February 2021 – Page 2

Tonio K. – Notes From The Lost Civilization – 1988

Tonio K released two albums for the Christian market in the mid 80’s on What? Records. Both of them reach the Top 100 on this list. Both a must own album and truly brilliant works. Both are completely different musically and differ greatly in topic and theme. More will be said about Tonio K in a future post, but it should be noted here that for nearly three decades he released some of the most important releases that no one knows about. Before embracing the Christian faith Tonio K released several critically lauded and publicly ignored masterpieces. The same rang true in Christian music circles. I believe “Notes” was the last release for What? Records, a brilliant label whose imprint was the kiss of death in the CCM world. I cannot confirm this right now, but I believe every What? Records release appears on this countdown. The label was a joint effort between Word Records and A&M with the intent to bring Christian music to the masses with artists that had the chops and integrity to pull off the crossover. Where Tonio’s CCM debut (Romeo Unchained) was driven by technology and “new wave” rhythms and production, “Notes” was organic, blues and country influenced Americana rock and roll set in the heart of city life and suburban nightmares. There are two versions of the album with the Word released version not containing a song that will be discussed later. No one should own the Word version and I refused to carry that version in my store at the time.

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Without Love – 3:33
2 – Children’s Crusade – 4:56
3 – Stay – 4:14
4 – City Life – 4:07
5 – You Were There – 4:46
6 – The Executioner’s Song – 6:27
7 – I Can’t Stand It – 4:08
8 – What Women Want – 4:27
9 – I Can’t Stop – 3:19
10 – Where Is That Place? – 3:59

Credits
A&R [Productive A&R] – Aaron Jacoves, Tom Willett
Arranged By – David Miner, T Bone Burnett, Tonio K.
Art Direction, Photography By, Design – Linda Myers-Krikorian
Bass – James Jamerson, Jr. (tracks: 7 to 10)
Bass, Double Bass [String Bass], Harmonium, Marimba – David Miner
Drum Programming – Ralph Forbes
Drums – Raymond Pounds (tracks: 7 to 10)
Drums, Synthesizer [Dynacord] – Jim Keltner
Electric Guitar – Jack Sherman
Electric Guitar [12-string, Gut String, National], Acoustic Guitar – T Bone Burnett
Engineer [Assistant Engineering] – Barry Conley, Bob Loftus, Brian Soucy, Dave “The Blade” Knight, Duncan Aldrich, Ira Rubnitz, Tom Banghart
Executive-Producer – T Bone Burnett
Graphic Design, Layout – Karl Shields, Susan Shields
Mastered By – Tony Dawsey
Mixed By – Tchad Blake
Organ [Farfisa] – Rick Neigher
Organ [Hammond] – Booker T. Jones
Percussion – Alex Acuña
Piano – John Keller
Producer [Produced By] – David Miner, Tonio K.
Recorded By – Larry Hirsch
Recorded By [Additional Recording By] – Larold Rebhun (tracks: 8)
Rhythm Guitar [Occasional], Vocals – Tonio K.

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – What? Records
Copyright (c) – What? Records
Manufactured By – A&M Records, Inc.
Distributed By – A&M Records, Inc.
Recorded At – The Sound Factory
Recorded At – American Recorders
Recorded At – Ocean Way Recording
Recorded At – Mad Hatter Studios
Recorded At – A&M Studios
Mixed At – The Sound Factory
Mastered At – Masterdisk
Published By – Bibo Music Publishers
Published By – N.Y.M.
Published By – Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
Published By – Safespace Music
Published By – Unicity Music
Published By – Tea Time Tunes
Published By – Yellow Brick Road Music
Published By – VALEVISTA Music

Dennis Agajanian – Where Are The Heroes – 1984

Produced by Terry Talbot, this 1984 outing from Dennis is a different sort of foray into Country music. It includes two songs written by Steve Camp, and one co-written by Dennis and Terry Talbot. There is also a pseudo-country version of Bach’s Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring. Dennis has been referred to as a “guitar virtuoso” and this is a demonstration of why. In general, this album has a lot more prominent guitar work than earlier releases like Rebel To The Wrong. Backing vocalists on this album include Dennis Agajanian, Julie Miller, Matthew Ward, and Terry Talbot. Over a career spanning around 30 years, Dennis released over a dozen albums and spent some significant time contributing to Billy Graham crusades. This record has all the polish you would expect from a Terry Talbot project, and a smooth sounding Nashville country sound.

