Randy Weiss & The Pilgrim Band only had one release that we know of, entitled “Munch Manna Spirit Flakes.”
This unique and wonderful record is the only example I know of a CCM recording by a Messianic Jew. I have to admit that until discovering this album in 1983 I had no idea that Messianic Jews existed.
As a CCM album, this was an independent release that did not seem to gather a lot of attention. Independent releases didn’t garner a lot of attention in general in the 1980s.
The musicianship is good and creative, but hard to put a finger on. It has a certain 60s rockabilly or country-gospel style with a wandering vocal that seems to take it outside that genre.
Subject-wise it seems to fit the traditional praise style of Jesus music.
Buckle in, buckle down, and set your expectations on “whatever happens next.” Get ready for these lyrics:
Pharoah’s dead / God’s people, we are free / And the LORD ain’t out of groceries
Track Listing:
1 – I Don’t Need No Designer Jeans
2 – The Nickel Song
3 – 3 Times Down
4 – Involvement
5 – NonDemumbo-Jumbinational
6 – Munchy Manna
7 – Wander Over Yonder
8 – 5 For A Dollar
9 – Covered By Gods Love
10 – Voices
11 – City Song
12 – My Boys
13 – God & A Mothers Love
14 – Psalm 69
White Heart’s second album, Vital Signs was a masterpiece of finely produced songs. The band self-produced, with executive help from Chris Christian. The album was released on Chris Christian’s Home Sweet Home Records.
The opening song, “Sing Unto The Lamb” is a big sounding song that would qualify for a modern major Broadway number. The vocals stay true to this big performance sound all the way through the album, which is one of the things that made White Heart so popular. Standout tracks include the high energy “Carried Away” and power ballad “Let Your First Thought Be Love.”
The album was recorded in Nashville and attracted a who’s who of contributing artists. The closing song, “We Are His Hands” includes a choir with (among others) Bob Farrell (of Farrell and Farrell), Scott Wesley Brown, David Meece, Amy Grant, Steve Green, Russ Taff, Chris Christian and Kathy Troccoli. We Are His Hands was their first number one radio single.
Former lead singer, Scott Douglas went to prison in 1986. White Heart continued on with a new lead singer after this album, Rick Florian who was allegedly promoted from roadie to lead singer all at once. Florian remained in the lead post throughout the rest of White Heart’s existence.
Track Listing:
1 – Sing Unto The Lamb – 3:15
2 – Draw The Line – 4:38
3 – Walking In The Light – 3:56
4 – Carried Away (Safe On The Wings Of The Lord) – 4:19
5 – Quiet Love – 3:52
6 – Following The King – 4:05
7 – Let Your First Thought Be Love – 3:51
8 – Undercover – 3:54
9 – Vital Signs – 3:50
10 – We Are His Hands – 4:13
Credits:
Arranged By – Billy Smiley, Dann Huff, Mark Gersmehl
Arranged By [String Arrangements] – Ronn Huff
Art Direction, Design – Bill Brunt
Bass Guitar – Gary Lunn
Design Concept [Cover Concept] – Bill Brunt, Mark Tucker
Design Concept [Vital Signs Concept] – Kent Hunter
Drums, Percussion – David Huff*
Engineer [Additional Engineering] – Bill Deaton, Brent King, Mike Psanos
Engineer [Assistant] – Doug Sarrett
Executive-Producer – Chris Christian
Graphics [Vital Signs Logo] – Ken Wolgemuth, Ken Wolgemuth
Graphics [White Heart Logo] – Ellen Hodnett, Ellen Hodnett
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Jack Joseph Puig
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Billy Smiley
Producer – White Heart
Recorded By – Jeff Balding
Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Dann Huff
Strings – Carl Gorodetzky, Craig Nelson, Dennis Molchan, Gary Vanosdale, David Boyle*, Pam Vanosdale*, Phyllis Hiltz*, Roy Christensen, The Nashville String Machine, Walt Schwede*
Synthesizer, Piano, Vocals – Mark Gersmehl
Vocals – Scott Douglas
This was Larry’s first album after leaving “People”. This album was initially released on Capitol Records but Capitol said it didn’t reach sales objectives and Larry was dropped by them.
