Ray Mansfield – Real 80s CCM

Redeemer – The Light Is Struck And The Darkness Splits! – 1990

This is one of the odder releases I’ve stumbled across while researching Christian Metal music. This album was only released in Australia though it was reissued in Greece in 2020. Even though it was released in 1990 it was only issued on Vinyl with only 1000 copies printed. The album is a self release gatefold with the lyrics on the inside. I was told they were a thrash band so I prepared myself for that horror when I sat down to listen to the album. Instead I found a project as opposed to an album with several of the tracks having a progressive feel. At best I would describe the thrash tracks as thrash lite. It is actually quite a bearable album and I admit that there are a couple really good tracks here. Remember I detest thrash so this is saying a lot. I was also delighted to hear a female vocalist on a “thrash” album. This is a fascinating project and I congratulate the band on a job well done. Again not my style but really this is a pretty good album.

Tracklist
1 – The Light Is Struck – 2:29
2 – Heavy And Loud – 4:37
3 – Sinner – 4:07
4 – Transmuter – 4:24
5 – Magician – 5:18
6 – Metallic Frenzy – 6:53
7 – Apocalypse Riders – 5:07
8 – Burn In Hell – 5:36
9 – The Darkness Splits – 0:39

Credits
Mick Johnson – Bass
Scott Cooper – Drums
Adam Johnson – Guitars
Craig Vine – Guitars
Cindy Greenwood – Vocals

Scott Wesley Brown – SWB – 1981

Scott’s sixth studio album strongly leans to the Worship music genre. Not saying this is a bad thing it’s just where Scott positioned himself in the industry. I’ll be the first to admit I never listened to his work back in the 80’s but he was still well known to me and my circle of friends. It’s strange that wile we would never listen to artists like Scott we always had a strong respect for what he did. Let’s remember that it was guys like him that made the money for the labels so they could experiment with the artists that I liked and wanted to listen to. This album wasn’t one of his most successful with only two charting singles. “Learning To Live Like Jesus” made it to #6 and “This Little Child” made it to #20. Certainly a good album by good metrics but for Scott is wasn’t his usual dominance of the charts. Now that’s it’s years later and I am more able to recognize good music whether I like it or not I do recognize that Scott was probably one of the best artists of the period. While his vocals weren’t the best his songwriting was top notch.

Tracklist
1 – Learning To Live Like Jesus – 3:38
2 – Someone’s Got A Hold Of Me – 3:32
3 – This Little Child – 5:46
4 – The Lord’s Prayer – 2:58
5 – Your Word – 3:41
6 – Fall On Me – 3:36
7 – My Treasure – 4:51
8 – Out On A Limb – 4:09
9 – Close To You – 4:12
10 – Keep The Son In Your Eyes – 3:06

Credits
Jonathan David Brown – Engineer
Scott Wesley Brown – Guitars, Vocals
Pete Christleib – Sax
Dan Collins – Producer, Background Vocals
Keith Edwards – Drums
Leon Gaer – Bass
Bruce Hibbard – Songwriter
Hadley Hockensmith – Guitars
Alex McDougall – Percussion
Larry Muhoberac – Keyboards
Chip Orlando – Engineer
Jamie Owens-Collins – Background Vocals
Jack Joseph Puig – Engineer
Billy Walker – Guitars

Malcolm And Alwyn – Wildwall – 1974

The UK’s Malcolm & Alwyn, the Simon and Garfunkle of Christian music, return with their second album that was released in both the UK and the US. Their first album sold well and developed a following for this duo and this album continues the sound from their first album but is a little more upbeat. Personally I came to the Malcolm & Alwyn train late after I heard Alwyn doing work with Larry Norman in the 80’s. Luckily I got caught up on their work and while I think their live work is their best this album is certainly a must listen to. In 1999 Footstep Records reissued this album on CD and added 3 bonus Live tracks which we have included.

Tracklist
1 – I Feel Fine – 3:48
2 – I Love You More Today Than Yesterday – 4:15
3 – Spaceman – 4:15
4 – Someone To Sing To – 2:21
5 – I’ll Carry You Through – 3:47
6 – Buried Alive – 3:27
7 – Stay With Me – 3:27
8 – I Love – 3:50
9 – Wildwall – 2:48
10 – England Goodbye – 5:18
CD Bonus Tracks
11 – I Feel Fine – 4:29
12 – Morning Star – 3:21
13 – Fool’s Wisdom – 2:54

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – James Litherland, Roger Hand
Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals – Alwyn Wall
Arranged By [Brass] – Roger Ball
Arranged By, Co-producer – Rod Edwards
Arranged By, Producer – Jon Miller, Roger Hand
Autoharp, Lead Vocals – Malcolm Wild
Backing Vocals – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Bass – Johnny Gustafson
Drums – Mike Giles
Electric Guitar – Davy Johnson, James Litherland
Engineer – Denny Bridges
Engineer [Remix] – Bill Price, Denny Bridges
Keyboards – Rod Edwards
Music By [Additional] – Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Saxophone – Malcolm Duncan, Roger Ball
Sleeve – Paul Welti
Trombone – Chris Pyne
Trumpet – Henry Lowther
Written-By, Composed By – Alwyn Wall, Malcolm Wild

Companies, etc.
Published By – Thankyou Music
Recorded At – Redan Recorders

Arlen Salte – Here I Stand – 1989

This is the third album from Canadian artist Arlen Salte. Again it appears that it was only released in Canada which absolutely astonishes me as it should have had a worldwide release it’s that good. This is another great Rock Pop album with tons of good catch lines and riffs. I have to admit that I just don’t understand how Arlen wasn’t widely known for his work. I hear music here that could have easily charted in secular radio if secular radio wasn’t terrified of Christian music in the day. Unfortunately I am unable to find a credits list for this album other than it was produced by Roy Salmond who produced so many great Canadian acts. Arlen’s credits are usually a who’s who of Canadian Christian artists and I’m sure it was the same for this album.

