Randy Stonehill – Equator – 1983

There were moments when 1983’s CCM version of Weird Al Yankovic was Randy Stonehill. His sense of humour comes through on a number of songs in this collection.

Randy was a serious musician and had been for a long time. He has several very serious songs on this album, including the opener “Light of the World”, “China”, and “Turning Thirty.” However there is a good collection of novelty songs on this one. He always enjoyed hamming it up, going all the way back to “Lung Cancer” on his Welcome to Paradise album.

American Fast Food, Shut de do, Cosmetic Fixation, Big Ideas, are all fun songs but not light on message.

Track Listing:
1 – Light Of The World – 4:10
2 – Big Ideas (In The Shrinking World) – 4:37
3 – Shut De Do – 2:46
4 – Even The Best Of Friends – 4:52
5 – American Fast Food – 3:19
6 – China – 5:32
7 – Cosmetic Fixation – 4:17
8 – Turning Thirty – 3:49
9 – Hide Them In Your Love – 3:29
10 – World Without Pain – 3:54

Credits:
Art Direction – Paul Gross (3)
Concept By [Album Cover] – Randy Stonehill, Terry Taylor
Engineer [Engineered By] – Thom Roy
Illustration – Kurt Triffet
Management – Ray Ware
Musician, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Lead Vocals – Randy Stonehill
Musician, Bass Guitar [Base Guitar] – Tim Chandler
Musician, Drums, Percussion – Alex MacDougall
Musician, Keyboards [All Keyboards] – Tom Howard
Photography By [Inner Sleeve Photography] – Charles Allen (7)
Producer [Produced By] – Terry Taylor

Rick Cua – Koo-Ah – 1982

Rick Cua is one of 49 members of The Outlaws over the past 6 decades or so. The “Southern rock” sound of The Outlaws translated somewhat into his solo career, but Rick has his own sound.

Rick left The Outlaws after turning to Christ and wanted to start making music with a message. He made several Christian albums, but never quite made it to household name status.

This debut from 1982 is a classic to me nonetheless. It reminds me of those teenage years spent listening to music in the basement, and all the time spent with friends back then.

Listening to it now, I think this was a greatly underrated record.

Track Listing:
1 – Fly Me To Heaven – 3:38
2 – Spirit – 3:53
3 – The Rock Was Rolled Away – 3:14
4 – Eternity – 4:07
5 – Heaven Was Made For Everybody – 3:34
6 – You Can Still Rock ‘N Roll – 3:01
7 – Crossfire – 3:19
8 – Just A Little Bit More – 3:56
9 – I Wanna Be Like You – 4:46
10 – Melt My Heart – 2:53

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Diane Tidwell, Donna McElroy, Lisa Silver
Design [Album Design] – Bill Brunt
Drums – David Dix, Joe English
Engineer – Jeff Levine
Engineer [Assistant] – Haran Hunter, Jim Baird
Executive-Producer – Ray Nenow
Guitar – Freddie Salem, Will McFarlane
Lacquer Cut By – HW
Lead Vocals, Bass – Rick Cua
Percussion – Matt Greeley
Photography By – Larry Dixon
Piano – Mike Duke
Producer, Arranged By – John Rosasco, Rick Cua
Synthesizer – Alan Steinberger
Written-By – Greg Nelson, Rick Cua, Scott Roley

Larry Norman – Rebel Poet, Jukebox Balladeer: Anthology – 2008

This double album was released on vinyl shortly after Larry’s death in 2008. I have a lot of different anthologies that he released over the years. White Blossoms from Black Roots being one of the ones that was meant to be career-spanning at the time. This one includes his real mainstays, the songs he became known for, and probably the ones that were his favourites.

It’s pressed on heavy vinyl and I’ve only played my copy a few times. I remember discovering each one of these songs decades ago, and I think that’s the point of the collection.

This would have been the last thing Larry worked on before he died. Larry wrote short descriptions for each song on this record in September of 2007. They are included in the liner notes pictured, check out the photo.

The opening track is the version of I Love You from his time with the band People!. The recording sounds a little 1969 because it is. This was a radio single at the time and would have been released under Columbia Records. After that, Larry struggled with releasing his music on his own with complete control, and there is probably a lot that we will never hear.

