Ray Mansfield – Real 80s CCM

The Reign – Back From Euphoria – 1989

The Reign were/are a Christian rock band from Southern California in the late 80’s/early 90’s. They only had this one album but it was a real cult favourite. I had not heard this one as obviously it didn’t make it’s way to Canada but I wish I had. This is a great Rock Pop album that had a perfect sound for 1989. The album did get picked up for distribution by Image Records and the CD got the cover we have here. The Cassette had a much simpler and quite frankly better cover. The band recently recorded a new album which was inspired/encouraged by drummer Doug Lada’s granddaughter. It’s really good too, what a great bunch of talented musicians. If you only have time for one track I’m telling you that you need to hear “Looking For You (On Christmas Day)”, though really you should be listening to the whole album. You simply can not go wrong with Darrell Mansfield playing harp on a few tracks and Riki Michelle singing backing vocals on two tracks. I was really impressed with the production quality of this self recorded piece and then I saw that it was produced by Gene Eugene. Suddenly it all makes sense. Anyway the band is till at it and you can check out some of their work on their YouTube channel listed below.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheReign-Official

Tracklist
1 – In Another Room – 3:29
2 – Cold Desert Wind – 3:52
3 – Looking For You (On Christmas Day) – 3:48
4 – Running Out Of Time – 3:27
5 – Trouble On My Mind – 3:19
6 – Weakness – 4:38
7 – Love Survive – 3:53
8 – Don’t Let It Take You Down – 4:56
9 – Dancer – 3:01

Credits
Harold Bloemendaal, Jr – Lead Vocals, guitars, Backing Vocals
Greg Kemble – Guitars, Backing Vocals
Travis Sheets – Synth, Hammond B-3, Backing Vocals
Curtis Holtzen – Bass, percussion, Backing Vocals
Doug Lada (Dug Dorr) – Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Darrell Mansfield – Harmonica (Track 2, 5)
Gene Eugene – Producer, Acoustic Guitar (Track 9)
Riki Michelle – Backing vocals (Track 4, 8)

Companies, etc.
Marketed By – Image Records

Rick Cua – Within Reach – 1991

We’ve noticed a bit of a resurgence in Ric Cua interest in our Facebook group so I thought it was time to listen to this one from 1991. I was surprised how much I liked this album. At this point Rick had been on the scene for 10 years but this album sounds like it has the effort of a first or second album. The album was produced by the Elefante brothers and as usual they nailed it on this album. Ric didn’t do that well on the CCM charts in his career but this album did quite well with 2 top 20’s. “Somewhere Tonight” made it to #12, and “Keeper Of My Soul” made it to #18. I have to say one thing I’ve always noticed about Ric’s albums. Even though Ric was a bass player he never influenced the mix to make the bass more of a lead instrument. I have often seen bands run by bass players and drummers try to influence the mix believing they are the lead instrument. No such silliness from Ric, he knew exactly where the Bass belonged. One last note but do you think “Diamond Girl” is begging for a Stryper cover?

Tracklist
1 – Message Of Love – 3:42
2 – Heaven Won’t Stop The Rain – 4:48
3 – Somewhere Tonight – 3:39
4 – Stand Your Ground – 4:18
5 – Fifteen – 4:07
6 – Power Of The Lord – 4:12
7 – Big Gun – 3:48
8 – Keeper Of My Soul – 3:23
9 – Do It – 4:37
10 – Diamond Girl – 3:57

Credits
Art Direction – Buddy Jackson
Backing Vocals – Dino Elefante, John Elefante, Sara Tennison, Terry Stratton
Bass – Rick Cua
Design – B. Middleworth*
Drums – Mike Caputy
Engineer – John Elefante, Mike Mierau
Engineer [Assistant] – Jeff Simmons (2)
Executive-Producer – Michael Blanton, Richard Headen
Guitar – Dino Elefante, Glen Pierce*
Horns – Andy Martin, Scott Martin (6), Stan Martin, Wayne Bergeron
Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner, John Elefante
Mixed By – Dino Elefante, John Elefante, Mike Mierau
Percussion – Alex Acuna*
Photography By – Mark Tucker (7)
Producer – Dino Elefante, John Elefante
Saxophone – Greg Vail