Tracklist
1 – If You Say – 2:37
2 – Via Dolorosa – 4:36
3 – Where Are The Heroes – 4:20
4 – The Tongue Is A Fire – 4:32
5 – Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring – 2:54
6 – She’s A Servant (Single And Living Alone) – 2:55
7 – Goodbye Old Man – 3:32
8 – Colleen’s Pirouette – 2:48
9 – I Will Never Leave You – 3:36
10 – All That I Am – 2:52

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Backing Vocals – Dennis Agajanian
Backing Vocals – Julie Miller, Matthew Ward
Bass – Abraham Laboriel, Scott Parish (tracks: A5)
Drums – Bill Maxwell
Electric Guitar – Michael Thompson
Keyboards – Dennis Bouchard*
Mastered By – Ken Pennell, Steve Hall
Mixed By – Ron Capone
Producer, Backing Vocals, Mixed By, Acoustic Guitar – Terry Talbot
Recorded By [@ Poiema] – Bill Cobb
Recorded By [@ Westwind] – Ron Capone

Companies, etc.
Copyright (c) – The Sparrow Corporation
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The Sparrow Corporation
Record Company – Sparrow Records, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Birdwing Music
Copyright (c) – Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company Inc.
Copyright (c) – Paragon Music Corp.
Recorded At – Poiema Studios
Recorded At – Westwind Studio
Mastered At – Future Disc

Various – East Coast Metal – 1988

This 1988 Regency Records sampler featured some of the best East Coast Metal bands of the time and some very exclusive tunes. There are a few unreleased tracks and other than that I have listed below where you can find the albums with the songs.

Tracklist
1 – Apostle – The Sword – On the 1988 Demo “Hymns”
2 – Rage Of Angels – Reason To Rock – On the 1989 Album “Rage Of Angels”
3 – Arsenal – Message Of Love – Unreleased
4 – The Lead – Tunnel Vision – On the 1987 Album “The Past Behind”
5 – Taker – Yesterday, Today & Forever – On the 1987 Demo “Mat. 11:12”
6 – Second Chance – The Blazing Wasteland – On the 1988 Demo “The Blazing Wasteland”
7 – Arsenal – Stand Strong – Unreleased
8 – Believer – The Chosen – Unreleased until “Extraction From Mortality” in 2001
9 – Taker – Living By Faith – On the 1987 Demo “Mat. 11:12”

David Zaffiro – The Other Side – 1989

Guitarist David Zaffiro left Bloodgood to do his own thing here. The album definitely has it’s own feel and it shouldn’t be mistaken for Bloodgood. The guitar riffs sound similar in places but it looks like David had his own sound that he wanted to get out to the public. Michael Bloodgood does help out on a couple tracks so it’s nice to see that David leaving Bloodgood wasn’t in bad blood. My only fault on the album is that there should have been a few more rockin tracks and a few less ballads but that said they are very well done and I would have been hard pressed to pick ones to delete. So to sum up this is a good rockin album and I look forward to listening to David’s next album.

Tracklist
1 – Stay – 4:00
2 – I See Red – 3:22
3 – Where Are You Now – 3:36
4 – Why Me – 3:58
5 – The Other Side – 6:18
6 – Diversity – 4:42
7 – You – 3:11
8 – To The End – 4:27
9 – Only Eyes – 3:39
10 – Spirit Of The Lord – 4:50

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Assemblage – Jason Brown
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Charlene Nemieyer, David Schueler, Marlene Cochran, Paula Prince, Richard Bartholomew
Bass Guitar – Bill Hale (4), Mark Mosholder (tracks: 2)
Co-producer [On Lead Vocals] – Michael Bloodgood (tracks: 2, 10)
Drums – Davin McLaird
Engineer – Charles Meserole
Keyboards – David Hubbard (tracks: 10), Kelly Carpenter
Lead Vocals, Guitar, Producer, Engineer, Written-By – David Zaffiro
Photography By – Mark Wilkins
Rhythm Guitar – Maverick Gibson (tracks: 1)
Written-By, Co-producer [On Lead Vocals] – Maverick Gibson (tracks: 1,8)

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Alarma Records
Copyright (c) – Alarma Records
Mastered At – Hitsville
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Published By – Broken Songs
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

