Randy Stonehill – Can’t Buy a Miracle – 1988

Can’t Buy A Miracle is the follow up to Randy’s wildly popular album The Wild Frontier. Randy was joined for backup vocals from Phil Keaggy, Gary Chapman, Russ Taff, and REZ on individual tracks. This enhances some excellent songs with the exception of the Rez track “Cold Rock The Groove” which I just didn’t like and no guest appearance was gonna save it for me. The album isn’t quite as good as Wild Frontier but it’s not a bad album. Wild Frontier was probably Randy’s best album so saying it’s not as good is not necessarily a criticism. My favourite track is the title track which made me feel like I was listening to an old Stones tune. The album did actually sneak a single onto the CCM charts with “Coming Back Soon” making it to #5. All in all a pretty darn good album that definitely deserves a listen.

Tracklist
1 – It’s Now – 4:03
2 – Don’t Break Down – 3:04
3 – Coming Back Soon – 4:46
4 – O How The Mighty Have Fallen – 4:10
5 – Brighter Day – 4:05
6 – Awfully Loud World – 3:02
7 – Cold Rock The Groove – 4:05
8 – Beyond The Veil – 4:55
9 – Can’t Buy A Miracle – 3:49

Credits
Artwork – Michael Hodgso
Backing Vocals – Dave Perkins (tracks: 6, 9), Gary Chapman (tracks: 5), Phil Keaggy (tracks: 2), Rez (tracks: 7), Russ Taff (tracks: 6)
Bass – Rick Cua
Drums – Mike Mead
Electric Guitar – Dave Perkins
Engineer – Dave Perkins, Malcolm Harper
Engineer [Additional] – Dave Shirley, Lynn Fuston
Executive-Producer – Ray Ware, Tom Willett
Guitar [Flat Top Guitars] – Randy Stonehill
Keyboards – Greg Husted
Mixed By – Dave Perkins, Malcolm Harper
Percussion – Lisa Cates
Photography By – Peter Nash
Producer – Dave Perkins

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Randy’s Rock Bunker
Recorded At – The Reelsound Truck
Mixed At – The Reelsound Truck
Manufactured By – Discovery Systems – 2W20100B
Published By – Stonehillian Music
Published By – Word Music
Published By – Undone Tunes
Published By – Blue Finch Music

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Author: Ray Mansfield

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

2 thoughts on “Randy Stonehill – Can’t Buy a Miracle – 1988”

  1. I both agree with you and vehemently disagree with you.

    When you say, “All in all a pretty darn good album and definitely deserves a listen”. At the end of your review, I couldn’t agree more. This is a very good album and I commend you for featuring it here so more people can listen. It’s also available on streaming services like Spotify. and for sale on the Randy Stonehill Bandcamp page.

    When you say Wild Frontier is probably his best album, it makes me wonder how many of his album’s youv’e listened to. Don’t get me wrong Wild Frontier is good but it’s not even in his top 5 best. Welcome to Paradise is better. The Sky is Falling is better. Equator is better. Celebrate This Heartbeat is better, Return to Paradise is Better. Wonderama is just as good, if not better. Lazarus Heart is better, and The Lost Art of Listening is better. It speaks well of Stonehill’s body of work that Wild Frontier and Can’t Buy A Miracle can be so good at still not crowning achievements.

    1. Everyone has their own definition of “best”. That said “Welcome to Paradise” and “The Sky is Fallin” have horrible production. Excellent tracks but horrible production. Larry was many things but a good producer he was not. Anyway like I say everyone has a different criteria for best and mine includes production quality.

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