Mark Heard – Ashes and Light – 1984

This was Mark’s seventh album but it was actually released out of order. It was recorded after “Mosaics” but for some reason Home Sweet Home Records wanted it released first. My personal opinion is that it is a better album so of course they wanted it out first but that’s just my opinion of the reason. Bruce Brown at CCM Magazine described the album as an “acoustic effort”. I don’t really understand what album he was listening to as while there may be an emphasis on acoustic instruments on some tracks this album is not and “acoustic effort” in my opinion. It has a Dylanesque light rock/folk feel to me and in my opinion is one of Mark’s best albums. That said Bruce’s further review of the album is pretty spot on so I’m not entirely bashing the guy. There are often comparisons of this album to T-Bone Burnett and while T-Bone was not involved with the album (that we know of) David Mansfield had a strong presence on the album and of course David and T-Bone worked together for years. Mark notes on the liner notes that the album is dedicated to the memory of Francis A. Schaeffer.

Tracklist
1 – The Winds Of Time – 3:56
2 – True Confessions – 3:30
3 – I Know What It’s Like To Be Loved – 3:34
4 – Washed To The Sea – 3:18
5 – We Believe So Well – 3:26
6 – Straw Men – 3:57
7 – Age Of The Broken Heart – 4:13
8 – Can’t See Light – 4:56
9 – Threw It Away – 4:00
10 – In Spite Of Himself – 3:05

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Pat Terry (tracks: B4)
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Slide Guitar, Harmonica, Accordion [Accordian], Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Twelve-String Guitar – Mark Heard
Arranged By – Mark Heard
Art Direction [Art Director] – Tim Alderson
Backing Vocals – Dave De Coup Crank, Dori Howard
Bass – Bill Batstone, Mark Heard (tracks: A4, B4)
Cover [Concept] – Mark Heard, Stewart Ivester
Drums – Dave McSparran
Electric Guitar – Pat Terry (tracks: A4)
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Dan Reed
Engineer, Mixed By – Mark Heard
Fiddle, Dobro – David Mansfield
Lead Guitar – David Mansfield (tracks: B4)
Organ [Hammond] – Carl Pickhardt
Percussion – Harry Stinson
Photography By [Cover], Artwork – Stewart Ivester
Producer – Mark Heard
Synthesizer – Mark Heard (tracks: A2), Pat Terry (tracks: A5, B1, B5), Tom Howard (tracks: A3, A5, B3)

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Home Sweet Home Records
Copyright (c) – Home Sweet Home Records
Copyright (c) – Bug & Bear Music
Copyright (c) – Word Music
Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co.
Published By – Bug & Bear Music
Published By – Word Music
Engineered At – Fingerprint Recorders
Mixed At – Fingerprint Recorders

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Author: Ray Mansfield

One of the founding cowboys of Real 80s CCM. Been listening to this stuff since 1978.

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