Michael Been - vocals, bass, keyboards; Jeff Bova - keyboards, programming; Tom Ferrier - guitar, vocals; Scott Musick - drums, vocals
Opening with "Heavy Hand" and moving into the power track "Tremble," it is clear that the Call really should have been a massively successful band. They had a reasonable following, and singer/bassist Michael Been found further success with an acting career. The band had all the potential to be the U.S. version of U2, but alas… it was not meant to be.
This recording comes from the King Biscuit Flower Hour archives and is from a show taped while the band was on the road promoting its Modern Romans album. That album and the single, "The Walls Came Down," made a minor bleep on the meters of MTV, but they were still very much an up-and-coming baby band when this show was taped. They play with reckless abandonment on several tracks, including "War Weary World," "All About You," "Scene Beyond Dreams," and "There's A Heart Beat," mostly of which were written in response to Been's strong Christian faith.
The Bay Area group had received critical acclaim with its powerful blend of social themes and prog-oriented hard rock. Critics loved the band (as did a number of celebrities), but the act, spearheaded by singer/songwriter Michael Been, failed to make a big commercial break. It would be their third album, Reconciled, with its ominous rocker "I Still Believe," that really allowed the band to begin establishing a presence on FM and AOR playlists. By this point, keyboardist Jim Goodwin had joined, giving the band its classic line-up. By the time the group made Reconciled, they had become favorites of critics, fans, and perhaps most significantly, music celebs like Peter Gabriel and Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson of the Band.
Even so, subsequent albums and a switch to MCA Records failed to inject any further momentum in the career of the Call. It didn't help that the band was placed on hold while Been dabbled in a less-than-successful film acting career—although he did land the role of John the Apostle in the Scorsese directed epic, The Last Temptation of Christ.
He also had an on-again, off-again solo career, but did put the group back together in 1997 for an album called Under The Red Moon. In 2000, the band also issued a live album of its reunion tour.