Month: March 2023

Adam Again – Dig – 1992

This is the fourth album from Adam Again. I have read in about 3 reviews now that this band wasn’t all that successful. Of course we don’t have any access to sales numbers but I heard of these guys in the 90’s after I was done listening to Christian music. Obviously I heard it when I was listening to secular music so obviously it had some recognition there. There’s not too much info on the recording of this album in fact I can’t find anything about how this album came to be. As for the album lyrically it continues to have an R.E.M. feel thinks to Gene Eugene’s vocals but the music has a great 90’s feel. This is one of those albums that falls in the “I didn’t like it” but it is very good category. This was not my style of music but I know a good album when I hear it and this is a great album. Jars Of Clay did an excellent cover of Dig on their 2003 album “Furthermore: From The Studio/From The Stage”.

Tracklist
1 – Deep – 4:15
2 – It Is What It Is (What It Is) – 3:43
3 – Dig – 3:25
4 – Hopeless, Etc. – 4:53
5 – Songwork – 5:28
6 – Worldwide – 2:07
7 – Walk Between The Raindrops – 3:30
8 – Hidden, Hidden – 3:25
9 – River On Fire – 5:46
10 – So Long – 4:19

Credits
Art Direction, Design, Photography – Anna Cardenas
Bass – Paul Valadez
Drums – Jon Knox
Executive-Producer [Executive Producers] – Gene Eugene, Ojo Taylor
Guitar – Greg Lawless
Lyrics By [All Lyrics] – Gene Eugene
Mastered By – Brian Gardner
Producer [Additional Production] – Greg Lawless, Jon Knox, Paul Valadez, Riki Michele
Producer [Produced By], Recorded By – Gene Eugene
Vocals – Riki Michele
Vocals, Guitar, Electric Piano [Rhodes] – Gene Eugene

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Brainstorm Artists International
Copyright © – Brainstorm Artists International
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Mixing Lab A
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B
Recorded At – Steve McCrum’s House
Mixed At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – Bernie Grundman Mastering
Published By – Chenka, Chenka Music
Manufactured By – U.S. Optical Disc

The Choir – Kissers And Killers – 1993

Once the Circle Slide tour was complete there were some pretty serious changes for The Choir. First and foremost the band either finished their contract with Myrrh or it expired. I’ve read the story both ways. The band also split up with Steve Hindalong going on to the production side of the industry. Dan Michaels produced a solo project and Derri Daugherty went on to form Lost Dogs. The band came back together in 1992 to record this album at Daugherty’s brand new Neverland Studio in Cerritos, California. The band released it as an independent release and apparently only 6300 copies were made between CD and Cassette. The album has a 90’s Rock sound and was well received by critics but I have heard it wasn’t as well received by fans. I think it would have been better received if fans had been able to buy it a little easier but that’s just one man’s opinion.

Tracklist
1 – Gripped – 4:25
2 – Amazing – 3:49
3 – Kissers And Killers3:00
4 – Weather Girl – 6:00
5 – Yellow Skies – 3:54
6 – Grace – 3:13
7 – Let The Sky Fall – 3:32
8 – Love Your Mind – 5:12

Credits
Art Direction, Photography By – Leiza Schmidt
Bass Guitar – Tim Chandler
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Steve Hindalong
Guitar, Lead Vocals – Derri Daugherty
Layout [Art Layout], Design [Assistance] – Gene Ray George
Mixed By – Jr. McNeely
Producer – Derri Daugherty, Steve Hindalong
Recorded By, Mixed By – David Hackbarth, Derri Daugherty
Saxophone, Lyricon – Dan Michaels

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Neverland Studios
Mixed At – Neverland Studios
Mixed At – Pakaderm Studios
Mastered At – Digital Brothers
Published By – Never Say Never Songs
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

4•4•1 – Sacrifice – 1988

There is kind of an interesting story behind this album. The band actually split in 1987 but John McNamara and Glenn Holland continued writing material. With the blessing of the departed members they came to an agreement with Ojo Taylor and Gene Eugene at Broken Records for a third album. Gene Eugene produced (assisted), mixed, and engineered the album. The new version of the band even did a small tour with Glenn’s brother Kenny on drums and John Gaudesi on guitar. As for the album well quite frankly it just isn’t the original version of the band. I did not know about all the personnel changes in the band before I listened to the album and thought it just didn’t sound right and after some research I discovered why. Really this album should be evaluated as a stand alone group. It’s a lot darker then their previous work but is a solid new wave album. I think it should definitely be given a listen but remember your listening to a very modified version of the band.

