Sunforest was the ninth album recorded by American singer-songwriter Tom Rapp (either with or without his group Pearls Before Swine), his second for Blue Thumb Records, and his final record before his lengthy retirement from the music industry after the mid-1970s.
Sunforest was released in 1973 and was credited to "Tom Rapp / Pearls Before Swine". Like its immediate predecessor, Stardancer, the album was recorded with members of the touring group Pearls Before Swine (Art Ellis and Bill Rollins), supplemented by a selection of prominent Nashville session musicians.
The content of the album, which is not generally regarded as one of his best, is very varied, but generally more upbeat than most of Rapp's work, with the up-tempo "Comin' Back" and "Someplace To Belong" almost rating as pop songs. "Love/Sex" is a riposte to Stephen Stills' "Love The One You're With", containing the line "Love will get you through times of no sex / Better than sex will get you through times of no love", while the title track "Sunforest" is an attempt at a traditional folk ballad. "Forbidden City" and "Blind River" show some jazz influences. "Sunshine & Charles" is one of Rapp's own favourite songsSleevenotes to Sunforest CD reissue and contains the classic line: "She was 16 when she found Jesus / He was a Puerto Rican kid and he lived next door".
The sleeve design showed a cover painting of Rapp, and two small reproductions of paintings by Henri Rousseau were included on the back cover.
Sunforest was reissued on CD by Demon Records in 1998, and again by Lemon Records in the UK in 2009. Lemon Records - 2009 reissue
Track listing All tracks composed by Tom Rapp "Comin' Back" - 2:59 "Prayers Of Action" - 3:05 "Forbidden City" - 2:51 "Love / Sex" - 4:04 "Harding Street" - 3:40 "Blind River" - 4:57 "Someplace To Belong" - 2:53 "Sunforest" - 6:19 "Sunshine & Charles" - 4:55
Personnel Tom Rapp - vocals, guitar Art Ellis - flute, congas, vocals Bill Rollins - cello Steve McCord - guitar, musical advisor Jim Colvard - Dobro, guitar Charlie McCoy - bowed psaltery, harmonica, harp, organ Buzz Cason - vocals Diane Harris - vocals Charles Cochran - piano, string arrangements Buddy Spicher - electric viola, violin David Briggs - piano Mike Leech - bass, string arrangements Farrell Morris - percussion Bobby Wood - piano Reggie Young - piano Karl Himmel - drums, percussion Bobby Thompson - Dobro, guitar, banjo Kenny Buttrey - drums Bob Dorough - piano Bill Salter - bass Warren Smith - marimba
Other credits Recorded at House of Cash, Quadrafonic Sound, Woodland Sound Studios, and Electric Lady Produced by Larry Butler and Peter H. Edmiston Engineers : Charlie Bragg, Gene Eichelberger, Rex Collier, Dick Shapiro
References
External links Lyrics to Sunforest [ AMG review] Official site for Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine Fan site on MySpace