Testing Times, released by Rebel Records in 1983, is a Larry Sparks gospel album that drew six tracks from his earlier King Bluegrass catalog alongside six newly recorded songs cut to complete the LP. The program is anchored by the title track and the powerful Great High Mountain — material that played to Sparks's distinctive soulful lead vocal and bluesy guitar work. By the early 1980s Rebel had become the home for the bulk of Sparks's recorded output, where he would release fifteen new projects and several compilations over the coming decades; Testing Times sits early in that productive Rebel stretch and stands as one of the high points of his gospel catalog.
Tracklist
- 1 He's everything to me 2:35
- 2 I want to die easy, Lord 2:58
- 3 Mother how I miss you 2:18
- 4 He is willing to save your soul 2:31
- 5 Wandering soul 2:21
- 6 The testing times 3:40
- 7 Take my hand 1:37
- 8 Great High Mountain alt version 3:13
- 9 When my time comes to go 2:40
- 10 Family Bible alt version 3:08
- 11 Are You Washed in the Blood alt version 2:42
- 12 I Am the Man Thomas alt version 1:56