Month: March 2023

Saint Attack – The First – 1989

This is the first of 2 demo’s from Saint Attack though I am completely unable to confirm the second one titled “First Watch”. So in the end this may be all we have from Saint Attack. They never went on to record an album and I can only find info one one member. Vocalist Frank Schepp went on to sing with Chryztyne on their one and only album. Other than Frank the 2 bands don’t appear to have anything in common so I don’t believe it was a rename. OK now onto the demo. It’s a metal album and is actually really well produced and mixed. As they were a German band I wonder why no record deal. I believe it was easier for metal bands to get record deals in Germany and that’s why we have all these oddball German metal releases. Anyway they never did an album and this is all we get form them. If your a metal head this one is for you. I predict you will really like it.

Tracklist
1 – Co’mon – 2:59
2 – Confession – 5:08
3 – Mama Doesn’t Know – 4:41
4 – Pleasure’an Pain – 3:20

Credits
Frank Schepp – Vocals
Walter Moch – Guitars
Gerhard Schlinck – Guitars
Uwe Uher – Bass
Ralf Rumpf – Drums

The Rance Allen Group – I Feel Like Going On – 1980

This was actually the 7th album from The Rance Allen Group. I will forgive you if you have never heard of them because they were in that segment of Christian music that some of us were never exposed to. There seems to have been a whole parallel Christian music industry specializing in soul gospel music. As I researched this side genre I discovered that it was actually huge with several large labels. That said in the early 80’s these two industries started to cross over. This album was before those days so this album is on a soul gospel label. Anyway these guys were huge but I never had any exposure to them. This is a pity because they are really good. I don’t know if I would have bought any of their albums but it would have been nice to have heard them. As for this album it is an excellent soul album and you may have missed it in the day so you should give it a listen now.

Tracklist
1 – Where Did I Go Wrong – 4:45
2 – Some People – 4:50
3 – I’m Coming Back To You – 6:12
4 – Can’t Get Enough – 3:27
5 – God Can Do The Impossible – 5:10
6 – I Will Forever Lean On You – 5:23
7 – Believe In Yourself – 4:32
8 – I Feel Like Going On – 3:35

Credits
Arranged By – Johnny Allen
Art Direction – Phil Carroll
Backing Vocals – Brandye
Bass – Billy Sumler
Design – Kris Johnson
Drums – Jerry Jones
Engineer – Warren Woods
Executive-Producer – Toby Jackson
Guitar – Bruce Nazarian, Cecil Womack, Rance Allen
Horns – Eli Fontain
Keyboards – Rance Allen, Ronnie McNair
Mastered By – José Rodriguez
Percussion – Butch Small, James Griswold
Photography By – Phil Bray
Producer, Arranged By – Rance Allen, Ronnie McNair
Recorded By, Mixed By – Mark Calice
Strings – Betty Metzker, Carl Austin, Charles Everette, Edouard Kesner, Max James Bourbonnais, John Ronai, Marguerite Deslippe, Meyer Shapiro, Morris Hochberg, Nicholas Waselowich, Richard Piippo, Umberto Primo

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Fantasy Records
Recorded At – The Sound Suite Detroit
Mixed At – The Sound Suite Detroit
Mastered At – Sterling Sound
Published By – Stora Music Co.
Published By – Roxatlanta Lane
Published By – Tight Squeeze Music
Published By – Dark Star Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Stax Records

Passage – Passage – 1981

This album was an interesting story. Louis Johnson was a member of Brothers Johnson and he decided to do a solo album, kind of. I say kind of because he actually did vocals for 4 tracks, his wife Valerie did vocals for 3 tracks, and Richard Heath did lead vocals for 2 tracks. Louis was under contract with A&M records so this is one of those rare moments when A&M released a gospel album. Strangely Impact records also had a release of this album. I’d love to hear the story on how that came about. The album single “Open Up Your Heart” made it to #13 which is pretty good for a soul track in 1981. This is a top notch soul album by a genre king that you should listen to if you like your music with a little soul.