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Reunion Records, Inc.
Copyright © – Reunion Records, Inc.
Distributed By – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Produced For – Pakaderm Productions
Recorded At – Pakaderm Studios
Recorded At – Pakaderm West Studios
Mixed At – Pakaderm Studios
Mixed At – Pakaderm West Studios
Designed At – Jackson Design
Pressed By – Denon Digital Industries

Sheila Walsh – Say So – 1987

This is Sheila’s 8th studio album and it has a bit of an interesting history. It was released in 1987 around the world but not in the U.S. It was subsequently released the next year in the U.S. which was coincidentally after Sheila Walsh took a co-host seat on the television talk-show, The 700 Club. I don’t know if they held the release or weren’t going to release it but anyway it was released in the U.S. and did very well on the CCM charts. It had 3 top 10 singles, “Angels With Dirty Faces”, “Jesus Loves The Church”, and “Wind Of Change”. Interestingly the album included a cover of the Todd Rundgren’s Utopia song “Love Is the Answer”. I can’t really judge if it’s a good cover as I don’t acre for the song no matter who did it. You should always read the credits for Sheila’s albums and on this one Phil Keaggy stepped in to help out on “Angels With Dirty Faces” and “Hope For The Hopeless”. Personally I have always struggled listen to Sheila. My first exposure to her as her duet with Steve Taylor of David Edwards “Not Going To Fall Away” which is one of my all time favourite recordings. Also on that E.P. was her cover of Bryn Haworth’s “We’re All One”. These two recordings were certainly not her usual style and as such I ended up judging all her subsequent work against something she wasn’t particularly known for. This ended up causing this strange situation where I absolutely loved her as an artist but didn’t really like her music. Strange I know but I stand by my misguided love of her.

Tracklist
1 – Wind Of Change – 4:07
2 – Surrender – 4:27
3 – Love Is The Answer – 4:32
4 – Trapeze – 5:03
5 – Dorai Sani – 6:33
6 – Empty Boxes – 5:05
7 – Angels With Dirty Faces – 3:50
8 – Jesus Loves The Church – 4:16
9 – Human Cry – 4:12
10 – Hope For The Hopeless – 4:24

Credits
Jimmy Abegg – Songwriter
J.J. Belle – Guitars
Richard Blackford – Orchestra Arrangmenets, Conductor
Simon Chamberlain – Piano
Clem Clemson – Guitars
David P. Cook – Songwriter
Neil Costello – Guitar
Pandit Dinesh – Percussion
Colin Elswood – Background Vocals
Dave Engel – Drums
Martin Green – Saxophones
Steve Griffith – Songwriter
Phil Keaggy – Guitars
London Community Gospel Choir – Choir
Basil Meade – Background Vocals
Charlie Morgan – Drums
Lynn Arthur Nichols – Executive Producer
Stuart Ongley – Executive Producer
Richard Osborne – Producer, Drum Programming, Keyboards, Guitars
Alan Park – Piano
Todd Rundgren – Songwriter
Bruce Spencer – Songwriter
Miriam Stockley – Background Vocals
Jon Sweet – Producer, Songwriter, Keyboards
Rod Trott – Songwriter
Sheila Walsh – Executive Producer, Songwriter, Vocals
Paul Westwood – Bass

Departure – Last Plane To The Mainland – 1985

This is going to be a real short review. Departure were a band out of Nashville. They had a one album deal on Morada Records. I can not find anything else the band or any members ever recorded. This is fantastic pop rock album that really deserved to be more recognized than it was. In fact I can’t even find anyone in my circle that ever even heard of it. What a pity because this is a fantastic album. And that’s it, that’s all I got. If you heard this album in the day comment wherever you are reading this.

