Matthew Wards 4th solo album actually turns up the Rock factor compared to previous work. I discovered why on Ward’s website where he says this about the album. “Normally, I write around keyboards. This was the first, and only, CD I have recorded that was written and arranged mostly on and for the electric guitar. I simply did what I wanted and let it rock.” He left that guitar work to James Dillingham who is a relatively little known guitarist but he handled the duties very well. I wouldn’t say this album is Rock & Roll gold but it’s definitely worth a listen. The one thing about Matthew Ward that has always kind of surprised me is that normally I wouldn’t really like his style of music but I always enjoy his albums and several of his songs are in my regular rotation. Of interest on this album is that he closes it out with a guitar heavy Rock version of Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”. I’ve heard several rock versions of this song and this one ranks right up there in terms of quality, especially the guitar work.
Tracklist
1 – Warrior – 4:13
2 – Heaven Is Calling – 4:09
3 – Since I Found You – 4:18
4 – Faithful And True – 4:10
5 – Psalm 33:3 – 4:18
6 – You – 3:51
7 – Indecision – 4:26
8 – God Of All – 3:35
9 – Mixed Emotions – 3:26
10 – Fortress – 5:02
Credit
Arranged By [Arrangements] – Gary Leach, Matthew Ward
Art Direction [Assistant] – David Reid
Art Direction, Design – Bradley Grose
Backing Vocals [All Background Vocals] – Matthew Ward
Bass – Bob Gentry
Drums – Dean Castronovo
Engineer – Greg Hunt
Engineer [Second Engineer] – Gary Leach
Guitar – James Dillingham
Jew’s Harp – Greg Hunt
Keyboards – Gary Leach
Lyrics By [All Lyrics By] – Matthew Ward (tracks: 1 to 9)
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Music By [All Music Written By] – Gary Leach (tracks: 1 to 6, 8, 9), Matthew Ward (tracks: 1 to 6, 8, 9)
Other [Make Up/Hair] – Susan Grose
Photography By – Alan Dockery
Producer [Produced By] – Matthew Ward
Programmed By [Synth Programming] – Gary Leach
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Matthew Ward Productions
Copyright (c) – Matthew Ward Productions
Distributed By – Benson Music Group
Distributed By – R.G. Mitchell Family Books, Inc.
Recorded At – Rosewood Studio
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Published By – Megan’s College Fund Music
Interesting to note that this album features a young Deen Castronovo on drums. He later went on to drum for Journey, Bad English, etc.
I hadn’t noticed that, good catch