Tracklist
1 – Judas Kisses – 4:48
2 – Oh No – 4:33
3 – Push (These Walls Down) – 3:59
4 – Sacrifice – 3:58
5 – Beautiful Places – 3:10
6 – This Is Love – 3:16
7 – Death Of Innocence – 4:31
8 – Pray For Rain – 4:50
9 – Don’t Make Me Cry – 3:40
10 – What Am I To Do? – 3:20
11 – Standing On The Edge – 4:44
12 – Push (Reprise) – 1:39
13 – Untitled Hidden Track – 0:30

Credits
Arranged By [Additional Arrangement Ideas] – Gene Eugene
Art Direction, Design – Norman Fog
Bass, Keyboards – Glenn Holland
Drums – Kenny Holland
Mastered By – John Matousek
Photography By – Brian Ray
Producer [Produced By] – Gene Eugene, Glenn Holland, John McNamara
Recorded By [Additional Recording By] – Dave Hackbarth
Recorded By, Mixed By – Gene Eugene, Glenn Holland
Songwriter [All Songs Written By], Arranged By [All Songs Arranged By] – Glenn Holland, John McNamara
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – John McNamara

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Brainstorm Artists International Inc.
Copyright © – Brainstorm Artists International Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word Records Limited
Recorded At – Neverland
Mixed At – Neverland
Mastered At – Motown/Hitsville U.S.A. Recording Studios
Published By – Brainstorm Artists
Published By – Leisure Boys Music
Published By – Maranatha! Music

David Mullen – Faded Blues – 1991

This is David’s second album and it is really really good. Now for a minute here I’m going to go on a rant about the CCM charts. I have often said they had no idea what they were doing on their charts but this album is the absolute proof. CCM magazine said this album had one single that only made it to #37 for 2 weeks, “To Be With You “. Meanwhile it won the Dove award for Best Rock Album and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Gospel Album. Obviously the rest of the industry saw something CCM Magazine didn’t. Anyway, this is a great AOR album and there’s actually a couple tracks on here that are pretty Rock & Roll and if we ever start a radio station there’s at least 2 tracks that will be in our regular rotation.

Tracklist
1 – Faded Blues – 3:50
2 – After The Hurricane – 5:14
3 – Libby – 4:23
4 – Functional Faith And Clothing – 1:28
5 – Papa – 3:50
6 – To Be With You – 4:24
7 – Under The Same Sun – 4:02
8 – Alone – 4:54
9 – Water Into Wine – 4:39
10 – Long Road – 5:13
11 – Solid As A Rock – 5:05
12 – Don’t Let It Go To Your Heart – 4:42

Credits
A&R – Danny Kee
Acoustic Guitar – Scott Denté
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar – Kevin Twit
Art Direction, Design – Elvis Wilson, Laura LiPuma
Backing Vocals – Chris Rodriguez, Kathy Burdick, Kim Fleming, Vicki Hampton
Bass – Michael Rhodes
Drums – Mickey Curry
Electric Guitar – Kenny Greenberg
Electric Guitar, Soloist – Kevin Dukes
Engineer [Additional] – Jim Demain*
Horns – Jim Horn, Muscle Shoals Horns
Keyboards – Dennis Matkosky, Mike Lawler, Nick Glennie-Smith
Keyboards, Backing Vocals – David Mullen
Management – Mike Atkins
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Percussion – Scott MacLeod, Steve Brewster
Photography By – Chip Simons
Piano – Phil Kristenson
Producer, Mixed By, Guitar, Keyboards, Maracas, Percussion, Shaker, Backing Vocals – Justin Niebank
Slide Guitar, Soloist – Phil Keaggy

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – Masterfonics

Vector – Temptation – 1995

This was essentially the final album from Vector though they did do a reunion album in 2021. They continued their style of very light evangelical lyrics giving the album a low JPM like their previous work. It is pretty strong New Wave which was really falling out of favour by 1995 which is probably why it wasn’t a very popular album. That said I love New Wave so it was a nice treat for me in 1995. The CCM genre didn’t have very many good New Wave bands in my opinion but these guys were one of them.