True to LN fashion, the back of the jacket lists 5 tracks on each side of disc 1, but there are 4 on side A and 6 on side B. The same thing happened on disc 2. Ha Ha World is listed as the last song on side A but it is actually the first song on side B. At least the record labels are correct. Not a big deal, but the details always seemed to be a killer at SR Studio.

The lead-out etching on side 1 of disc 1 says “Death is conquered while you slumber.” This is an obvious homage to Larry’s passing. He used that phrase many years earlier in liner notes and it seemed to come up here and there. The other half of the rhyme is “Seven is the perfect number,” which is etched in side 2 of disc 1.

The 20 songs in this collection come from only 6 different albums, and 6 tracks are from Only Visiting This Planet, and 5 are from In Another Land. Larry obviously considered this to be his core work.

The etching on side 3 says “quasioxymoron: numbers don’t count.” This is a riddle we saw in the liner notes of Something New Under the Son. We have our guesses about it but no official sources ever answered any questions about Larry’s most cryptic notes.

Side 4’s etching says “Only Visiting This Planet Larry Norman (1947-2008)” Fitting. And the 7 is backwards.

Track Listing:
1 – I Love You
2 – I’ve Got To Learn To Live Without You
3 – I Am The Six O’Clock News
4 – The Great American Novel
5 – Moses: A Blues Recital And Meditation Of 40 Years On The Road
6 – Peacepollutionrevolution
7 – Pardon Me
8 – Reader’s Digest
9 – Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?
10 – Baroquen Spirits
11 – Nightmare #71
12 – Watch What You’re Doing
13 – Without Love, You Ain’t Nothing (Righteous Rocker)
14 – The Outlaw
15 – Ha Ha World
16 – U.F.O.
17 – I’ve Searched All Around The World
18 – I Wish We’d All Been Ready
19 – Rosemary’s Baby (The Omen-666)
20 – The Sun Began To Rain

Larry Norman – Barking At The Ants – 1981

This rather odd release from Larry Norman features 4 tracks of his own work on side 1 including a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman”.

Side 2 is a sampler of British acts signed to Solid Rock records. This album was not licensed so it received no airplay and I’m mystified about the legalities of covering a Bob Dylan song.

If you only have time for one song I would suggest Alwyn Wall’s “Doctor Doctor”.

Track Listing:
1 – Larry Norman – The Tune (Almost)
2 – Larry Norman – Why Can’t You Be Good
3 – Larry Norman – Just Like A Woman
4 – Larry Norman – Deep Blue
5 – Various – The British Invasion (Medley With Cliff Richard, Lyrix, Sheila Walsh, Bryn Haworth, Steve Scott, Alwyn Wall, Barratt Band)
6 – Lyrix – Don’t Turn Your Back On Jesus
7 – Alwyn Wall – Doctor Doctor
8 – Sheila Walsh – Love In My Life

Ever Call Ready – (self titled) – 1985

Ever Call Ready were a one album Gospel Bluegrass band.

The band was better known as the Flying Burrito Brothers and it appears they used this new name to put out a entirely gospel album. The album consists of several gospel covers as well as some original material.

All in all this is an excellent bluegrass album but doesn’t really leave us with a lasting reason to remember it. Trivia point for this album is that the lead singer of the band, Chris Hillman, is actually one of the original members of The Byrds.

Track Listing:
1 – River Of Jordan
2 – I’ll Be No Stranger There
3 – Don’t Let Them Take The Bible Out Of Our School Rooms
4 – God Loves His Children
5 – It’s Beginning To Rain
6 – Livin’ In The Name Of Love
7 – Boat Of Love
8 – Men Are So Busy
9 – I’m Using My Bible For A Road Map
10 – Panhandle Rag

Credits:
Bass – Jerry Scheff
Fiddle, Electric Guitar – David Mansfield
Lead Vocals, Mandolin – Chris Hillman
Resonator, Guitar, Tenor Vocals – Al Perkins
Tenor Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Bernie Leadon
Art Direction – Alex MacDougall
Design – Cluny Rakestraw
Executive Producer – Mary Neely
Illustration – Dave Swaney
Photography – Kent Lacin
Producer – Al Perkins
Recorded By – Daryl Zachman, Joe Bellamy

Larry Norman with Q-Stone – Live at Flevo – 1989

This album was recorded live during the Flevo Festival in the Netherlands in August 1989.