Tracklist
1 – I Just Wanna Love You Forever – 3:37
2 – Cry of the Lost – 4:25
3 – I Need You – 3:31
4 – Raise Your Hands – 3:07
5 – Run and Hide – 4:43
6 – God Bless America – 4:57
7 – Let Him Love You – 3:23
8 – Suicide – 5:53
9 – He’s Comin’ – 3:00

Credits
Bass Guitar – Jed Morehouse
Drums, Percussion – Tony Huff
Guitar, Vocals – Doug Stanfield
Lead Vocals, Keyboards – Jeff Booth

Steve Camp – Consider The Cost – 1991

For his 1991 release Steve turned down the music a bit but in my opinion turned up the songwriting. This was also his final album for Sparrow before he moved on to Warner Alliance. I’ve always kind of questioned that move but it did work out okay for Steve. I just never liked the secular record industry getting involved in the Christian music genre. I heard some pretty good guitar on this album and was fully expecting to see Dann Huff’s name in the credits but nope. Playing guitar on this album was Dan Lee (misspelt in the credits as Dann Lee). Dan was not on many albums but seems to me like he was a pretty good guitarist and did a great job on this album. This album was a pretty successful one for Steve with “For Every Time” and “Shade For The Children” coming in at #1 and #2 on the CCM charts and “Guard The Trust” gave the album a third top 10 hit. While this probably isn’t one of my favourites from Steve it’s a little hard to argue with the numbers. No doubt about it people loved this album.

Tracklist
1 – The Cross Is A Radical Thing – 4:23
2 – For Every Time – 4:19
3 – Carry Me – 4:07
4 – Shade For The Children – 5:28
5 – Consider The Cost – 5:51
6 – Follow Me – 3:26
7 – Could I Be Called A Christian – 5:33
8 – The Agony Of Deceit – 5:27
9 – Guard The Trust – 4:19
10 – All That I Need – 4:30

Credits
Arranged By – Phil Naish, Steve Camp
Arranged By [Horns] – Chris McDonald
Arranged By [Srtings], Conductor – Paul Buckmaster
Art Direction, Design – Heather Horne
Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Ashley Cleveland, Chris Rodriguez, Lisa Bevill, Mark Heimermann, Steve Camp, Vicki Hampton
Bass – Leland Sklar
Coordinator [Production Coordinator] – Wendy Holt
Drums – Paul Leim
Engineer – Ronnie Brookshire
Guitar [Guitars] – Dann Lee
Horns – Barry Green, Chris McDonald, George Tidwell, Mike Haynes
Illustration – Nancy Nimoy
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Bill Schnee
Percussion – Terry McMillan
Photography By – Mark Tucker
Piano – Steve Camp
Piano, Synthesizer – Phil Naish
Producer [Produced By] – Phil Naish
Strings – Carl Gorodetzky, The Nashville String Machine
Written-By – Kemper Crabb, Kim Maxfield-Camp, Rob Frazier, Steve Camp, Steven Curtis Chapman

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – The Sparrow Corporation
Copyright © – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Produced For – NT Productions
Recorded At – Quad Studios
Recorded At – Javelina Recording Studios
Recorded At – Treasure Isle Recorders
Recorded At – Classic Recording
Recorded At – North Beach Studio
Recorded At – Morningstar Sound Studio
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus

Tradewind – Until The Storm Is Past – 1979

Here we have another self released CCM album that I never heard or heard of before. Tradewind was two sets of brothers joined by another friend on drums. There isn’t much info on the band out there but they were together for a few years and were able to get this album out there. The album leans more to 70’s light rock but Radio Man turns it up a notch and is a pretty good Rock track. It has an obligatory country track which was a required on any Jesus music album of the period. The real stand out of this album was the quality of the mix and the production. Greg Thompson was credited with assistant Producer and Engineer credits and while he may not be household name he worked on some really good projects in this era. When you hear this one it’s as good as anything that was on Word or Sparrow at the time and really with this quality of production this album should have been picked up by a label for distribution. It had everything they were looking for. Mike Pearsall and Dave Robbins continued on to record as Burton & Logan and we’re actively looking for a copy of their album for you.

Tracklist
1 – Until The Storm Is Past – 4:02
2 – Yours To Stay – 4:19
3 – My Heart Belongs To You – 4:04
4 – Perfect Love – 2:46
5 – Radio Man – 4:13
6 – There Won’t Be A Better Time – 2:19
7 – Puppet – 04:09
8 – Psalm 40 – 3:30
9 – As For Me And My House – 3:25
10 – Look Beyond Today – 3:26