Larry immediately negotiated a distribution deal with Benson Records who put the album in Christian book stores and sales picked up.
The folk/rock sound of the album was fairly well received by the Christian music listener and this album is generally regarded as the first Christian rock album as opposed to the Jesus Music of the day.
The album was denounced by evangelists Bob Larson, Jimmy Swaggart, and Jerry Falwell all of which continued the diatribe that rock music was of the devil. Whether you like the album or not it has to be agreed that it started a new movement in Christian music.
The digital download version contains 3 bonus tracks.
Track Listing (Digital Version):
1 – You Can’t Take Away The Lord – 2:11
2 – I Don’t Believe In Miracles – 3:11
3 – Moses In The Wilderness – 3:13
4 – Walking Backwards Down The Stairs – 2:45
5 – Ha Ha World – 3:25
6 – Sweet Sweet Song Of Salvation – 3:53
7 – Forget Your Hexagram – 2:23
8 – The Last Supper – 3:14
9 – I Wish We’d All Been Ready – 3:15
10 – Nothing Really Changes – 3:18
11 – Postlude – 2:14
12 – You Can’t Take Away the Lord (Demo – Bonus Track) – 2:08
13 – Sweet Song of Salvation (Live – Bonus Track) – 5:23
14 – Nothing Really Changes (Demo – Bonus Track) – 2:32
Track Listing (Vinyl version – Canada):
1 – You Can’t Take Away The Lord – 2:11
2 – I Don’t Believe In Miracles – 3:11
3 – Moses In The Wilderness – 3:13
4 – Walking Backwards Down The Stairs – 2:45
5 – Ha Ha World – 3:25
6 – Sweet Sweet Song Of Salvation – 3:53
7 – Forget Your Hexagram – 2:23
8 – The Last Supper – 3:14
9 – I Wish We’d All Been Ready – 3:15
10 – Nothing Really Changes – 3:18
11 – Postlude – 2:14
Credits:
Arranged By – Tony Harris
Concept By [Conceived By], Written-By, Performer, Mixed By – Larry Norman
Design [Album Design] – David Coleman
Producer – Hal Yoergler
This 1983 release from The Lifesavors continued where their debut ended. The guitars stayed edgy and the vocals a little raw and I felt this album was a little more fun than their previous release.
Michael Knott did most of the songwriting for this album and actually did all the original vocals but due to some internal band drama the vocals were rerecorded by Kirk Heiner and Brian Goins.
Final answer is that this is a great fun album that offered up something Christian music was missing and needed at the time.
Track Listing:
1 – Break In My Head 2:33
2 – Christian Twisters 2:18
3 – Glamour Girls 1:00
4 – Christian Army 1:50
5 – Physical 3:02
6 – Waiting For You 2:30
7 – Sooner Or Later 2:40
8 – False Identity 2:12
9 – I Won’t Give In 2:30
10 – The One 1:55
11 – Hurt, Out Of My Heart 2:55
12 – Fourteen 2:47
13 – I’m Not 2:18
14 – Watch Nowhere (Else) 3:35
Credits:
Arranged By, Co-producer [Production Assistance] – Chris Wimber
Band [The Lifesavors], Bass, Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Chris Wimber
Band [The Lifesavors], Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Kevin Annis
Band [The Lifesavors], Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals – Kirk Heiner
Band [The Lifesavors], Vocals – Brian Goins
Design – Ken Baley, Linda Dillon Baley, Mark Swanson
Guest [Additional Musical Services], Backing Vocals – Carla Martin, Debbie Wimber, Jerry Chamberlain, Jim Camp, Ray Rubio, Robin Renee, Sharon McCall
Guest [Additional Musical Services], Guitar – Mike Knott*, Mike Annis
Guest [Additional Musical Services], Keyboards – Ric Alba
Layout – Mark Swanson
Mastered By – Kevin Gray
Photography – Ken Baley, Linda Dillon Baley
Producer – Thom Roy
Recorded By, Mixed By – Thom Roy
Shotgun Angel is Daniel Amos’ second album, following their 1976 debut with this classic in 1977.
