hopefully the quality of the original recordings will not distract you from the artistry that went into them and the subject material. I have had the privilege of playing and recording with some great musicians over the years. Their names would be too numerous to mention here, but you all know who you are and I thank you for all the good times we had together. This album is dedicated to all those who participated in the process of helping me to become a better musician and person." Sandy Simpson

This is a 2-CD set with each CD being 74 minutes in length. The double cassette version has extra songs and each cassette is a 90 minute cassette. There is a full booklet, as in my other solo albums, with liner notes telling about the songs, where they were written and recorded, and other information. Following is a list of the songs that are on this new album set (not in order):

Love One Another - Somewhere In My Dreams - Leaves - The Dance Of Dusk - Flower Red, Flower White - One More Dream Tonight - Across The Sky/Walking At Night - Away - Twilight Lulabye - Shot Down - The Passing Of The Dark (Instr.) - Let It Heal - Jesus Did A Miracle In Me - Winding Road - Dream Of Dreams - Solace Maker - Seeds Of Destiny - Where The Heart Is - Grey Morning, Dark Water - Coming In The Air - Weren’t You There? - It Would Be Gone - Give Me Your Hand - Fire - Something Special To Me - Stormy Days - Call To Me - Island People Need Jesus - Jesus, Sweet Jesus - Lost And Found - At The Back Of The North Wind - Set The Prisoners Free - Again - See My Love - Mercy In The Morning - I Love You

"For a long time I have been promising everyone that I would put out a tape of the music I have written, through the years, about the islands. There are so many songs I have written on this subject, that it was a difficult process to edit the album down to a size that would fit on one cassette. This is why this album turned out to be so long. I still have a lot of material I didn't have room to include and hope to use on later projects. You will find a little bit of the old, the new, the uptempo, the downbeat, the happy, and the sad on this album. This is because this music spans many years of my own life experience. I have used this album to catalog some of my personal testimony that I often speak of in my concerts. I thought it might be a good opportunity to give people a written record of the miraculous things God has done in my life and some insight I have gained through the years. I hope and pray this album will strike a chord in your own life and that the sympathetic harmonies created will sing forth from your heart and soul and fill the lives of others." Sandy Simpson

This album is only available on a long-play cassette with booklet included. The popular songs Back Over The Waves and Island People Need Jesus are on this album.

"One day in the hurried years of my youth, I found myself standing quite still on a path overlooking the ocean. I guess I was surprised that my feet seemed to be rooted to one spot and, as I stood there, a revelation came over me that I will never forget. My mind (as I look back now from the safety of reflection) seemed to open up and assimilate all that surrounded me. It was more than the mere sight of beauty that one might experience on a walk by the ocean. My very spirit seemed to merge with Nature and intertwine with all Thought and Life around me. For an instant I could see the plans of God and man in a tapestry that, before then, had seemed too complex for mere human thought. Yet now, in a moments time, I suddenly seemed to undertstand it all. I have never quite gotten over what I have come to call my first introduction to the "hope of glory". I had never understood that word "glory" and since that day on the cliff my life and artistic expression have been devoted to trying to capture artitistically but a faint glimmer of what I experienced that day. I came to realize, much later of course, that once ambition, pride, lust and life itself are put aside and conquered through the revelation of Jesus Christ, the purest driving force a human being can know is the "hope of glory". I have written many songs through the years and I have chosen, for this album, a few of those which I hope will convey (even if "through a glass, darkly") that glorious hope for which we are created. If I never have the chance to do another album, my fondest hope is that, through these songs, I will have ignited in one other person the inspiriting fire that was set aspark in me that day in my foolish youth." Sandy Simpson

"By turns serene and dynamic, these instrumental pieces are collected from Fallen Splendor (1986) and other albums. An instrumental version of Sandy Simpson's The Passing Of The Dark is included, and a new version of The Awakening. No Shadow Of Turning, which originally appeared as the title piece of the 1985 Meadowlark sampler, is here redone and newly recorded. This Mystery I Pose is not, however, simply a sampler. These selections form a seamless whole, pivoting around Keith Patman's nativity poem. Jeff Johnson captures the joy of the Incarnation in his rendering of the Coventry Carol, which accompanies Dalla McKennon's reading." Gord Wilson

"Sandy Simpson and Kathy McKlatchy join Jeff Johnson in this impressionistic meld of jazz and ethnic influences. Titled from C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces, this inspiring collection features some of Johnson's most adept keyboard work and Dave Hagelganz's entrancing saxaphone. An electro-acoustic blend of six original pieces and three traditional hymns with a wide appeal for fans of Phillip Glass and Windham Hill." Gord Wilson

"The keyboard-centered follow-up to No Shadow Of Turning, featuring Jeff Johnson with bassist David Friesen and saxaphonist Dave Hagelganz. An album-length meditation on the theme of water in Scripture. "Tranquil and elegant" said Pulse Magazine of an album as liquid and mercurial as its azure inspiration." Gord Wilson