If you find Larry’s music to be a little too 70’s, here’s a much much more Rock & Roll sound.

The backup band is Q-Stone who are/were a Finnish blues rock band and surprisingly their sound goes well with Larry’s songs. Point of trivia on this album is that Larry’s brother, Charles provided guitar licks.

Track Listing:
1 – My Feet Are On The Rock – 4:10
2 – Nightmare #49 (Part One) – 3:00
3 – He Really Loves You – 4:33
4 – Letters To The Church – 4:00
5 – Medley (Everybody Work/Twist And Shout/Shout) – 6:30
6 – Twelve Good Men – 4:34
7 – Be Careful What You Sign – 4:58
8 – Why Should The Devil – 3:18
9 – Medley (Soon I Will Be Home/It’s Only Today That Counts/I Am A Servant) – 11:00
10 – The Outlaw – 3:50
11 – Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus – 3:58
12 – Rock That Doesn’t Roll – 5:24
13 – Medley (I Wish We’d All Be Ready/UFO) – 7:00
14 – Messiah – 5:25

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Elisabeth Ødegård, Maria van der Pol, Marian Lisland
Guitar – Charles Norman
Keyboards – Dan Cutrona
Saxophone – Dan Michaels
Vocals, Producer, Arranged By – Larry Norman

Randy Adams – Songs From Seven Years – 1979

Randy Adams is one of the originating members of Dallas Holm and Praise. He did however record this solo album while still with Dallas Holm and Praise.

Randy has gone on to have a very successful career as a sound engineer.

Track Listing:
1 – I Believe
2 – Just Like You
3 – Miracle In Me
4 – Just One Thing
5 – Apology
6 – Broken Man
7 – Count It All Joy
8 – Mary
9 – Psalm 30
10 – The Dream

Credits:
Producers: Randy Adams, Wayne Donowho, Darrell A. Harris
Vocals: Randy Adams
Drums: Ric Norris, Carl Napoli
Percussion: Russell Dunlap
Piano: Tim Sheppard, Teresa Mauney, Rick Meilke, Tim Johnson
Organ: Paul Mills, Dr. Dan Williamson
Keyboards: Paul Mills
Synthesizer: Brian Tankersley
Guitar: John Davis, Randy Adams, Dave Marshall
Steel Guitar: Jimmy Powell
Mandolin: Dave Martini
Cello: Craig Weaver Oboe: Jay Volney
Harnonica: Kemper Crabb
Bass: Randy Adams
Flute & Recorder: Fletch Wiley
Handclaps: Wayne, Russell, Xen
Autoharp: Randy Adams
Background Vocals: The Bowen Sisters
Choral Vocals: Gigi Gresham, Audrey Adams, Kevin Snow, Mark Schulz, Pat Dorflinger, Erick Nelson, Michelle Pillar

U2 – The Unforgettable Fire 12″ Single – 1985

The 12” vinyl format of “The Unforgettable Fire” functions more as an EP rather than as a single promoting the song itself [u2songs.com]. “The Three Sunrises” starts Side 1, with the title track coming second. Side 2 includes “A Sort of Homecoming (Live)”, “Love Comes Tumbling”, and “Bass Trap”, an instrumental from the album sessions. “Bass Trap” was created by looping a few bars of Adam’s bass, with Edge playing guitar and Daniel Lanois playing pedal steel over top.

Trivia 1: The Australian and New Zealand release misspells “Unforgettable’ as “Unforgetable” on both the front and back sleeves; the error was subsequently corrected in the front, but not the back.

Trivia 2: In the Canadian release, “Love Comes Tumbling” has a ‘false start’ at the beginning of the song, which does not appear on the Wide Awake in America EP.