Silverwind – A Song In The Night – 1982

While the first Silverwind album is still somewhat terrifying to me this one is a huge improvement. Not that the first album was bad it was just scary in it’s level of Easy Listening. This album turns it up a notch or two and presents us with a ABBA sound that was appropriate at the time. Not that I liked ABBA but I sure preferred this sound to their first album. Skip to track2 if you really want to hear that ABBA sound. Now lets be clear, I was not the market for this band and I know it, but I am adult enough to appreciate what they were doing. Their timing was impeccable and this sound was needed in the industry. The first single was “New Beginning” which peaked at #8. The better track however was the second single “A Song In The Night”. There was even a music video for the song which I just watched and it’s not horrible. The title track only made it to #25 which I think is a little low. The rest of the album was too ABBA for CCM magazine to chart any more singles.

Tracklist
1 – A Song In The Night – 4:16
2 – Daybreak – 3:08
3 – Elya – 3:48
4 – Cinderella’s Dream – 3:54
5 – Forgiven – 4:29
6 – A New Beginning – 3:54
7 – Destiny – 3:24
8 – Colors – 2:42
9 – Love Came Softly – 2:53
10 – The Rider – 2:59

Credits
Accordion – Frank Marocco
Arranged By – Georgian Banov, Larry Muhoberac, Tony Salerno
Bass – Abraham Laboriel, Joe Chemay
Design – Stan Evenson Design, Inc
Drums – Paul Leim, Rick Shlosser
Engineer [Recording Engineer] – Ron Capone
Executive-Producer – Tony Salerno
Guitar – Billy Walker, Timothy May
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Larry Muhoberac
Management – Dharma Artist Agency
Mixed By – Bruce Swedien
Percussion – Alex Acuña, Paulinho Da Costa
Performer – Betsy Hernandez, Georgian Banov, Patty Gramling
Photography By – Mark Hanauer
Piano – John Hobbs, Larry Muhoberac
Producer – Georgian Banov, Larry Muhoberac, Tony Salerno

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word Ltd.
Published By – Garden Valley Music
Published By – See This House Music
Recorded At – Westwind Studio
Mixed At – Westwind Studio

Hank Laake Band – How Laake Can You Get! – 1985

This was our final offering from Hank and it followed very closely with his previous work. The hard Rock style he was known for continued. Over his 3 albums the band didn’t seem to mature but for me this is a positive as I loved their sound and still love it today. Apparently Hank got disillusioned with Tunesmith records so this is the end. Not many artists even lasted 3 albums with Tunesmith so he should be commended for trying to make it work. It is probably a testament to how bad he wanted people to hear his music as it’s doubtful he was getting paid what was coming to him.

Tracklist
1 – Dying to Love You – 5:25
2 – Don’t Give Up – 3:30
3 – Plenty of Time – 3:53
4 – Change Your Life – 3:53
5 – Directions – 3:52
6 – Be a Shining Light – 5:31
7 – A Time for Anger – 4:02
8 – Till We Had Jesus – 4:34
9 – Keep Livin’ – 3:57
10 – Family of God – 4:30

Credits
Bass, Vocals – Joe Burriola
Cover Art – Dave Nadler
Cover Photo – Tom Gaskill
Drums, Lead Vocals – Hank Laake
Engineer – Dennis Dyer, Tom Tucker
Guitar – Dan Brown
Guitar, Vocals – Terry Fitzsimmons
Piano – Melody Dyer
Producer – Hank Laake
Synthesizer – Todd Toulouse, Joseph Dunn, Melody Dyer, Josef Laake

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Praise Industries Corp.
Record Company – Tunesmith

Liaison – Liaison – 1989

Liaison was formed by brothers Larry and Tim Melby who grew up in rural North Dakota. The brothers played just about every instrument there was and they display this talent on their first album. The album was very well received partly due to some excellent production by tech wizard Bill Baumgart. This album has an excellent arenas rock feel but leans AOR too. It even had 2 chart singles on the CCM charts. Go And Sin No More made it to #14 and The Way, The Truth, And The Life to #38. I understand it was also very very popular on Christian rock radio but I don’t currently have access to any of their charts. This is a great rock album and everyone should give it a listen. I’m pretty sure there’s at least one track that will fall in your like pile.

