I often hear this album referred to thrash metal but really I think it leans more to dark metal. What makes this band unique is that they had a female vocalist which was quite rare n this genre. For these guys it worked and it worked well. You probably already know that this is not one of my preferred genres. In fact Thrash is one of my most hated but quite frankly there is something different about this album. There are several tracks here that I kind of like. I would like to have heard lead vocalist Gena do some straight up Metal/Hard Rock, I think I would have really liked that.
Tracklist 1 – Shadow Of Death – 3:08 2 – Stone Cold Heart – 3:45 3 – Hound Of Heaven – 4:46 4 – Free – 3:29 5 – Seek Life – 2:54 6 – Time Ran Out – 4:31 7 – Lights – 4:12 8 – Sacrifice Of The Lamb – 5:04 9 – Let Go – 4:07
Credits Bass – Gary Ottosi Drums – Ron McClure Guitar – Jerry Rotz, Steve Metzger Vocals – Gena McClure
A quick confession right off the bat. I had no idea Bruch Arbor existed in the 80’s. I don’t know how this is even possible as they were relatively huge. Sure their sound was not what we really liked but we had lots of albums from artists that weren’t really our style. So how did they slip past us? I have no idea. I guess it was just a product of growing up in a small town with one Christian music store so we got what we got. Anyway this is their album for 1981. It’s mainly easy listening with hints of country. All in all a pretty good album.
Tracklist 1 – Only For The Love Of The Lord – 2:42 2 – Come Back Home – 3:56 3 – Witness – 2:36 4 – All I Want To Be – 3:08 5 – Hero – 2:10 6 – Hey There Stranger – 3:42 7 – Running – 3:07 8 – Trust In The Lord – 1:58 9 – God Is Good – 2:58 10 – St. Peter – 2:19 11 – Rescue Me – 3:10
Credits Acoustic Bass – David Rose Arranged By – Brush Arbor, John D’Andrea Art Direction – Paul Gross Banjo – Jim Rice Bass Guitar – David Rose Design Concept – Bill Lightner Drums – Kevin Watkins Engineer – Carmine Rubino Engineer [Assistant] – Jim Crosby Guitar – Jim Rice, Joe Rice Lead Guitar – Dale Cooper Lead Vocals – Jim Rice, Joe Rice Mandolin – Joe Rice Mastered By – Bill Lightner Percussion – Kevin Watkins Photography By – Lisa Diamond, Phil Fewsmith Producer – Michael Lloyd Sleeve – Dennis Hill Vocals – Dale Cooper, David Rose, Kevin Watkins
77s finally give us a live album which was recorded on March 12, 1988 at the Warehouse in Sacramento, CA. The album gives us live versions of all their hits along with a fascinating cover of “Over Under Sideways Down” by the The Yardbirds.
Tracklist 1 – Perfect Blues – 6:00 2 – I Can’t Get Over It – 6:10 3 – Wild Blue – 5:45 4 – Mary And The Baby Elvis – 4:25 5 – Closer – 5:23 6 – Where It’s At – 4:53 7 – The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes & The Pride Of Life – 3:57 8 – Over Under Sideways Down – 2:56 9 – Mercy Mercy – 11:15 10 – You Don’t Scare Me – 12:20 11 – I Could Laugh – 12:30
Credits Bass Guitar – Mark Harmon Bass, Guitar, Voice – Jan Eric Coordinator [Project Conceived and Coordinated by] – Shalom Aberly Drums [Forever Pounding & Thrashing] – Aaron Smith Grand Piano – David Leonhardt Keyboards, Guitar, Voice – Mark Tootle Mixed By – Steve Griffith Organ [Hammond B-3] – Roger Smith Post Production – Kirt Shearer Producer – Mike Roe Recorded By – Daryl Zachman Voice, Guitar, Harmonica [Mouth Organ] – Mike Roe
This is the second album from a band hat I never heard of. Yes there are lots of bands I never heard of but these guys albums were released on Canadian label “New Born Records” sister label to Tunesmith. I thought my group of friends and I had every release by them but we sure didn’t have either of these guys albums. Anyway all that aside I can’t find any info on this band other than they were out of the Spokane WA area. That’s it, that’s all I got. The album is a pretty good 70’s sound and is well worth a listen if that’s your preferred genre. Sorry but that’s all I have for this one.
