Month: July 2023

Roby Duke – Come Let Us Reason – 1984

This is Roby’s second album and his first on Good News Records. While his first album was a budget affair this one had some money. The album is mainly an easy listening project with a couple of 80’s pop songs for the younger audience. The album had 2 CCM charting tracks, “Come Let Us Reason” made it to #11, and “Watching For You” made it to #35. Looking through the credits it was interesting to note that Dann Huff played some of the guitar tracks. I swear Dann was on almost every CCM album in this period. Also interestingly credited for background vocals was Mister Mister. I can hear their sound on several tracks but truthfully I have no idea what tracks they helped out on.

Tracklist
1 – Come Let Us Reason – 3:38
2 – All Lost – 3:31
3 – I’m Persuaded – 3:44
4 – Watching For You – 3:58
5 – Fight The Fight – 3:15
6 – Win Or Lose (Callin’) – 4:00
7 – Here I Am – 3:49
8 – Closer To You – 3:14
9 – Lay It Down – 3:39
10 – There Is Just One Way – 3:34

Credits
Arranged By – Harlan Rogers, John Schreiner, Roby Duke
Arranged By [String Arragements] – Harlan Rogers
Art Direction – Dan Lienart
Backing Vocals – Kelly Willard, Mister Mister, Richard Page, Roby Duke, Steve George
Bass – John Patitucci, Nathan East
Co-producer [Associate Producer] – Roby Duke
Concept By [Album Concept] – Roby Duke
Coordinator [Production] – Teri Piro
Drum Programming [TR 606 Roland] – Roby Duke
Drums – Bob Wilson
Engineer [Assistant] – Steven Ford, Todd Van Etten
Engineer [Technical] – Tom Ferguson
Executive-Producer – Freddie Piro
Guitar – Dann Huff, Wayne Brasel
Keyboards – Harlan Rogers, John Schreiner
Lighting – Dan Lienart, Teri Piro, Wendy Duke
Other [Chief Hoser] – Heeb Lee Otter
Other [Cover – Sax] – Harry “The Ferg” Browning alias Dewey Jack
Other [Location Provided By] – Bill Cole, Shirley Cole
Photography By – David Randle
Producer, Engineer – Win Kutz
Saxophone – Larry Williams
Synthesizer – Larry Williams, Roby Duke

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Good News Records
Copyright © – Good News Records
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Pressed By – Monarch Record Mfg. Co. – Δ26424
Lacquer Cut At – Sheffield Lab Matrix – Δ6422
Mixed At – Mama Jo’s
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s

First Call – Somethin’ Takes Over – 1987

This is the third album from First Call. It features the same lineup as their previous two albums and the magic continued with this combo. The album had 4 top 10 CCM charting singles including “The Reason We Sing” which sat at #1 for 6 weeks. The other three top 10 singles were, O Sifuni Mungu at #9, Back To His Heart at #10, and Lord Of All also at #10. The band actually never thought they would be as popular as they were and in fact when they started they just wanted to put out a Christmas album while still working on their solo careers. This album is a more worship oriented album and while not my style there is no denying that its a great album.

Tracklist
1 – The Comin’ Of The Lord – 3:21
2 – Somethin’ Takes Over – 3:23
3 – The Reason We Sing – 3:33
4 – Billy On The Boulevard – 4:14
5 – Forever In His Care – 4:03
6 – O Sifuni Mungu (All Creatures Of Our God And King) – 5:41
7 – The Look – 4:46
8 – Back To His Heart – 3:05
9 – Double Talk – 4:17
10 – Lord Of All – 4:59

