Month: April 2026

Plankeye – Spill – 1994

This is a difficult album for me to review as I actually hate the grunge genre and this is a grunge band and album. That said let’s get into it. The band came out of Orange County CA. Their name was derived from Matthew 7:3 and I like that they brought attention to that verse. The band self released this album but almost immediately Tooth & Nail Records picked it up as their first release. While this album wasn’t huge it wouldn’t take too many more releases for these guys to get some real recognition. Now my thoughts on the album. Absolutely great song writing and I hear a ton of talent. These guys understood the mission and really knew the grunge style. The problem I have with this album is the production. Doug Doyle, Mark Rodriguez, and Gene Eugene all had a hand in engineering this album and quite frankly they are all great engineers but something went wrong on this project. It has to be one of the dullest mixes I’ve heard. Grunge doesn’t need to be monotone and have boring mixes guys. The strangest part of the album is the use of stereo exploitation on so many tracks. Come on guys, it was 1994 not the late 60’s. It just comes off as silly on track after track. One track, sure but they did it on several intro’s and it sounds stupid. ANYWAY it’s still a good album and the band deserves to be heard. While I don’t care for grunge these guys did it right.

Tracklist
1 – Goodnews – 2:27
2 – Revolution – 2:18
3 – Power – 2:23
4 – Open Eyes – 2:42
5 – Scared – 3:36
6 – Bold – 3:17
7 – Step Away – 4:02
8 – Free Me – 4:08
9 – Know Way – 2:54
10 – Forever – 4:43

Credits
Art Direction, Design [Imaging] – Jason Pickersgill
Art Direction, Executive Producer – Brandon Ebel
Bass – Luis Garcia (2)
Design [Cover Art], Design Concept – Kari Kroll
Design [Handwritten Lyrics] – Lisa Proven
Drums – Adam Ferry
Guitar – Eric Balmer
Guitar, Vocals – Scott A Silletta
Lyrics By – A. Ferry, L. Larson, Luis Garcia, S. Silletta
Mastered By – Dog Doyl*
Mixed By, Recorded By – Gene Eugene, Mark Rodriguez
Photography By [Spine] – St. James
Photography By, Design Concept [Brilliant Spine Conception] – Matt Wignall
Producer – Pino Squillace, Plank Eye
Vocals – Scott A Silletta

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – A & B Studios
Mixed At – A & B Studios
Mastered At – Digital Brothers
Glass Mastered At – Disctronics USA – 123155

The Stand – In Three Days – 1992

I have still been unable to find much info on The Stand but I’m starting to put the picture together. The version of The Stand on their first album is almost entirely different then this version. The entire band is different except for Tony Valenziano so I’m somewhat comfortable saying The Stand is actually Tony. Anyway this version of The Stand featured Mark Robertson who had to be one of the hardest working Bass players of this era. As for the album it’s just as good as the first one if not better. It continues the pop oriented rock sound that would have done well at any time in the 80’s. There’s also a pretty good cover of Nick Lowe’s (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding which was famously covered by Elvis Costello among others. Another good one you may not have heard in the day so give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Free Love – 4:10
2 – (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding – 3:39
3 – Billy – 3:26
4 – Can You See It – 3:51
5 – Look At The Way – 4:11
6 – The Rain – 4:38
7 – Round & Round – 4:57
8 – Holding Back – 4:12
9 – Fallen Tear – 4:16
10 – Believe – 4:10

Credits
Backing Vocals – Caesar Kalinowski, Christopher Mosher, Dave Palmer, Leah Thomas, Mark Robertson, Michelle Thompson, Tony Valenziano
Bass, Vocals – Mark Robertson
Drums, Vocals [Additional] – Dan Holter
Engineer [Second] – Christopher Mosher
Keyboards, MIDI Controller – Christopher Mosher
Lead Guitar – Paz Vega
Lead Vocals, Guitar [6 String & 9 String], Acoustic Guitar, Drum [Tambo] – Tony Valenziano
Mastered By – Eddie Schryer
Producer – Mark Robertson, Tony Valenziano
Producer, Executive-Producer, Engineer – Caesar Kalinowski

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Wonderland
Copyright © – Wonderland
Manufactured By – Word
Made By – JVC
Recorded At – The Sonic Temple
Mastered At – Future Disc