Credits
Guitars, Vocals – Rob Robbins
Keyboards, Vocals – Dave Robbins
Guitars, Drums, Percussion, Vocals – Rob Pearsall
Bass, Vocals – Mike Pearsall
Drums, Percussion – Keny Baiza
Pedal Steel Guitar – Ismael Garcia
Executive Producer – Tom Murphy
Produced by – Rob Pearsall & Greg Thompson
Arranged by – Tradewind
Orchestrated by – Rob Pearsall
Recorded & Mixed – Greg Thompson
Mastered by – Steve Hall
Cover Design and Artwork – Thel Arthur
Photography – David Pavol, Eric Simonson

The Crusaders – Make A Joyful Noise With Drums And Guitars – 1966

I’m not gonna say this is the first Christian rock album because I keep finding one older every time I say that. That said this is definitely one of the first ones. The Crusaders were a 60’s garage rock band from LA. They emerged out of the surfing scene and actually had several different names over the years. The band signed with Tower records and used the name The Crusaders for this album. The record company said “five sincere young men … who have chosen the Big Beat as the means of expressing the religious faith”. Two of the members were Catholic and two were Jewish and we have no idea what the 5th member was. I think we can deduct from this that this album was a record company idea. The band did go on to record another album but it was secular and they used a different name. We generally don’t ever count on anyone’s “level” of Christianity but I think it’s safe to assume this was a record company idea not a expression of religious faith. Anyway all that aside this is a fun album. I generally love the sounds of the 50’s and 60’s so it’s a natural for me to like this one. The album features 5 traditional and 5 original tracks and is truly a Rock & Roll album. This albums holds an important part of Christian rock history so be sure to give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Little Drummer Boy – 2:42
2 – Battle Hymn Of The Republic – 2:10
3 – God Lives – 2:07
4 – You’ll Never Walk Alone – 1:56
5 – With The Lord On Our Side – 2:38
6 – Praise We The Lord – 2:54
7 – What Is Man – 2:00
8 – He’s Got The Whole World In His Hand – 2:25
9 – Onward Christian Soldiers – 1:44
10 – Make A Joyful Noise – 2:13

Credits
Danny Altcholer – Guitar
Walt Flannery – Organ
Mike Joyce – Bass
Jeff Barnett – Drums
Fred Barnett – Guitar
Mark Taylor – Engineer
Hank Levine – Producer
Larry Goldberg – Producer

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Big L Music
Produced For – #1 Prod.
Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Scranton

Liaison – Hard Hitter – 1992

The North Dakota Melby brothers are back with their 3rd and last album with Frontline Records and boy did they go out with a bang. This is by far the best produced album they had. Is it the best album? That’s actually going to be a little dependent on what you like. For me this is their best because I generally don’t like Metal unless it’s well produced and leans more to arena rock which describes this album. The band also include a couple acoustic metal ballads as was the trend in the late 80’s which is the period of sound this album best fits. The guest guitarist list for this album is stunning with Lanny Cordola (Magdallan), Oz Fox (Stryper), and Tony Palacios (Guardian). Could you think of a better trio of guest guitarists for an arena metal album? They absolutely nailed this album and it is probably one of the best arena rock albums in CCM history.

Tracklist
1 – Hard Hitter – 4:48
2 – Attitude – 4:06
3 – Up At Night – 4:45
4 – Steal, Kill, And Destroy – 5:38
5 – Who Can Heal The Pain – 3:58
6 – Whatsoever U Sow – 4:07
7 – Wicked Ways – 4:35
8 – Violent Burning – 3:44
9 – As Far As The East Is From The West – 4:41
10 – My God Is A Rock – 3:08

Credits
Art Direction – Brian Godawa
Bass Guitar – Kelly Burns
Design – Joe Potter
Drums, Percussion – Gregg Bissonette
Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Tim Jones*
Engineer, Mixed By – Mike Mierau
Guitar – Lanny Cordola, Oz Fox, Tony Palacios
Keyboards – John Andrew Schreiner
Mastered By – Wally Traugott
Music Consultant [Guitar Consultant] – Tim Ellis (5)
Photography – Wayne Armstrong
Producer, Lead Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Acoustic Guitar – Lary Melby
Producer, Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Acoustic Guitar – Tim Melby