Tracklist
1 – The Power of Love – 5:27
2 – It Comes Down to You – 5:04
3 – All I Need – 4:41
4 – When It All Stops – 4:47
5 – Watch Over Me – 4:49
6 – I Can’t Get Enough of You – 5:48
7 – Let It Slide – 4:53
8 – Mr. Color Wheel – 5:06
9 – Rhythm of Life – 4:58
10 – Temptation – 5:05
11 – Why Did We Wait So Long – 5:10
12 – 10,000 Wishes – 5:33
13 – My Own Eyes – 6:31
14 – She Won’t Say Goodbye – 4:18

Credits
Jimmy Abegg – Songwriter, Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals
Steve Brewster – Drums, Percussion, Loops
Dave Frank – Keyboards, Percussion, Background Vocals
Steve Griffith – Producer, Mixed, Songwriter, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Loops, Vocals
Phil Madeira – Hammond B3, Blues Guitar Solo
Stephen Murray – Background Vocals
Davia Vallesillo – Vocals

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Liquid Disc Records
Copyright © – Liquid Disc Records
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Gigantic Planet, Inc.
Copyright © – Gigantic Planet, Inc.
Distributed By – Diamante Music Group
Distributed By – CMC Distribution
Produced For – Gaga Productions (2)
Recorded At – Gaga Studios, Franklin TN
Mastered At – Mastermix
Published By – Gigantic Planet Music
Published By – Grilled Fish Music
Published By – Twin Angels Music
Pressed By – Disctronics USA – 130331

Whitecross – Love On The Line – 1988

Whitecross released this EP shortly after releasing their first album. I’m not entirely sure what the strategy was here as 2 of the tracks from this EP are actually on that first album. If I had to guess I think they probably wanted this to be released before their first album but something went wrong along the way and it was delayed but that is strictly a guess. As I said the album contained 2 tracks from their first album the other 2 tracks wouldn’t appear on an album until much later. Anyway this must have been a treat for Whitecross fans and with 2 unreleased tracks it must have been a must own. Interestingly it was only released on vinyl and cassette with the same four tracks simply repeated on the flip side.

Tracklist
1 – Love On The Line – 6:00
2 – I Believe – 3:52
3 – No Way I’m Going Down – 4:12
4 – Enough Is Enough – 4:04

Credits
Bass – Jon Sproule
Drums – Mark Hedl
Engineer – Dan Rudin
Executive Producer – Gavin Morkel
Guitar – Rex Carroll
Producer – Rex Carroll
Vocals – Scott Wenzel

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Grand Slam Studios

Bruce Carroll – Richest Man In Town – 1988

This was Bruce’s second album and wow was it a success. His first album was passed over by most people but this album got noticed. It had 4 top 40 hits with “Above And Beyond” making it to #4 and “Driving Nails” making it to #11 as well as two other hits at #24 and #31. It was produced by Bubba Smith who really nailed this album. The album is an AOR genre style but there are a few tracks that lean more towards Rock. I’m actually a little surprised how well it did. I’m not saying it’s not good, it’s just that like I said it has a couple Rock tracks and we know that the CCM chart people usually shied away from albums like this. But all that aside this is an excellent album and I really enjoyed it. There’s at least 2 tracks that will be making it into my regular rotation.

Tracklist
1 – Cross Your Heart – 2:24
2 – Above And Beyond – 3:13
3 – When He Reigns He Pours – 3:20
4 – Fight To Be Weak – 3:00
5 – The Richest Man In Town – 3:42
6 – Only You – 3:29
7 – Song For You – 3:41
8 – It Is Finished – 3:11
9 – He’s Always There – 4:09
10 – Forget It – 3:44
11 – Something Good Is Bound To Happen – 3:47
12 – Let Go Let God – 2:53
13 – Driving Nails – 3:36

Credits
Bruce Carroll – Songwriter, Vocals
Russ Barenburg – Guitars
Phil Barnhart – Songwriter
Eddie Bayers – Drums
Mark Casstevens – Guitars
Mark Douthit – EWI
Stuart Duncan – Fiddle
Terri Gibbs – Songwriter
Carl Gorodetzky – Strings
Lloyd Green – Steel Guitar
Buddy Greene – Songwriter, Harmonica
Chris Harris – Background Vocals
Mark Heimermann – Background Vocals
Gary Janney – Background Vocals
Bill Kenner – Mandolin
Brent King – Mixed
Barbara Kinnamon – Songwriter
Bruce Koblish – String Arranger
Bob Krusen – Engineer
Larrie Londin – Drums
Phil Madeira – B-3 Organ
Kenny Malone – Drums, Percussion, Tambourine
John Mays – Executive Producer
Jerry McPherson – Guitars
Duncan Mullins – Bass
Nashville String Machine – Strings
Maura O’Connell – Harmony Vocals
Paul Overstreet – Songwriter, Background Vocals
Don Potter – Guitars
Kelly Pribble – Engineer
Gary Prim – Keyboards
Matt Rollings – Piano
Brent Rowan – Guitars
Jerry Salley – Songwriter
Bubba Smith – Producer, Castanets, Claves, Tambourine
Paul Smith – Songwriter
Bob Souerv – Songwriter

Semaja – Semaja Live – 1985

This is the last stuff we would get from Semaja as they unfortunately split up even before this album was released. If you were a fan of theirs then this was certainly a nice way for them to go out as many artists in this genre never even put out live albums. As for the band, Markus Egger has become leader of a missions society in Germany called Inter-mission, Claus Feldmann has got an recording studio, and Ulrich Plinke is working in the addictions field. The other members have moved on with normal jobs and from what I understand most of the members are involved in a church called Koinonia Calvary Chapel in Hannover.