Mortal – Lusis – 1992

Mortal was Jerome Fontamillas and Jyro Xhan and these are 2 of the hardest working guys in the Christian music industry. They had been in a previous band called Mortal Wish, but that band morphed into this one. Jerome and Jyro were born in the Philippines, but I can’t find out much about their early life other than that. Anyway, they had a great demo/EP while named Mortal Wish which got them a record deal with Intense Records. The record company brought in Terry Taylor (Daniel Amos) to produce the album, and he brought in Rob Watson (Daniel Amos) to engineer the album. They did a great job and this quickly became the premier Industrial style album of the period. The next part of the story for these guys and the band is quite interesting, but we’ll get into that in one of their future releases. As for the album, this is a pretty good album that was quite popular with the metal crowd, though I don’t hear much metal. I have read the album referred to as an Industrial Metal album. I don’t really hear the metal part, but it’s a great album and let’s face it, we all have different ways of describing things. Give this one a listen if you like your music a little more fringe and less top 40.

Tracklist
1 – Enfleshed (The Word Is Alive) – 4:39
2 – Mytho-X – 4:26
3 – If Ever Maria – 4:21
4 – Fisherman – 4:39
5 – Painkiller – 4:51
6 – Tuesday Assassin – 5:39
7 – Rescinding – 4:54
8 – Cryptic – 5:38
9 – Miracle Man – 3:53
10 – Santa Cruz – 4:30
11 – S.F.N. – 1:00
12 – Sinister – 5:23
13 – Enfleshed (Alive Is The Word Remix) – 4:38

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Design – Joe Potter
Engineer – Rob Watson
Mastered By – Doug Doyle
Music Consultant [Pre-production Consultant] – Ramald Domkus
Performer [Mortal Is] – Jerome Fontamillas, Jyro Xhan
Producer – Terry Taylor
Songwriter [Songs Written By] – Jyro Xhan

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B
Mixed At – Mixing Lab A
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Intense Records
Copyright © – Intense Records
Published By – Carlotta Publishing
Mastered At – Digital Brothers
Distributed By – FMG Distribution
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia

Audio Adrenaline – Audio Adrenaline – 1992

As the story goes, the band while using the name A-180°, ran into Bob Herdman who wanted them to record a song he had written called “My God” which mixed metal and rap. Bob subsequently joined the band and suggested the name change to Audio Adrenaline. This recording made it’s way to Toby McKeehan (dc Talk) and he brought it to someone at Forefront Records. Forefront signed the band and sent them into the studio with Steve Griffith to record this album. This is where it all went wrong. I have NO idea what Steve was thinking when he produced this album but my suspicion is that he was trying to be the second coming of Rick Rubin who had essentially created the Beastie Boys sound. The Problem is that Steve didn’t understand this genre of music in the least and the result is an album that has no flow and doesn’t settle into a style that is recognizable. I’m comfortable saying this because the band said this themselves. Guitarist Barry Blair said in an interview with CCM Magazine about the album “If it was up to me, I would burn them all, make them disappear” and the rest of the band wasn’t much nicer about the album. They did have a demo as A-180° that I haven’t heard yet but I want to hear it as it probably represents the sound they were going for. Now all that said I actually like the album. Aside from “My God” and DC-10 being absolutely horrible there are some good tracks on this album. It also could have done with the silly “J-E-S-U-S Is Right” track but I’m assuming Forefront thought it would be a good single. It wasn’t. In fact the eventual single was “PDA” which isn’t a horrible track but don’t watch the music video for it. Anyway I look forward to hearing subsequent albums from the band as they had some real talent even if the record company had no clue what to do with it.

Tracklist
1 – One Step Hyper – 4:21
2 – What You Need – 4:26
3 – Who Do You Love – 3:49
4 – PDA – 4:09
5 – The Most Excellent Way – 4:25
6 – J-E-S-U-S Is Right – 4:31
7 – Revolution – 5:15
8 – Audio World – 4:33
9 – DC-10 – 3:12
10 – My God – 3:39
11 – Life – 4:22

Credits
Arranged By, Producer, Mixed By, Recorded By – Steve Griffith
Art Direction, Design – Stephen Murray
Backing Vocals, Arranged By – Dave Stuart, Ron Gibson
Backing Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Drum Programming – Barry Blair
Choir – Helen DeCanio , Mary DeCanio
Engineer – Steve Hoffman
Engineer, Choir – Steve Murphy
Executive-Producer – Dan R. Brock
Executive-Producer, Drums, Backing Vocals – Ron W. Griffin
Instruments, Backing Vocals, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Programmed By – Will McGinniss
Keyboards, Programmed By – Dan Kellerby, Jeffrey Mingle
Lead Vocals, Rap, Choir – Mark Stuart
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Percussion, Backing Vocals, Rap – Bob Herdman
Photography By – Russ Harrington