Credits
Wayne Berry – Songwriter
George Binkley III – Strings
Mike Brignardello – Bass
Jonathan David Brown – Engineer
Cole Burgess – Contractor, Alto Sax
Paul Butcher – Trumpet
Paul Butcher – Trumpet
J.T. Cantwell – Engineer
John Chisum – Songwriter
John Darnall – Acoustic Guitar
Randall Dennis – Songwriter
Mark Douthit – Soprano & Alto Sax
Connie Ellisor – Strings
First Call – Vocal Arrangements
Carl Gorodetzky – Strings
Barry Green – Trombone
Mark Hammond – Drums, Percussion
Mike Haynes – Trumpet
Tom Hemby – Guitar
Robert Heuer – Horn
JB Baird – Engineer, Mixed
Neal Joseph – Producer
Bonnie Keen – Vocals
Shane Keister – Songwriter
Lee Larrison – Strings
Les Mas – Vocal Percussion
Sam Levine – Alto Sax
David Maddux – Producer, Songwriter, Arrangements, Piano, Keyboards, Drum Programming, Vocals
Ted Madsen – Strings
Asukulu Yunu Makalay – Songwriter
Pam Mark Hall – Songwriter
Rich Mayes – Bass Trombone
Tom McAninch – Horn
Marty McCall – Songwriter, Vocals
Paul McCusker – Songwriter
Chris McDonald – Trombone
Phill McHugh – Songwriter
Jerry McPherson – Guitar
Doug Moffet – Tenor Sax
Dennis Molchan – Strings
Laura Molyneaux – Strings
Farrell Morris – Percussion
Mmunga Mwenebulongo Mulongoy – Songwriter
Nashville String Machine – Strings
Craig Nelson – Acoustic Bass
John David Parker – Mix Assistant
Bill Pearce – Trombone
Brett Perry – Assistant Engineer
Rick Ricker – Horn
John Rommel – Trumpet
Clarke Schleicher – Engineer
Pam Sixfin – Strings
Buddy Skipper – Tenor Sax
Chris Teal – Strings
Keith Thomas – Track Arrangements, Programming, Keyboards
Becky Thurman – Songwriter
Geoff Thurman – Songwriter
Dick Tunney – Songwriter
Melodie Tunney – Songwriter, Vocals
Hank Williams – Mastered

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – The Bennett House
Mixed At – 16th Avenue Sound
Recorded At – The Lawrence Welk “Champagne” Studio, Nashville, TN.
Recorded At – Gold Mine Studio
Recorded At – Audio Media Recorders
Mastered At – Mastermix
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word, Inc.
Copyright © – Word, Inc.

Xavier – Xavier – 1982

This is an interesting album historically speaking. In 1979 Petra recorded their Washes Whiter Than album at the Bee Jay Recording Studio. That studio is owned by Eric Schabacker. The story goes that Eric was impressed with Greg X. Volz’s vocals and subsequently wanted Greg to record an album of songs written by him. Apparently it took a few years for the idea to work itself out but here is Greg doing a selection of songs written by Eric Schabacker. The album even featured Chip Meyers and Joel Balin who worked on the Washes Whiter Than album. The album was released using Greg’s middle name as the title and artist name and only 1000 copies were printed making it very rare. Eric produced the project but for some reason used the name Jonathan Fitzwilliam. Putting aside all the strangeness of the album it’s a pretty straight forward secular pop album. It’s actually pretty good and I think it might have sold well as a proper release but given the legalities of record deals and contracts it probably could never be properly released.

Tracklist
1 – Outside Lookin’ In – 3:09
2 – Heart Songs – 4:23
3 – The Next Move Is Yours – 3:38
4 – If You Come To Me – 4:27
5 – Falling In Love With Me Again – 4:02
6 – Don’t Look Back – 3:25
7 – Someone Needing Someone – 3:09
8 – Last Song – 3:57
9 – Who Loves You – 3:18
10 – You Still Got The Time – 3:10
11 – Waiting For You – 3:31
12 – I Believe In You – 4:47

Credits
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Carol Becker Yarian, Teresa Atwell, Tracey Balin
Bass – Chip Meyers
Cover [Cover Art] – John Beardsley
Design Concept [Cover Concept] – Jonathan Fitzwilliam
Drums – Randy Nichols
Engineer – Andy deGanahl, Bill Vermillion, Dana Cornock
Engineer [Remix Engineer] – Bill Vermillion
Guitar [Guitars] – Joel Balin
Keyboards, Arranged By [String Arrangements] – George Atwell
Lead Guitar [2nd Lead Guitar] – Bruce Brookshire
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Xavier
Mastered By – Jack Hunt, Larry Boden
Producer – Jonathan Fitzwilliam
Producer [Produced By … With Special Assistance From] – George Atwell, Xavier
Written-By – Jacqueline St. Laurent (tracks: A1), Jonathan Fitzwilliam

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – BeeJay Recording
Recorded At – Bee Jay Recording Studio
Mastered At – JVC Cutting Center
Published By – Schabraf