Tracklist
1 – Have You Heard The Word – 4:34
2 – You Can’t Be Livin’ – 4:55
3 – Faith Walking People – 3:39
4 – I See The Light – 4:36
5 – The Great Flood – 3:42
6 – Open Up Your Heart – 3:55
7 – Power – 4:11
8 – Love Eyes – 3:37
9 – The Son Will Come Again – 4:03

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Louis Johnson
Arranged By [Horns] – David Diggs, Louis Johnson
Arranged By [Strings] – David Diggs, Gerald Lee, Louis Johnson
Backing Vocals – Louis Johnson, Richard Heath, Valerie Johnson
Bass – Louis Johnson
Drums – John Robinson, Ricky Lawson
Electric Piano [Rhodes] – Louis Johnson
Engineer, Mixed By – Jack Joseph Puig
Flute – Michael Perkins
Guitar – Curtis Nolen, David Williams, Greg Moore, Louis Johnson
Keyboards – David Wolinski, Louis Johnson, Raymond Crossley, Rene Moore
Lead Vocals – Louis Johnson, Richard Heath, Valerie Johnson
Percussion – Richard Heath
Piano [Acoustic] – David Wolinski, Raymond Crossley
Producer – Louis Johnson
Saxophone [Solo] – Michael Perkins
Steel Guitar – Al Perkins
Synthesizer [Bass] – Louis Johnson
Vocals – Louis Johnson, Richard Heath, Valerie Johnson

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – A&M Records, Inc.
Copyright © – A&M Records, Inc.
Pressed By – Columbia Records Pressing Plant, Pitman
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab

Stephen Alexandersen – Let The Music Move Me – 1977

There’s not a whole lot out there about Stephen and this was his only album. I did find that he’s still out there doing music in Chicago so there’s that but not much more. So we will discuss the album instead of some long bio. The album has an excellent soul feel. I have discovered that through the late 70’s early 80’s there were some excellent white soul artists and Stephen is one of them. This is a style of music I wasn’t very familiar with in the 80’s as it wasn’t readily available on our local Christian record store. I’m guessing this was somewhat normal in towns like mine which were predominately white. Anyway this is a great album and I really enjoyed it. One point of trivia about the album is that it was pressed on white vinyl. This label only ever put out one other album and it was on white vinyl too. I guess it was a play on their name White Horse Records. Odd choice though because if you’re a tiny label generally you don’t want to do things that increased your costs.

Tracklist
1 – Let The Music Move Me – 4:18
2 – Lyin’ Lucifer – 3:22
3 – I’ve Got Jesus’ Love (To Hold Onto) – 4:38
4 – Just Like They Said (It Would Be) – 4:24
5 – That’s Enough For Me To Know – 4:50
6 – Walking With Jesus – 3:25
7 – Take Up Your Cross – 3:20
8 – Sing Unto The Lord – 4:53
9 – Lonely Stranger – 5:35
10 – State Of The World – 4:00

Credits
Arranged By – Gary Filip
Arranged By [Vocal] – Jessy Dixon
Backing Vocals – Myriad, Jessy Dixon Singers, Thompson Community Singers
Composed By – Stephen Alexandersen
Design [Album] – Chuck Strantz
Engineer [Assisted By] – Jim Commisano
Engineer, Mixed By [Mixdown] – Mal Davis
Executive-Producer – Ray Nenow
Mastered By – Gary Hedden
Musician – Dick Lux, Gary Filip, Gary Thompson, Jack Kelly, Russ Daughtry, Stephen Alexandersen
Photography By – Gene Johnson
Producer – Gary Filip, Mal Davis, Stephen Alexandersen

Companies, etc.
Pressed By – Wakefield Manufacturing – 31797
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – White Horse Records
Copyright © – Windy Music Company
Distributed By – Windy Distributor Company
Published By – Windy Music Company
Recorded At – D.B. Sudios