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – The Salt Mine
Recorded At – A Cut Above Studio
Recorded At – Quad Studios
Recorded At – Landmark Studios, Chesapeake, OH
Mixed At – Quad Studios

The Walter Eugenes – The Walter Eugenes – 1991

The Walter Eugenes was Rick Eugene May and Walter Paul Robinette. The two of them came out of relative obscurity to record one of my favourite albums of 1991. I can’t really find much about where these guys came from so let’s talk about the album. It has a great 80’s pop sound with a bit of an alternative vibe. They brought in Mark Lee Townsend from Bash ‘n The Code for the guitar work and he really shines on this one. I’ll save the “where are they now” for the review of their next album which came out in 1995. Stay tuned.

Tracklist
1 – He Came – 5:40
2 – Say You Will – 5:47
3 – Thousand Tears – 5:05
4 – Never Changing Heart – 4:49
5 – Back To The Basics – 3:22
6 – Deep Blue Sea – 4:08
7 – Changes – 4:18
8 – Simply You – 4:50
9 – What’s Going On – 4:42

Credits
Backing Vocals – Brian Strittenburger
Backing Vocals [Additional] – Allen Willoughby, Jeff Walker
Bass – Allen Willoughby
Guitar – Mark Townsend
Layout – Siebert Design
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals – Paul Robinette
Mixed By – Chris Morris, Rex Bledsoe
Photography By – Michael Wilson
Producer – Rick May, Paul Robinette
Programmed By [Keyboards Programming], Drums, Backing Vocals, Arranged By [Musical Arrangements] – Rick May
Rhythm Guitar [Additional] – Brian Strittenburger, Ric Hordinski
Tracking By – Brian Strittenburger

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Mixed At – Paxton Studios
Mixed At – Mama Jo’s
Recorded At – Rome Recording Studios

Dogs Of Peace – {Spēak} – 1996

In 1995 Jimmie Lee Sloas (Imperials) and Gordon Kennedy (White Heart) put together a band of studio musicians John Hammond, Blair Masters, and Eric Darken. They recorded this one off album for Sparrow and it’s pretty good. Normally we don’t get this far into the 90’s but I stumbled on this one and thought what the heck, let’s upload it. The album has a pretty good 90’s rock feel without going all grungy. I’ll admit I was a little surprised with Jimmie’s work on the album as, well, he was in the Imperials. This is not a direction I expected from him. Gordon’s guitar work is a real stand out on the album, I knew he was a good guitarist but this album really let him do his thing. I’ll have to pick “I Wanna Know” as my favourite track. Another great album that deserves a listen.

Tracklist
1 – In The Event – 4:04
2 – Necessary Pain – 3:14
3 – Thrown Away – 4:14
4 – Dogs Of Peace – 4:46
5 – Do You Know? – 6:33
6 – I Wanna Know – 3:05
7 – The Truth – 5:00
8 – Pray To God – 5:19
9 – The Burning Bush – 3:06
10 – When I Believe It – 3:46

Credits
Art Direction [Creative Direction] – Karen Philpott
Bass, Vocals – Jimmie Lee Sloas
Design – B. Middleworth
Drums – John Hammond
Executive-Producer – Peter York
Guitar, Vocals – Gordon Kennedy
Keyboards – Blair Masters
Liner Notes – Gordon, Jeff Balding, Jimmie Lee
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By [Assisted By] – Pete Martinez
Percussion – Eric Darken
Photography By – Ron Keith
Producer – Dogs Of Peace, Jeff Balding
Recorded By [Assisted By] – Amy Hughes, David Faulkner
Recorded By, Mixed By – Jeff Balding
Vocals – Lester “Road Hog” Moran And The Cadillac Cowboys
Written-By – Gordon Kennedy, Jimmie Lee Sloas, John Hammond, Tommy Sims

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright © – The Sparrow Corporation, PolyGram International Publishing, Inc., Sondance Kid Music, Birdwing Music, EMI Christian Music Publishing, Hound Of Music, Bases Loaded Music, Sierra Skye Songs
Recorded At – Woodland Studios
Overdubbed At – The Castle Recording Studio, The Boardroom, Underground Sound, Nashville
Mixed At – Sixteenth Avenue Sound
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Designed At – Bats4bones Design Inc.
Manufactured For – BMG Direct Marketing, Inc. – D 112198
Glass Mastered At – EMI MFG.