"Jazz, rock and classical elements coalesce in Jeff Johnson's most personal work, an inspired meditation on family and friends. A trip to France forms the vehicle for this musical exploration of the spiritual pilgrimage we all are on. Brimming with new compositions, this easy blend includes a reprise of past Jeff Johnson works and will appeal to instrumental listeners as well as his long-time audience." Gord Wilson

"Stories from George MacDonald and John Bunyan inspired this fantasy venture, a follow-up to the science-fiction excursion of "Through The Door". Sandy Simpson and Jeff Johnson collaborated in this imaginative journey through the realms of faerie and myth." Gord Wilson

"Titled from a poem by Michaelangelo, this engaging work combines folk, rock, classical and experimental music with poetic observations on art and nature. Dissolution and decay contrast with "the splendor in the ordinary", and the granduer of Creation is re-glimpsed in a neglected world. Yielded the radio single, "Looking For God (Using A Spotlight)". Gord Wilson

"Fifty minutes of the most articulate, intruiging and beautiful music on vinyl today". Doug La Budde, NewSound

"As richly intertwined as the Celtic cover design, Icons unviels ten portraits of men and women wrestling with the vagaries and verities of life. Continuing the visionary musings of The Face Of The Deep and Shadow Play, Icons soon became Jeff Johnson's most popular work. A stunning breadth of musical impressions play across the senses, in an album to savor and ponder. Burning with Blake's "double vision" Icons is a mystical journey through the natural world." Gord Wilson

"This celebrated exploration of inner life continues the direction of The Face Of The Deep. Opening with Plato's analogy of the Cave, it sweeps through a dazzling array of Jeff Johnson's "standards" with the scope and power of a rock opera. Snatches form Dante and Thronton Wilder, glimpses of nature and shadows of understanding wax and wane in an acclaimed album of depth and beauty.' Gord Wilson

"And ye thinks that there is but an easy answer to your question, eh? The moon sets and Helios rises, a seed and a womb bring forth life, the oceans roar, the mountains thunder -- the wonders of the worlds never cease and ye, lad, ask me to direct ye to the answers of your search?! Even if I knew all the answers of the universe, and I do know a few, I would not tell thee! Ye are young and youth must travel its own roads and byways and fall off its own horses ... but seeing that callow starlight look in your eyes, I shall point my finger and in that same direction ye shall find a way. It will be for ye to decide whether it be an entrance or an exit .. now, go! Fare thee well ..." Sandy Simpson, narrated by Dallas McKennon

"And Through The Door we go back to our winter snow, but now, somehow, the summer breezes blow!" Sandy Simpson, narrated by Michelle Mariana

"When we look upon the water we see only the surface and the surrounding scenery it reflects. Beneath lies the deep with all its mystery. One must break through to touch "the face of the deep". Jeff Johnson's album does just this -- it plunges into our depths as people. Sometimes caressing, often piercing, Jeff pulls away the veneer, bringing to light those things we all seek to hide. The thrust of The Face Of The Deep is evident after one listen, but the one who digs into allusions suggested by the album will not be forsaken. There are treasures to be found. If you listen to the introduction to Happy Ending with Giacomo Bala's painting The Staircase of Goodbyes in mind; if you think of the movies of the 30's and 40's when listening to Happy Ending; if you recall Rodin's sculpture masterpiece The Thinker; if you have read the classic novel All Hallows Eve by Charles Williams; if you have read or seen Francis Schaeffer's Whatever Happened To The Human Race?, then you will not only hear the cry Help Me, but you will understand it. And there is no little difference between hearing and understanding. The rest of The Face Of The Deep is equally revealing to the careful eye. Fo example, The Moulin De La Galette and Gauguin's Dream/What Keeps Me Here? can almost be considered a trilogy dedicated to impressionistic painters. There is a twist here, though. The "hero" of this trilogy is confronted with the same problems and options as Gauguin, but the artist takes a different road and therefore reaches a different conclusion. This album is not one of total despair. There is hope, but that hope is tempered with an honesty limited by our humaness which is expressed vividly in Even If I'm Not Sure. Jeff Johnson's task is to look, to hear, to respond -- or to ignore." Steve Griffith

"Choir music recorded in the Republic of Palau, the islands of Chuuk and Kosrae of the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This is a unique album and is part of a set of two. Experience the beautiful harmonies of some church music you may recognize and other original compositions, all sung in original languages." Sandy Simpson, 1991

"Choir music recorded in the Republic of Palau, the islands of Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae of the Federated States of Micronesia. This is the second in this series of captivating island choir music. Choir music is a tradition in the islands of Micronesia. Many of the songs on this album are original compositions of island composers." Sandy Simpson, 1992