Track Listing:
1 – The Three Sunrises 3:52
2 – The Unforgettable Fire 4:56
3 – A Sort Of Homecoming 4:06
4 – Love Comes Tumbling 4:45
5 – Bass Trap 5:14

Credits:
Composed By – U2
Design – Steve Averill, U2
Design [Realisation] – The Creative Dept. Ltd. Dublin*
Photography By – Declan Quinn
Remix – Kevin Moloney, U2

Crumbächer – Incandescent – 1985

Though often assumed to be a German band Crumbächer was actually a U.S. band whose lead singer’s name was Stephen Crumbächer.

Incandescent was their first album. I was supposed to be an EP, but upon the record company hearing it, they requested the band cut a few more songs to make it a full length album.

Crumbächer were probably the first synthpop band in the CCM genre. There’s really not much to say about this album, it had a German synthpop sound and was actually quite good for this style of music.

Point of trivia is that the album was produced by Ojo Taylor from the band Undercover.

Track Listing:
1 – Understudy – 3:25
2 – Infrared/X-Ray Eyes – 4:16
3 – Glowing In The Dark – 5:12
4 – So Strange – 5:41
5 – It Don’t Matter – 4:45
6 – Jamie – 4:46
7 – Sweet By And By – 3:29
8 – Track You Down – 5:16

Credits:
Backing Vocals – Dawn Wisner-Johnson, Jimmy Wisner
Drums – Jimmy Wisner
Guitar – Dan Hohulin
Keyboards – Dawn Wisner-Johnson, Stephen Crumbächer
Producer – O-Joe Taylor
Vocals – Stephen Crumbächer

Larry Norman – The Tune – 1983

This record was released in 1983. The etching on the lead-out of the vinyl says “The Tune 1977 (c) 1971”. Larry seems to have had his most creative times in the 60s and 70s and struggled for decades after to get the releases out.

If you read various articles written by Larry (including all the liner notes) this matches up with his story. He talks about post-concussion syndrome, although it wasn’t named yet at the time. He got hit with a bag from the overhead compartment on an airplane apparently. After that he couldn’t remember the lyrics to his own songs most of the time, and he says that he forgot stuff that he had written before getting it down.

The story of “The Tune” is like that. He spontaneously started playing a few notes on the piano, then lost the flow and said, “Well, once there was a tune.” He riffed on that for over 20 minutes, live. It was never recorded. He did his best to re-create it in the studio and recorded The Tune.

The Tune is also “Something New Under the Son Part 1.” S.N.U.T.S. part 2 is the one that was well known and although it was recorded in 1977 we finally got to hear it mid-80s. Let That Tape keep Rollin’ and a lot of good blues came from that one.

Side 2 of The Tune has some good tracks that seem to have been lying around the studio. On the back of the album jacket it references the albums they are from. these include Rough Mix, Twenty Five Years, Rehearsal For Reality, Behind the Curtain. These albums never existed, but Larry must have planned to put them together. There are others that I heard or read the names of (from Larry’s own sources) but they never existed. I heard about Rough Mix(1), Rough Mix(2), Ose Enco, Brothers at Last. I tried ordering these from the Phydeaux store and Joe wrote back saying these albums didn’t exist.

I’m grateful for every release we eventually got from Larry’s archives. We heard all of them at least 10 years after they were written and recorded. When I finally realized that, it only added to his genius in my mind. In another Land sounded “old” in the 80s. But it was released in 1976. When was it conceived and written? Who knows.

I noticed today that in the notes for In Another Land, there is a quote from The Tune. At that point The Tune was unreleased. Few if any had heard the material outside of its original ad-hoc performance. Larry clearly had a vision of releasing many things that we will never hear.

FYI the other etchings in the lead-out, aside from the identifier “ARF-99” are “Larry Finch and Charly” “The Solid Rock Street Choir” and “89 is really 99”

Tracklist
1 – The Tune
2 – Country Church, Country People
3 – Swing Low Sweet Chariot
4 – Soul On Fire
5 – If I Got My Ticket

Credits
Drums – Alex McDougall*
Engineer, Mixed By, Bass – Tim Jaquette
Guitar – Jon Linn
Producer, Arranged By, Voice, Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer – Larry Norman