Dieter Falk – Today – 1987

Here’s another one we didn’t get in North America. Dieter was a German musician and producer that put out a few albums himself. This is his second album and I do not understand why someone didn’t bring this album across the ocean. The German release was on Pila Records but Myrrh picked it up for a further European release. I don’t understand why Myrrh didn’t try to bring this to us as the album is fantastic. The album is instrumental except for 4 tracks where there were guest vocalists. Brigitte Petereit sings 2 tracks and did a pretty good job but never had a release herself. One track has Swedish singer Charlotte Höglund who is responsible for me finding this album as I found her in the credits. One track is sung by Steve Tolley who is a complete mystery but a fantastic vocalist. He sings on “Gospel Train” and makes that song the obvious album single. All the instrumental tracks are vocal ready and just needed some lyrics and a singer. That said I have some sympathy for Dieter in that it was HIS album and bringing in a bunch of guest vocalists does cause an album to have an uneven feel. That said this is a great album and deserves to be heard.

Tracklist
1 – Today – 3:35
2 – Tomorrow – 3:54
3 – Every Song, Every Melody – 3:56
4 – Higher Power – 3:21
5 – Heart And Soul – 3:46
6 – Gospel Train – 3:39
7 – Love Connection – 3:51
8 – Back To The Roots – 3:06
9 – Joy Arising – 0:43
10 – Celebration – 3:44
11 – Who Keeps The Love – 3:05
12 – Commit Whatever Grieves Thee – 3:42

Credits
Arranged By, Producer, Keyboards – Dieter Falk
Bass – Abe Laboriel*, Wolfgang Schmid
Drums, Percussion – Thomas Simmerl
Guitar – Dann Huff, Dieter Roesberg, Klaus-Peter Schöpfer, Peter Wölpl
Horns – Gary Grant, Jerry Hey
Mixed By – John Guess
Percussion – Alex Acuña
Saxophone – Frank Loef
Vocals – Brigitte Petereit, Charlotte Höglund, Steve Tolley

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Emmaus, Filadelfia Forlag, Finngospel, GMB/Révélation Media, GMI Records, Grace Music, Kir Music, La Sorgente Music, Master Music, Master-Vision-S.A., Nye Toner / Teovision, Pila Music, Sephora Diffusion, Viva Music, Word (Uk) Ltd.
Copyright © – Pila Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Pila Music
Made By – Shorewood Packaging
Printed By – Shorewood Packaging
Published By – Pila Music, Roxon Musikverlag
Recorded At – Hansahaus-Studios, Hollywood Sound Recorders, Melody-Tonstudio Stuttgart, Ton- & Videostudio Leonberg
Mixed At – Hollywood Sound Recorders

Galactic Cowboys – Galactic Cowboys – 1991

Galactic Cowboys was a band of Christian a opposed to a Christian band. They were well liked in the Christian community but struggled initially to get mainstream recognition. Now let me give my opinion on why they weren’t successful despite some real talent. I just don’t think they got the leadership they needed. This album, their first, was produced by Sam Taylor who made a ton of mistakes. First of all he should have stopped the band from trying to release 10 minute songs. Not only did he not stop them he proceeded to have several tracks bleed together. This worked well in the LP era but this album came out in the early CD era in which this never worked very well. The songs become disjointed and just sound odd. Later on the band would realize Sam was not the producer they needed and parted ways at which point I think they started to have a little more success. Quite frankly the band was just taking themselves a little too seriously. If you wanted to be a conceptual niche band this works but they wanted mainstream success. They simply weren’t producing mainstream songs. That said with some proper production I think they really could have made it because the talent and song writing was there.

Tracklist
1 – I’m Not Amused – 6:21
2 – My School – 6:40
3 – Why Can’t You Believe In Me – 6:34
4 – Kaptain Krude – 6:08
5 – Someone For Everyone – 6:23
6 – Sea Of Tranquility – 7:38
7 – Kill Floor – 5:04
8 – Pump Up The Space Suit – 1:01
9 – Ranch On Mars Reprise – 2:16
10 – Speak To Me – 10:13

Credits
A&R [A&R Direction] – Gary Gersh
Art Direction – Robin Sloane
Bass, Vocals – Monty Colvin
Cello – Max Dyer
Design – Pat Dillon
Drums, Vocals, Clarinet [Attempted] – Alan Doss
Engineer, Recorded By – Steve Ames
Guitar, Vocals – Dane Sonnier
Illustration – James Mcdermott
Mastered By – Bob Ludwig
Photography By – Keith Carter
Producer – Sam ‘Houston’ Taylor
Typography [Lettering] – Awest
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica – Ben Huggins
Written-By – Doss, Huggins, Sonnier, Colvin