Tracklist
1 – Dawning – 4:40
2 – Pilo – 5:03
3 – Wilderness – 6:00
4 – Baby Huey – 4:45
5 – Jesaja 53 – 6:00
6 – Come To Jesus – 4:50
7 – Big Noise – 10:50

Credits
Bass, Vocals – Wilfried Herrmann
Drums – Harald Nagel
Guitar, Vocals – Ulrich Plinke
Keyboards – Claus Feldmann
Lead Vocals – Markus Egger

Stephanie Boosahda – Fearless To Follow – 1984

This is Stephanie’s 7th and final studio album. It sounds like her previous work and I get the feeling that she was struggling with finding an updated 80’s sound. I’m not faulting her but female vocalists were changing in the 80’s and Stephanie’s work was better oriented to late 70’s praise music. That said it’s … Continue reading “Stephanie Boosahda – Fearless To Follow – 1984”

This is Stephanie’s 7th and final studio album. It sounds like her previous work and I get the feeling that she was struggling with finding an updated 80’s sound. I’m not faulting her but female vocalists were changing in the 80’s and Stephanie’s work was better oriented to late 70’s praise music. That said it’s an excellent album for it’s style and there are some upbeat tracks but for the main part this is a worship oriented album.

Tracklist
1 – Who Do You Say That I Am? – 3:19
2 – Signs And Wonders – 4:11
3 – Fearless To Follow – 4:30
4 – I Will Rejoice In Him – 3:21
5 – How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place – 3:40
6 – Bless The Lord, O My Soul – 3:49
7 – He Will Not Let You Fall – 3:52
8 – On The Crest Of A Wave – 4:41
9 – A Child Is Born – 3:07

Credits
Arranged By [Strings] – Alan Moore
Backing Vocals – Bonnie Keen, Jackie Cusic, Marty McCall, Melody Tunney
Bass – Mike Brignardello
Design Concept, Art Direction – Bill Barnes
Drums – Larrie Londin, Mark Hammond
Engineer [Assistant] – Tom Harding
Engineer, Mixed By – Ed Seay
Executive-Producer – Michael DeMonico
Graphics – Barnes & Company
Guitar – Jon Goin
Keyboards – Shane Keister
Keyboards [Additional] – Keith Thomas, Phil Naish
Lacquer Cut By – GM
Mastered By – Benny Quinn
Percussion – Farrell Morris, Terry McMillan
Photography By, Design – Matt Barnes
Producer – Greg Nelson
Strings – Carl Gorodetzky, Nashville String Machine
Written-By – B. Batstone, David Stearman, Stephanie Boosahda

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Singspiration Music
Copyright © – Singspiration Music
Recorded At – Treasure Isle Recorders
Mastered At – Masterfonics
Pressed By – Electrosound Group Midwest, Inc.

Mark Farner – Wake Up – 1989

This is Mark’s second Christian release. It’s not quite as Rock & Roll as his first but it is still pretty good. Mark handled most of the instruments on the album and also produced it. Personally I feel the sound is a little hollow in places but I’m always overly critical on production and engineering. The tracks are well written and Mark really started to shine as a song writer on this album. Other than that there’s not a lot to say about the album other than give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Wake Up… – 4:23
2 – Into The Light – 3:59
3 – New Age – 3:22
4 – Come To Me – 3:58
5 – In Your Sight – 5:23
6 – Upright Man – 3:30
7 – Rocco – 3:48
8 – If It Wasn’t For Grace – 3:53
9 – Love Power – 4:00
10 – Role Model – 5:54
11 – Like I Was Before – 3:52

Credits
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals], Drums, Percussion – Mike Maple
Bass, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Lawrence Buckner
Engineer – Bradley Jones
Engineer [Assistent Engineer] – Dave Jahnsen, Don Pushies
Keyboards – Mark Farner
Keyboards, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Michael Blair
Lead Guitar – Arnie Vilches
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Gordon vanEkstrom
Percussion – Mark Farner
Producer – Mark Farner
Rhythm Guitar – Arnie Vilches
Vocals, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals], Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar – Mark Farner

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Fun House Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records
Copyright © – Frontline Records
Recorded At – Alliance Recording Co.
Mixed At – The Mixing Lab