Tracklist
1 – When The Kingdom Comes Down – 4:21
2 – You Are His Main Concern – 3:51
3 – Go And Sin No More – 3:31
4 – Man With A Mission – 5:02
5 – The Way, The Truth, And The Life – 4:23
6 – Kick It Down – 3:21
7 – The Light Is On – 4:11
8 – He Lives – 4:15
9 – Give Me One Day At A Time – 3:29
10 – You’ve Got My Heart In Your Hands – 3:42

Credits
Arranged By [Arrangements By] – Tim Heintz
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Bass – Kelly Burns
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Beth Wisner, Eric Kibby
Engineer [Engineered By] – Dave Jahnsen
Illustration – Jeff Foster
Mastered By – John Matousek
Music By, Lyrics By – Lary, Tim Melby
Musician, Backing Vocals – Bill Baumgart
Musician, Drums – Jeff Porcaro
Musician, Guitar [Additional Guitars] – Gawain Reifsnyder, Glenn Pearce, Vince Mendoza
Musician, Guitar [Guitars] – Michael Landau
Musician, Keyboards – Bill Baumgart, Tim Heintz
Musician, Saxophone – Dave Koz
Performer [Liaison Is], Guitar [Guitars], Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Tim Melby
Performer [Liaison Is], Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar [Guitars], Bass – Lary Melby
Photography By – Ralph Bizik
Producer [Produced By], Arranged By [Arrangements By] – Bill Baumgart

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Frontline Records
Copyright (c) – Frontline Records
Distributed By – The Benson Company
Produced For – Asylomar Productions
Recorded At – The Mixing Lab
Mixed At – The Mixing Lab
Mastered At – Sound Works West
Copyright (c) – Broken Songs

Kim Hill – Talk About Life – 1989

Kim was that “girl next door” artist CCM was looking for. That is, if you lived next door to a really attractive girl who appeared to live on a farm and possessed nothing but jeans and an acoustic guitar who drove a 1950’s era puck up truck. Yeah…that next door. After a decent debut that showed glimmers of hope for originality and artistic merit, Kim Hill’s sophomore release, Talk About Life, revealed those possibilities. Less Nashville pop and more female singer-songwriter. Less AC pop and more rock, country and folk. Hill was Christian music answer to the Melissa Etheridge/Meredith Brooks. jean wearing female rocker/songwriter. Hill’s husky alto voice (think Chistine McVie, KT Tunstall)) was great fit to the earthy, acoustic rock on the album. What also worked is a strong lyrical content that went beyond the normal CCM categories, even if the themes remained similar. There is a passion in the content as well as in the performance. “Snakes in the Grass” is one of the great songs in the history of CCM female artists. Her vocal flexibility and range mixed with a stark and edgy production makes this a stand out on so many levels. It’s a song Maria McKee would do, but with no guarantee of better results. The acoustic guitar accentuated by an incredible “rock” string arrangement is pure studio magic. Brown Bannister, more noted for his AC pop, outdid himself on this album. The title track and Closer to a Broken Heart continue the great rock sound in the vein of The Pretenders and Tom Petty. In fact, there are really no weak moments on the albums and has remained her strongest effort, though her follow up also contained similar quality work. Hill would later move in a more worship direction and an involvement with Women of faith type ministries. She has yet to return to this type of music and that is true loss for Christian Music. But even some 20 years later this album sound fantastic and not dated in any way.

Contributor David Lowman – https://ccms500bestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – Inside Of You – 4:22
2 – Stop, Watch And Listen – 5:14
3 – Secret Place – 4:45
4 – Snake In The Grass – 4:08
5 – Let’s Talk About Life – 2:01
6 – Closer To A Broken Heart – 3:37
7 – Turning – 3:50
8 – Testimony – 3:33
9 – Charm Is Deceitful – 2:21

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Jackson Design
Coordinator [Production Coordinator] – Richard Headen
Cover [Cover Coordinator] – D.L. Rhodes
Executive-Producer – Michael Blanton, Terry Hemmings
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Photography By – Russ Harrington
Producer [Associate Producer] – Wayne Kirkpatrick
Producer [Produced By] – Brown Bannister
Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Splash Headen, Smash Kirkpatrick
Recorded By [Assisted By] – Carry Summers, Steve Bishir
Recorded By [Overdubs Recorded By] – Slash Bannister
Recorded By [Tracks Recorded By] – Jeff Balding