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Frontline Records (3)
Copyright © – Frontline Records (3)
Recorded At – Shelter Studio
Recorded At – The Mixing Lab (2)
Recorded At – John Andrew Schreiner Studio
Recorded At – Front Page Recording
Mixed At – The Mixing Lab (2)
Mastered At – Tower Mastering
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus, Virginia
Record Company – Frontline Music Group
Distributed By – FMG Distribution

Adrian J. Pratt ‎- Jester Before The Throne – 1984

This is another one of those albums that escaped us in the North American market. It actually missed a lot of people in the European market too due to it being on a small label. This is also another one of those albums that the minute I heard it I was so disappointed that I didn’t get to hear this one back in 1984 when it was released. Adrian had been performing in his local market area since the 70’s but an opportunity came up for him to record an album while he was in theological college. He put thought into the album and with the exception of one track he chose songs that people had told him were a blessing to them. This was an excellent strategy to pick tracks. Remember he didn’t have some big dollar producer to guide him on what tracks to record so he chose this route and it worked. As for the album it’s a fun 80’s folk pop album with shades of Ishmael here and there. The title track alone is worth the price of admission and I can only imagine how great this track would have been with some top notch studio musicians and production. Which brings me to my only criticism. The production is not that great but let’s remember this was a small label and no one was throwing money at this album. With some good production I truly believe this is one that could have sold well and I know I would have loved it in 1984. Actually I love it now but I’m stuck in the 80’s. Adrian continues his musical journey today and he directed me to his website which you may want to head over to to hear even more from him or perhaps listen to one of his sermons. I enjoyed both over at his website and his YouTube channel.

https://music4mrg.weebly.com

Tracklist
1 – Psalm 150 – 4:16
2 – Song – 3:28
3 – Cleaning – 1:59
4 – Tired Song – 3:01
5 – Now – 4:56
6 – Will You Listen (Or Will You Mock) – 5:28
7 – Angry – 4:09
8 – God Is Moving On – 3:54
9 – Message – 3:10
10 – Where Is The Love – 3:36
11 – He Knows You Know – 4:49
12 – Jester Before The Throne – 4:23

Chuck Girard – Written On The Wind – 1977

So today as I am reflecting on the life of Chuck Girard and I had to pick an album to listen to. I actually chose Glow in the dark as I think that is his best album but this is his second best in my opinion. Chuck Girard holds a strange place in my CCM listening history. His style is not in my preferred genre BUT I have always enjoyed listening to him. Growing up my circle and I probably ranked Anthem as the best album intro in history. We preferred Rez or David Edwards but something often drew us back to Chuck. While his style was definitely on the easy listening side of the market we always seemed to connect with his vocals and harmonies. I remember many nights driving around in my best friends car and us listening to Chuck and in particular “Somethin’ Supernatural”. This particular album from Chuck is definitely on the lighter side of his work but as usual his vocals and harmonies are second to none. I rank this one so high because of the quality of those vocals and the quality of the writing. So give this one a listen and reflect on one of the greatest CCM artists thetre ever was.

Tracklist
1 – Spirit Wind – 3:37
2 – Mary’s Song – 3:51
3 – Thank You Lord – 3:26
4 – Plain Ol’ Joe – 4:50
5 – Harvest Time – 3:40
6 – Fool For Jesus – 2:40
7 – Hear The Angels Sing – 3:26
8 – Peace In The Valley – 4:26
9 – The Warrior – 6:45

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Dan Ferguson, Jon Linn
Arranged By [Strings, French Horns, Bells and Timpani] – Jimmie Haskell
Art Direction – David Larkham
Autoharp – Kit Alderson
Backing Vocals [All Background Vocals] – Chuck Girard, Jay Truax, Larry Myers, Terry Clark
Bass – Mark Levine
Drums – Jim Keltner
Electric Guitar – Jon Linn
Electric Piano – Chuck Girard
Graphics [Logographics] – Margie Melton, Tom Nikosey
Keyboards [Supplementary] – Chuck Girard, Herb Jimmerson
Music By – Terry Clark
Music By, Words By – Chuck Girard
Photography By – Christian Micoine
Piano – Chuck Girard

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Good News Records
Copyright © – Good News Records
Copyright © – Dunamis Music
Published By – Dunamis Music
Distributed By – Myrrh Records
Recorded At – Mama Jo’s
Recorded At – Devonshire Studios
Mixed At – Mama Jo’s
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab