Hank Laake – In the Spirit of the King

Hank Laake
In the Spirit of the King
1982 Tunesmith (C-6008)
Bellingham, Washington, USA

Hank Laake – Vocals, guitars, drums
Dan Brown – Guitars
Brian McVey – Guitars
Terry Fitzsimmons – Guitars, vocals
Carl Gauger – Bass
Phil Bair – Synthesizer
Joannie Larson – Synthesizer
Dean Stokka – Harmonica, Vocals
Diane Stokka – Maracas

Side 1: Enter… An Invitation

1. Questions of the Seeker
2. Check It Out
3. Rock & Roll Away My Stone
4. The Man Behind the Name
5. Tonight’s the Night

Side 2: Abide… An Admonition

1. In the Spirit of the King
2. All I Want is You
3. Return
4. Serve to Lead

No offense to Hank, but his picture on the cover gives the impression of a “hip” youth leader from 1982 trying to do rock but recording mostly cheesy hymns. The music tells another story – this is the same hard rock that many other Tunesmith bands are known for. Push it more in a few directions and we would call it heavy metal today. Some of these songs would have been metal in 1982 (like the title track). But others are firmly in the rock camp, even by 1982 standards. I think maybe he went metal on at least one future release? This is not really a demo, but a full label release (at least, what counted as one in 1982 CCM circles). The tape I transferred had almost no information on it, so I pulled most of the details above off the inter-webs.