How many times did I have to explain to the record store staff that Daniel Amos is not a person? It’s the prophet Daniel and the prophet Amos. Maybe I didn’t have to explain it at all, but I felt like I did.
Had DA stuck with this format, they would have been one of the most progressive “Southern Rock” bands around. It sounds country, but it clearly has a different edge. It’s nowhere near top 40 country, and nowhere near Hank, but still has the right harmonies and the right instrumentation to make you think about it.
Upbeat songs like “Black Gold Fever” and “Meal” sound southern, Texan, and progressive all at once.
“Praise Song” has quite a dirge feeling to it rather than the upbeat feeling we usually expect from modern praise. It really is a praise song, but contemptlative, with the sort of thoughtful lyrics that DA became known for.
“Father’s Arms” has a soothing vocal track and a strong rock feel to it. A medley of violins and bold guitar sounds make this a compelling song that almost defies genre.
The title track “Shotgun Angel” is a good old trucker tune, which was a subgenre in the 70s. Anything that could be played alongside CW McCall’s Convoy would do just fine. This one is a good storytelling song that has a nice country twang to it, steel guitar, diesel sounds, CB radio and all.
“Bereshith Overture” is an orchestral interlude that fits right in, but it’s hard to explain why. By the time we get to “Better” we have already had some apocalyptic scenes and been introduced to what’s almost a Pink Floyd sound. The idea that they can play with the music and the story all along the way like this certainly is consistent with Pink Floyd’s contemporary work.
“Sail Me Away” and “Posse In The Sky” round this album out with more soothing sounds. It’s top quality stuff, but hard to believe that this was the setup for one of the best CCM punk/new wave bands of the 80s.
Track Listing:
1 – Days And Nights – 2:20
2 – Black Gold Fever – 3:01
3 – Praise Song – 3:51
4 – Father’s Arms – 4:26
5 – Meal – 2:07
6 – Shotgun Angel – 3:41
7 – Finale: Bereshith Overture – 2:19
8 – Lady Goodbye – 2:29
9 – The Whistler – 2:57
10 – He’s Gonna Do A Number On You – 1:57
11 – Better – 2:24
12 – Sail Me Away – 5:04
13 – Posse In The Sky – 4:35
Credits:
Backing Vocals – Ed McTaggart, Jerry Chamberlain, Mark Cook (2), Marty Dieckmeyer, Terry Taylor
Bass Guitar – Marty Dieckmeyer
Drums – Ed McTaggart
Guitar – Jerry Chamberlain, Terry Taylor
Keyboards – Mark Cook (2)
Lead Vocals – Jerry Chamberlain, Mark Cook (2), Terry Taylor
Percussion – Ed McTaggart
Producer – Jonathan David Brown
The “Lost Dogs” are a CCM supergroup that started in 1992. They are a collection of experienced musicians that have all been in multiple successful CCM bands. The name fits when things start out, but they went on to make a dozen or so studio albums.
Scenic Routes is the debut album from this group and on the cover it states “Lost Dogs are Terry Taylor, Mike Roe, Derri Daugherty.” That’s an impressive lineup to begin with.
That’s Terry Taylor (DA, Swirling Eddies), Mike Roe (77s), Derri Daugherty (The Choir, Swirling Eddies). They are also joined by Gene Eugene (Swirling Eddies, Adam Again) on this album. Of course these guys were all in other bands besides the ones I’ve listed, but this is an impressive group resume already.
Considering these guys are all from various CCM punk bands, this is an unexpected but excellent change of pace. The songs range from blues to folk to country to traditional, all with excellent arrangements that work well with the voices of all three singers. “Built For Glory, Made To Last” is a great example of hearing them all sing together, sharing both lead and backing vocals.