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Reunion Records
Copyright (c) – Reunion Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word Records Limited
Copyright (c) – Word Records Limited
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Overdubbed At – Home Groan Studio
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Published By – Pupfish Music
Published By – Knightsville Music
Published By – Edward Grant, Inc.
Published By – Birdwing Music
Published By – Songs Of PolyGram International, Inc.
Published By – Yellow Jacket Music, Inc.
Published By – Emily Boothe, Inc.
Published By – Word Music (2)
Published By – Riverstone Music, Inc.
Pressed By – DADC – DIDX-006789

David Meece – Candle In The Rain – 1987

David continues his Pop dominance of the charts with Candle In The Rain. It had 4 top 10 singles which is a pretty darn successful album. I do have some problems with this album however. Quite simply it is completely over produced. The album had 6 producers and countless mixers and engineers. This is a recipe for success for making hit singles but in my opinion a recipe for disaster for an album. Now I certainly can’t argue with the success of this album but when you listen to the whole album it is disjointed and has no flow. I am not actually a fan of David’s earlier work but it is much better than this. The songs are pop songs with very poor lyrics which I guess doesn’t matter as you can’t hear them properly over the drum and keyboard tracks. But what do I know, the album was a huge success and sold lots of copies. It dominated the charts and I’m sure people of all ages ran right out and bought it. But lets be clear, this is a collection of great singles and not a great album, there is a difference.

Tracklist
1 – All Is God’s Creation – 3:42
2 – Nothing To Forgive – 4:27
3 – God Only Knows – 4:53
4 – The Water Is Fine – 5:40
5 – His Love Was Reaching – 3:29
6 – Amor Conquesta Todo (Love Conquers All) – 4:24
7 – Higher Ground – 3:40
8 – Candle In The Rain – 4:16
9 – Hold On – 3:54

Credits
Jeff Balding – Engineer, Mixed
Brown Bannister – Producer, Mixed, Arranger
Lynn Barrington – Production Coordination, Songwriter
Jonathan David Brown – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Arranger, Songwriter
Lenny Castro – Percussion
Kevin Clark – 2nd Engineer
Paul Delph – Songwriter
Roy Freeland – Songwriter
David Garibaldi – Drums, Percussion, Drum Programming
Linda Green – Background Vocals
Bernie Grundman – Mastered
Tom Hemby – Guitars
Dann Huff – Guitar
Danny Johnson – 2nd Engineer
Jean Johnson – Background Vocals
Shane Keister – Arranger, Keyboards, Synthesizers
Marva King – Background Vocals
Rhett Lawrence – Producer, Arranger, Keyboards, Synthesizers
Maxayne Lewis – Background Vocals
Carl Marsh – Arranger, Fairlight, Bass, Keyboards, Drums
Debbie McClendon – Background Vocals
Howard McCrary – Arranger, Background Vocals
Steve McMillan – Engineer
David Meece – Songwriter, Acoustic Piano, Vocals
Michael Miller – Electric Guitar, Bass
Paul Mills – Acoustic Piano
Marc Russo – Saxophone
Alfie Silas – Background Vocals
Brian Tankersley – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Arranger
Keith Thomas – Arranger, Keyboards, Synthesizers
Gino Vannelli – Producer, Engineer, Arranger, Songwriter
Joe Vannelli – Producer, Engineer, Arranger, Songwriter, Keyboards, Sequencer Programming
Bill Whittington – 2nd Engineer

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Blue Moon Studio
Recorded At – Ocean Way Recording
Recorded At – Weddington Studios
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s
Mixed At – Blue Moon Studio
Mixed At – Rivendell Recorders
Mixed At – Mama Jo’s
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering

Fighter – Demo – 1989

As I understand it this was Fighter’s first demo. 2 of the tracks got released on their first album, “Radio Man”, and “Face To Face”. “Leo” and “Irresponsible Evil” remained unreleased until 2019. In 2019 these four tracks were bonus material on a re-release of Fighters first album, The Waiting. Do not confuse this with the 2019 Girder Records release “The Fighter Demos” which is a collection of most of their demo work but not these 4 tracks.

Tracklist
1 – Radio Man – 4:38
2 – Leo – 3:15
3 – Face To Face – 5:27
4 – Irresponsible Evil – 3:24

Credits
Bass – Jim Wolter
Drums – Sean Murphy
Guitar – Billy Heller
Keyboards – Mark Pence
Lead Vocals – Amy Wolter, Sean Murphy