Companies, etc.
Record Company – The David Geffen Company
Manufactured By – Uni Distribution Corp.
Distributed By – Uni Distribution Corp.
Pressed By – Specialty Records Corporation
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The David Geffen Company
Copyright © – The David Geffen Company
Published By – Virgin Music, Inc.
Published By – Wilde Cowboy Music Co.
Recorded At – Rampart Studios
Mastered At – Masterdisk

Various – Never Say Dinosaur – 1996

I had no idea this one existed until I stumble on it a week ago. It’s a Petra tribute album released in 1996 by Star Song with some of biggest artists of the mid 90’s. I am just guessing here but I think the producers asked the artists to “really make your cover your own.” The result? Some of these songs aren’t even recognizable. I don’t know if it’s just me but I find most of these covers to be horrible. I did like the Audio Adrenaline and Caprill And My Sister’s Garden tracks but I really struggled with the rest. But hey I’m just a critic that doesn’t always “get it.” How about you, what do you think of this project?

Tracklist
1 – Audio Adrenaline – Taste And See – 3:36
2 – The Walter Eugenes – Judas’ Kiss – 4:34
3 – Galactic Cowboys – Not Of This World – 5:30
4 – Sarah Jahn – Yahweh Love – 5:13
5 – MxPx – I Can Be Friends With You – 2:43
6 – Jars Of Clay – Rose Colored Stained Glass Window – 4:18
7 – Kevin Smith & Passafist – Louie’s Solo – 5:33
8 – Sixpence None The Richer – Road To Zion – 5:43
9 – The Stand – Pied Piper – 3:28
10 – Grammatrain – Wake Up – 3:45
11 – Caprill And My Sister’s Garden – The Coloring Song – 4:02
12 – Plankeye – All The King’s Horses – 5:47

Credits
Executive producer – Darrell A. Harris
Co-executive producers – Lynn Nichols, Dave Perkins
Mastered by Steve Marcussen at Precision Mastering, Hollywood, California
Project coordinator – Debby Austin

The 2nd Chapter Of Acts – The Roar Of Love – 1980

While this is the fourth album released from 2nd Chapter of Acts it was actually recorded in 1976 before their third album Mansion Builder. Unfortunately it got tied up in legalities which delayed it’s release. Luckily it all got figured out and the album got released. These legal problems were because of the album was based on a telling of the story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was the first published book in The Chronicles of Narnia, a series by C. S. Lewis. Matthew Ward tells the story that the vocals were recorded in a bedroom of their house but the mixer was in the garage which in turn caused them to put hole in the wall for the cords of the microphone. This album is one of their most popular even today. Apparently people really enjoyed the C.S. Lewis tie in.

Tracklist
1 – Are You Goin’ To Narnia – 3:26
2 – Lucy’s Long Gone – 1:46
3 – Tell The Truth – 2:27
4 – Turkish Delight – 3:00
5 – Son Of Adam Daughter Of Eve – 2:16
6 – Christmas Where Are You – 1:50
7 – Gifts From Father Christmas – 1:54
8 – Aslan Is Killed – 2:28
9 – The Roar Of Love – 2:28
10 – I’ve Heard The Stars Sing Before – 2:13
11 – He’s Broken Thru – 3:14
12 – Witch’s Demise / Get It Into Your Head – 2:40
13 – Something Is Happening In Me – 2:03
14 – White Stag – 3:25

Credits
Arranged By [Instrumental Arrangements] – Michael Omartian
Bass – Leland Sklar
Engineer, Producer – Buck Herring
Guitar – Jay Graydon
Guitar, Soloist [Guitar] – Phil Keaggy
Illustration, Design – Larry McAdams
Keyboards, Synthesizer [s] – Michael Omartian
Lacquer Cut By – KPG
Liner Notes [Inner Sleeve quote] – Clyde S. Kilby
Programmed By [Synthesizers] – Alex Cima
Sounds [Crystal Glasses] – 2nd Chapter Of Acts
Whistle – Matthew Ward
Written-By – Anne Herring, Matthew Ward, Nelly Greisen

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Sparrow Records, Inc.
Copyright © – Latter Rain Music
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Sparrow Records, Inc.
Recorded At – United Western Studios
Recorded At – Sunwest Recording Studios
Recorded At – Frog Shoes
Mastered At – Location Recording Service
Lacquer Cut At – The Cutting System, Inc.