The Stephen Foster classic “Hard Times Come Again No More” is a 19th century standard that they have fit perfectly into this set. (Trivia: re-watch the barroom scene with the piano player in the movie Tombstone.)
“I Am A Pilgrim” was made famous by The Birds but is listed here as a traditional. Once again, the Dogs deliver on this one with a great country folk feel and strong harmony.
“Lord Protect My Child” is a Bob Dylan cover done well, which can be an extremely tricky thing to pull off. They stay true to the feel of a Dylan song, but don’t try to imitate too closely. That seems to be what makes it work.
There are some excellent original tunes with lyrics that range from serious and biting to funny and biting. The album moves along at a good pace, and although it goes through some dark places (“Why Is The Devil Red” and “The Last Testament Of Angus Shane” among others), at the end leaves you with a breath of fresh air.
Even the original songs on this album sound like traditionals and classics. It’s the hallmark of excellent writing.
Track Listing:
1 – Scenic Routes – 2:29
2 – You Gotta Move – 3:54
3 – Built For Glory, Made To Last – 5:29
4 – Bullet Train – 5:24
5 – The Fortunate Sons – 4:37
6 – The New Physics – 4:06
7 – I Am A Pilgrim – 3:41
8 – Lord, Protect My Child – 4:53
9 – Amber Waves Goodbye – 3:53
10 – Bush League – 1:53
11 – Old And Lonesome – 4:53
12 – I Can’t Say Goodbye – 5:00
13 – Why Is The Devil Red? – 2:52
14 – Smokescreen – 2:27
15 – The Last Testament Of Angus Shane – 4:09
16 – Hard Times Come Again No More – 2:13
17 – Breathe Deep – 3:34
Credits:
Art Direction, Photography By [All Photography] – Anna Cardenas
Band [Lost Dogs Are], Guitar, Piano, Vocals – Gene Eugene
Band [Lost Dogs Are], Guitar, Vocals – Derri Daugherty, Mike Roe*, Terry Taylor
Engineer [Engineered By] – Gene*
Engineer [Engineered With] – Derri*, Rob Watson, Terry*
Guest [With], Dobro, Banjo, Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Kellogg
Guest [With], Drums, Percussion – Burleigh Drummond
Guest [With], Violin – James Sitterly
Producer [Produced By] – Derri Daugherty, Gene Eugene, Mike Roe*, Terry Taylor
Sometime in 1985 we were surprised to find this record in our local shop, arriving with no fanfare, but clearly a rock’n’roll album by the cover.
The military look doesn’t translate into the themes in the lyrics or the music too much. There’s no “Onward Christian Soldiers” here, just some straight-up radio rock something along the lines of Journey or Foreigner. Just enough synthesizer and guitar mix to remind you what decade this is, and some strong vocals make this a solid sound.
The Allies log is a capital A with (almost) a circle around it. It’s not the punk rock A for Anarchy, but it’s close, just not very punk. There is no punk connection on this album at all. It seems like the marketing approach was a shotgun approach rather than just selling the great musicianship that is on this album.
Track Listing:
1 – Surrender – 4:36
2 – Second Chance – 3:54
3 – Don’t Run Away – 3:28
4 – Send Me – 4:27
5 – Don’t Keep Him Waiting – 3:57
6 – Don’t You Worry – 5:07
7 – Morningstar – 5:03
8 – I’ll Be Your Brother – 3:56
9 – Pardon Me – 4:22
Credits:
Bass – Matthew Chapman
Design [Allies Emblem] – Coen Van De Poll
Design, Art Direction, Artwork By [Illustration] – Kurt Triffet
Drums – Jim Erickson
Engineer [Second] – Mike Mierau
Guitar, Guitar [Solo], Bass, Vocals – Randy Thomas
Guitar, Lead Vocals – Bob Carlisle
Keyboards [Acoustic Keyboards& Electric], Vocals – Sam Scott
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Photography By – Ken Reece
Producer – Randy Thomas
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Dino Elefante
Sequenced By [Syntheizer] – Tim Heintz
Vocals – John Elefante
Recorded in January 1980 and released on MRC in 1983, this live album features mainly songs from Darrell’s Get Ready album. The concert was recorded on a 2 track system at Calvary Chapel in California. The Get Ready album was released in 1980, so these songs were probably completely unknown to the audience at the time.
