Month: May 2025

Barry McGuire – Seeds – 1973

After a chance meeting with traveling evangelist Arthur Blessit in 1971 led to a conversion to Christianity for folk/rock singer Barry McGuire, the young Christian signed with heavyweight label Myrrh to record a series of popular albums. The first two made this list and the debut is discussed here. As a member of the New Christy Minstrels McGuire scored several hits, but soon left to start a solo career. He recorded several solo albums before his conversion, but it was the one with the most ominous and spiritual theme that resonated with audiences. “Eve of Destruction” was hit both as an album and as a single, reaching the coveted number spot on Billboard. But the fame was short lived and following albums never met the same level of response. Seeds was his debut in the Christian market and was greeted warmly was very positive responses outside of the normal “devil’s music” complaints from the same tired circles. One song in particular became a mini anthem for the Jesus Movement. “Enter In” tells the story of three different people on judgment day and the Lord’s response to them. The memorable chorus and rollicking melody made it an instant favorite of youth groups at the time. Oddly enough McGuire’s music became less and less current after his first two projects. His first two were right in line with the folk and early 70’s rock for the time. Michael Omartian, 2nd Chapter of Acts and a young Howard McCreary all lend support on the project. Buck Herring produced and they created a true gem. The common themes of the rapture, evangelism and retelling of popular Bible stories fill the albums content. But it’s a much more joyful McGuire the expresses these themes than the one who recorded “Eve of Destruction.” The previous brooding singer-songwriter would reappear in “Lighten Up” but here on Seeds it’s all about the joy of the Lord in a new believer.

Contributor David Lowman – https://legacyccmsgreatestalbums.wordpress.com/

Tracklist
1 – To Know Love – 3:17
2 – Last Daze Waltz – 3:15
3 – Peace – 4:05
4 – Enter In – 5:35
5 – David And Goliath – 3:00
6 – Lear Jets / Father’s Son – 6:05
7 – Love Is – 3:54
8 – Railroad Man – 4:40
9 – Use The Crosswalk – 2:30
10 – Shauna’s Song – 4:05

Credits
Arranged By [Horn, String], Keyboards – Mike Omartin
Bass – Joe Osborn
Drums – David Kemper, Jim Gordon
Engineer – Buck Herring, Wally Duguid
Guitar [Solos] – Mike Deasy
Harp – Ben Benay
Keyboards – Howard McCrary, Larry Knechtel
Producer – Buck Herring
Saxophone – Don Menza
Saxophone, Saxophone [Solos] – Jim Horn
Trombone – Dick Hyde
Trumpet – Chuck Findley, Ollie Mitchell
Vocals – The 2nd Chapter Of Acts

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Word
Recorded At – Sunwest Recording Studios
Mixed At – Sunwest Recording Studios

B.W. Stevenson – Lifeline – 1980

B.W., or Buckwheat, Stevenson was a pretty big country star in the 70’s. Stevenson actually had a pretty big hit with “My Maria” which many of us know as it was covered by Brooks & Dunn. He had 6 pretty successful country albums but his last record deal with Warner Bros. Records dried up in 1977. Like many country stars he decided to put out a Christian album which was likely influenced in part by producer Chris Christian who was actually his neighbour at the time. The album is actually pretty good and while it had some success on Christian radio with the hit “Headin’ Home” I think it should have done better. It has a great sound and Chris was able to bring it well into the 80’s and in places it’s actually pretty progressive. Honestly there weren’t that many good country albums in the genre but this one is one of those good ones.

Tracklist
1 – Headin’ Home – 3:26
2 – Take Me To Your Heart – 2:58
3 – Holding A Special Place For You – 2:49
4 – Fiddle And The Bow – 2:47
5 – Save A Little Time – 2:48
6 – Lifeline – 3:18
7 – Show Me The Way To The City – 3:10
8 – You Were There – 3:16
9 – Paradise – 2:46
10 – There Is Someone Who Loves You – 3:26
11 – One True Way – 2:26

Credits
B.W. Stevenson – Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Primary Artist, Vocals
Bergen White – Arranger, Strings, Vocals
Bobby Ogdin – Keyboards
Brown Bannister – Engineer
Chris Christian – Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic)
Diane Tidwell – Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Jon Goin – Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Lisa Silver Reynolds – Vocals
Roger Clark – Drums
Shane Keister – Keyboards, Piano
Sheri Cramer – Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Steve Gibson – Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Steve Schaffer – Bass
Terry McMillan – Harmonica, Percussion

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – MCA Songbird
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Songbird Records
Produced For – Home Sweet Home Productions

Dallas Holm And Praise – Live – 1977

The live project was originally titled Hey, I’m a Believer and was released in very limited numbers on cassette by Dallas himself in 1976. He says it did not sell well but then radio found his signature track “Rise Again” and Greentree Records jumped in and released it the next year with the title simply “Live”. This was also the first album where Dallas used the name Praise for his band. That band was Tim Johnson on keyboards, Tim’s wife LaDonna on vocals, and Randy Adams on bass. Dallas has told the story of this album a few times and he always points out that they had no idea what they were doing. They recorded the whole thing in one take with an 8 track in the Lindale High School auditorium with a crowd of 300 people. Apparently the whole session lasted 45 minutes and that was it. Given that this is the origin album for Rise Again it is in many collections but honestly Dallas was right when he said they had no idea what they were doing. This album is horribly recorded and quite frankly most the arrangements are a disaster and sound unrehearsed. That said it was 1976 and in the CCM genre Dallas still nailed it with one great quality song. This album has been re-released at least 4 times and there are some variations between those release. Our version here is actually a combination of those versions which we think best represents the album. We have moved the spoken track so their respective songs as a 30 second track on a YouTube playlist is just annoying.

Tracklist
1 – Hey! I’m A Believer! – 3:22
2 – Front Seat, Back Seat – 2:51
3 – He Means All To Me – 4:10
4 – Jesus, I’m An Open Book – 4:59
5 – Thank You Jesus – 3:39
6 – If I Had It To Do All Over Again – 2:56
7 – Let My Light Shine – 4:02
8 – Rise Again – 5:35
9 – He Knew Me Then – 3:54
10 – Come Unto Jesus – 4:28

Credits
Art Direction – Bob McConnell
Bass, Vocals – Randy Adams
Engineer [Remix] – Bob Clark
Guitar, Vocals – Dallas Holm
Keyboards, Vocals – Ladonna Johnson, Tim Johnson
Photography By – Bill Deaty
Producer – Phil Johnson
Recorded By – Bob Clark

Companies, etc.
Record Company – John T. Benson Pub. Co.
Mastered At – Masterfonics
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Greentree Records
Copyright © – Greentree Records
Published By – Dimension (3)
Published By – Dunamis Music, Inc.