Tracklist 1 – One Way Road – 3:00 2 – Born To Fly – 4:20 3 – You Shall Be Saved – 3:00 4 – Falling – 3:15 5 – The King and the Lion – 4:58 6 – Undercover Christian – 4:15 7 – Love Won’t Stop – 5:40 8 – Down On Your Knees – 4:44 9 – Psalm 151 (Instrumental) – 2:56 10 – Through My Tears – 2:28
This is Twila’s first album. Well that’s not entirely true she actually had a self released kids album all the way back in 1965 recorded when she was 5 years old. She said in an interview that when she was a teenager her friends would torment her by playing the album, but this is essentially her first album. It’s pretty well what you would expect for a first album from a female artist in 1980 but I do need to give Twila credit in that she was involved in the song writing. Generally first album female artists have all the tracks written for them but not in this case. If you’re a fan of female 80’s artists then this one is for you.
Tracklist 1 – Spring Water – 2:46 2 – Angel Band – 3:09 3 – I’ll See You Sunday – 3:55 4 – Knowin’ You’re Around – 3:28 5 – Morning Sunrise – 1:57 6 – I’m Singing Again – 3:13 7 – Turn Around – 2:58 8 – Victory Song – 3:05 9 – Elijah – 2:50 10 – Sing Me A Lullaby – 4:18
Credits Drew Barlow – Engineer Stephanie Boosahda – Background Vocals Wayne Boosahda – Producer Cornerstone Strings – Strings Larry Dalton – Piano Mike Demus – Electric & Acoustic Guitars Bob Farrell – Background Vocals Rocky Gribble – Electric Guitars Sandra Halgendale – Oboe Jim Hochanadel – Acoustic Guitars, Saxophone Maurice Love – Bass Glenn Meadows – Mastered Twila Paris – Songwriter, Keyboards, Vocals Kenny Sarkey – Producer, Engineer, Mixed, Keyboard, Acoustic Guitars, Arp Omni, Mini Moog, Orchestra Bells, Background Vocals Julianne Siens – Background Vocals David Stearman – String Arrangements, Acoustic Guitar Rhenda Edwards Tull – Background Vocals Genevieve Winkenbach – Harp Steve Wright – Drums, Percussion
Here’s another rarity from the 80’s. It’s a great AOR album but was released on tiny label Straight Ahead Records and I can’t see if it had a distribution deal. As such it isn’t very well known. I find this quite odd because John Andrew Schreiner is in the lineup and he was legendary. You may not recognize the name but he wrote many of the hits you know from CCM and worked in the studio with many many bands you are familiar with. I would have figured with a name like that on the album some larger label would have wanted this release but nope. Furthermore it was co-produced by Tim Archer. It’s actually the second album from Morningstar and by the way don’t confuse them with Morning Star who were a different band. Anyway you probably missed this one in the 80 so you should give it a listen if you like your music a little mellower.
Tracklist 1 – Where Could I Go – 4:07 2 – You’ve Got To Love Somebody – 4:01 3 – Read It For Yourself – 2:32 4 – Time’s A Wastin’ – 4:22 5 – In The World – 2:48 6 – Heart Of A Servant – 3:26 7 – Friend Of A Friend – 3:40 8 – Angel Of Light – 3:00 9 – Move On Up The Mountain – 3:34 10 – Serving You – 3:07
Credits Backing Vocals – Denise Graves, Gary Floyd, Gene Miller, Steve Archer Backing Vocals, Producer, Executive Producer – Tim Archer Bass – Keith Nelson, Tim Jaquette Drums, Percussion – Dave Spurr Guitar – Prince Robinson Guitar, Percussion – Bob Somma Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner Performer – Al Ray Hebert, Chris Springer, Jeff Meador, Jesse Conte, Juddy Harris, Lee Matthews, Rickey Baxley Producer – Dan Cutrona
Geoff Mann is rapidly becoming one of my favourite 80’s artists that I didn’t even know existed in the 80’s. The information on this album is pretty scant and I don’t even know where it was released though I am assuming the UK. As for the album I guess it could be best described as conceptual New Wave though your description might be different. It only came out on LP but was re-released in 1994 on a compilation disc. Strangely the re-release was actually missing the track “Peacemeal” but it was included on the re-release of Chants Would be a Fine Thing in 2004. The album appears to be entirely Geoff and Dave Mortimer but we do know Steve Millie did step in to do the Bass track on “Creation”. So if you are a fan of New Wave and you missed this one in the 80’s I strongly suggest a listen to it now.
Credits Electric Guitar – Dave Mortimer Electronic Drums – Geoff Mann Guitar – Dave Mortimer Producer – Geoff Mann Synthesizer – Geoff Mann Voice – Geoff Mann
Companies, etc. Recorded – Pullman Studios, Manchester. Record Company – Wobbly Records
This was the one and only album from Chase from Upstate New York. It was released on Salt Incorporated Music,which was a sublabel of Rick Cua’s UCA Records Ltd. The album is best described as an AOR album with some Arena Rock tracks. It was very well produced thanks to Bill Baumgart who was one of the best producers in the CCM genre. The only real connection to the 80’s for this album is the sound. I know the album is a one off but these guys were great. I would love to hear more but this is all we get and none of the band members appear to have done any other projects. I guess my only concern with the album is that this sound might have been a little late for 1993 but I don’t care. Only have time for one track? Give “Don’t Shut Me Out” a listen.