This band knows how to entertain. The live versions of these songs give them plenty of life. Darrell always has had a great stage presence, and he brings it out here.
MRC was not Darrell’s regular record label, and in fact this is the only album of his released by them. Darrell was signed to Polydor at the time and appears courtesy of Polydor.
The Amazing Grace guitar intro to “Mr. Rock and Roll” is the perfect setup for this song. As often happens, this fast paced tune is even faster live and the band just hums through it.
The band does an extremely polished version of “That’s Alright” from Darrell’s 1979 debut solo album. They catch the power of this song perfectly, and Darrell’s harmonica playing abilities are really let loose.
Track Listing:
1 – LIfesaver
2 – Mr. Rock And Roll
3 – That’s All Right
4 – Heaven Southwestern
5 – Power Of Love
6 – Get Ready
Credits:
Arranged By – The DMB
Artwork – Rick Griffin
Bass Guitar – Jimmy Perez
Drums – Donny Vosburgh
Electric Guitar – Tony Dean
Electric Guitar [Rhythm] – Dennis Carothers
Keyboards – Jeff Lams
Lead Vocals, Harmonica – Darrell Mansfield
Photography By – Chuck Schmid
Beakthrough Swedish rock reached North America in 1978 thanks to Jerusalem and the vision of Ulf Christiansson. At that time there was precious little rock’n’roll available in the CCM scene, as the metal breakout of the late 80s was still a decade away.
Jerusalem are the Swedish pioneers of hard rock that parallel what Resurrection Band were doing in Chicago, but with a European stamp.
Everything about this band and this debut album is pure fun, pure rock, and pure CCM. They could have been a Swedish April Wine or some other band. The fact that they chose record a separate English version of their albums was a bit of a struggle for them, but it was a choice that allowed them to become a worldwide sensation over the next few years.
Track Listing:
1 – Noa – 3:30
2 – Jesus Is The Most Fantastic – 2:23
3 – Maybe – 4:22
4 – Daddy Who Has Made – 3:50
5 – Mr. Ego – 3:22
6 – Come To Me – 3:40
7 – If You Only Care To Listen – 4:08
8 – Neutral – 2:42
9 – Days Passing By – 4:54
10 – What If Jesus Is Right – 3:34
11 – High Tide – 5:26
Black and White in a Grey World was Leslie Phillips’ third of four albums on Myrrh Records, once again produced by Dan Posthuma.
The songs on this record sound just like her but a little older. She is more mature in music, in delivery, and with even deeper songwriting than on Dancing With Danger. There are still plenty of praise songs and messages of encouragement here. Later, Leslie would say that she felt a lot of pressure from the record company to record certain kinds of songs and that is why she eventually left to go to Virgin Records.
Leslie does a great job of pulling in the pop/new wave high energy sound into her her songs without watering down any message. This album is very well done and deserves even more critical acclaim than it got.
Tracklist
1 – Black And White In A Grey World – 4:20
2 – Tug Of War – 3:20
3 – When The World Is New – 4:31
4 – Psalm 55 – 3:48
5 – Your Kindness – 4:03
6 – The More I Know You – 5:00
7 – Smoke Screen – 3:37
8 – You´re My Lord – 4:13
9 – Walls Of Silence – 4:54
10 – You´re The Same – 4:14
Credits:
Backing Vocals – Tata Vega
Bass – Nathan East, Neil Stubenhaus
Drums – Carlos Vega, John Robinson
Guitar – Dan Huff
Keyboards – Alan Pasqua
Mixed By – Bill Schnee
Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa
Producer – Dan Posthuma