Tracklist 1 – Keeping My Mind – 4:48 2 – Spectrum Of Emotion – 4:11 3 – I Am Living You – 4:23 4 – Love Is The Reason – 5:14 5 – Don’t Shut Me Out – 4:22 6 – Have You Got Some Time – 4:33 7 – Get It Right – 4:46 8 – In Your Arms – 4:19 9 – ‘Til The End Of Time – 4:25 10 – You Will Be The One – 4:20
Credits Art Direction – Mark Combs Bass – Ron Chase Co-producer, Engineer – David Johnsen Drums – Jay Corey Lead Guitar, Vocals – Virgil Burdick Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar – Scott Lowmaster Mastered By – Hoyt Dooley Photography By – Scott Miller Photography Producer – Bill Baugmart
This is the first album from Take 6 and I believe it’s the only A Capella album we’ve uploaded to YouTube. The group started out in 1980 when Claude McKnight started to assemble a group of singers who would be know as Gentleman’s Estates Quartet. Once the band was complete they changed their name to Alliance. When they signed with Reprise Records/Warner Bros. in 1987, it was discovered that there was another group with the same name. So the band sat down and picked a new name using the level of laughter as the deciding factor and Take 6 was born. The band won two Grammy awards for this album, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo Or Group, and Best Soul Gospel Performance By A Duo, Group, Choir Or Chorus. Humorously the song that won Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo Or Group only made it to #25 on the CCM charts. If this isn’t proof of the idiocy that was the CCM charts then I don’t know what further proof I would need.
Tracklist 1 – Gold Mine – 3:52 2 – Spread Love – 3:29 3 – If We Never Needed The Lord Before (We Sure Do Need Him Now) – 4:59 4 – A Quiet Place – 2:43 5 – Mary – 3:31 6 – David And Goliath – 4:25 7 – Get Away, Jordan – 4:23 8 – He Never Sleeps – 3:10 9 – Milky-White Way – 4:47 10 – Let The Words – 0:55
Credits Arranged By – Mark Kibble, Mervyn Warren Art Direction, Design [Cover] – Kav Deluxe Engineer – Don Cobb Executive-Producer – Jim Ed Norman Hair – Jeffrey Johnson Lacquer Cut By – Denny Purcell Make-Up, Stylist [Wardrobe] – Vanessa Ware Management – C.H.O.I.C.E., Nashville Mastered By [Originally] – Denny Purcell Mixed By – C. McKnight, D. Cobb, M. Kibble, M. Warren Percussion [Finger Snaps], Effects [Sound] – David Humphries Photography By – Jeff Katz Producer – Claude V. McKnight III, Mark Kibble, Mervyn Warren Vocals – Alvin Chea, Cedric Dent, Claude V. McKnight III, David Thomas, Mark Kibble, Mervyn E. Warren
I’m going to start this review by saying, I don’t know anything about thrash, I don’t like thrash, and I don’t understand how it fit in the Christian genre of music. All that said I listened to the album and quite frankly I was left with more questions than answers. This album was released on Wonderland records which was a division of Word that I assumed Word opened so they could keep stuff like this off their main label. Now I just finished listening to a Towne Cryer album and I am mystified at how that band couldn’t get a record deal but these guys did. Did Word put someone in charge of this label that like me didn’t understand the genre? As for the album, this was their first release after rising from the ashes of a band called Marty. They had a 2 album run on Wonderland before self releasing two more albums. I hate to criticize the band as I struggle with this style of music but feel free to comment and let me know if they were good or bad. I just can’t tell.
Tracklist 1 – Renaissance By Death – 1:41 2 – The Invitation – 4:28 3 – Fallen Deceived – 3:50 4 – More Faith Than Me – 3:44 5 – Escaping The Alter – 9:06 6 – Assassins In The Midst – 4:56 7 – Mortal Flesh – 6:12 8 – Stroll Thru A Wicked Age – 6:45 9 – Prophets Of Baal – 4:08 10 – Plead The Blood – 5:16
Credits Bass – Jeff Lain Drums – Brian Meuse Engineer – Caesar Kalinowski Engineer, Keyboards – Christopher Mosher Guitar – Matt Maners Guitar, Backing Vocals – Marcus Colon Mastered By – Eddie Schryer Producer – Caesar Kalinowski Vocals – Chris Ackerman
Companies, etc. Recorded At – The Sonic Temple Mastered At – Future Disc