Tracklist
1 – Love Won’t Walk Away – 4:07
2 – Make No Mistake – 3:45
3 – Here I Stand – 2:50
4 – Strength To Be Weak – 4:00
5 – Heaven Is My Home – 4:33
6 – God Loves – 3:49
7 – Someone’s Waiting – 3:46
8 – Doctor Of My Soul – 3:42
9 – I Know – 4:49
10 – Two Thousand Years – 6:21
11 – Touch Our Hearts – 4:09

Steve Apirana – Steve Apirana – 1989

Though this was Steve’s first solo album he wasn’t new to the music scene. He had been in the band Butler in the 70’s who had one album. They were the go to opening act for bands touring through New Zealand in the early 70’s. Steve played gospel music through the earl 80’s and went full time in 1987. In 1989 he released this album. It was not released outside of New Zealand which I’m not surprised at as I really don’t think it’s that good. That said his second album is fantastic and we’ll be uploading it soon. Anyway this album has a bit of a blues style that Steve would perfect on his next album. I don’t want to be too negative about this album however as it is relatively good and it’s great to hear something from a music market I didn’t even know existed.

Tracklist
1 – Something Beautiful – 4:38
2 – The Ant Song – 5:50
3 – Cross Over – 3:56
4 – Of All The Wonders – 1:09
5 – Living Sacrifice – 4:40
6 – Cast Your Cares – 7:14
7 – Ruth’s Song – 3:02
8 – David’s Theme – 3:22
9 – Psalm 61 – 6:08

Credits
Backing Vocals – Donna Tairakena, Graham Flaws, Jacobien Birch, Jenny Newbery, Kit Grenon
Bass – Graham Flaws
Drums – Wally Tairakena
Flute – Donna Tairakena
Guitar – Kit Grenon
Keyboards – Donna Tairakena, Stephen Bell-Booth
Lead Vocals – Ainsley Apirana
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Guitar – Steve Apirana
Saxophone – Graham Wilkinson

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Tandem Studios
Mastered At – Marmalade Studios
Distributed By – Someone Up There Records

Megamouth & The Rap Blasters – Rap Battle In The Big City – 1987

This is the first of 2 children’s albums done by Terry Taylor and Greg Flesch. This one is centered on a “Rap Battle” theme. Apparently this idea didn’t get much traction but I commend them for trying. The naming of a track “If They’d Adone It Then, It Woulda Helped Them Later” would have made it impossible for an adult to remember the name of the track never mind a kid. This project didn’t age very well but it may have been cool in the 80’s if I was 10 years old.

Tracklist
1 – Megamouth Theme – 1:59
2 – If They’d Adone It Then, It Woulda Helped Them Later – 3:35
3 – Just Say “N-O” – 2:47
4 – That’s Rad (Part 1) – 3:37
5 – The Frequency Jam (Killocycle Theme) – 3:30
6 – Trouble In Big City – 5:17
7 – David Said A Prayer – 3:08
8 – Rap Zapper (The Rap Blaster’s Song) – 3:46
9 – The “Rap” Battle: Megamouth’s Challenge – 3:16
10 – The “Rap” Battle: Megamouth vs. Killocycle – 4:06
11 – The Last Word – 0:33
12 – Megamouth Theme (Reprise) – 1:57
13 – That’s Rad (Part 2) – 2:26

Credits
Art Direction, Layout – Ed McTaggart
Cover – John Dickenson
Engineer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Doug Doyle
Illustration – June Valentine
Mastered By – John Matousek
Producer, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By, Instruments, Written-By, Concept By – Greg Flesch
Producer, Arranged By, Recorded By, Mixed By, Written-By, Concept By, Voice Actor – Terry Taylor
Vocals – Amy Watson, Lisa Grimaud, Nancy Hanson, Nancy Marquez
Voice Actor, Vocals – Dan Rupple, Dennis Bowen, Diane Meador-Pemelton, Scott Rummell

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – 3-D Studios, Costa Mesa CA.
Mixed At – 3-D Studios, Costa Mesa CA.

Seventh Angel ‎– The Torment – 1990

This is the first album from Seventh Angel after 3 fairly popular demos. They signed with the UK’s Under One Flag but I think had some sort of deal to retain the masters. I say this because over the years this album has been re-issued on at least 9 other labels. I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve seen that before. Anyway Ian Arkley started the band up in late 1989 and the band quickly rose to be one of the top Thrash bands around. In fact this album was ranked #51 on the Top 100 Christian Metal Albums of All Time in 2010 by HM Magazine. If you’re into thrash this album will give you everything you want from a Thrash album. Normally all these varying styles would leave people questioning an album but not this one. It supplies everything thrash has to offer on one album including a nearly 10 minute track which is pretty rare in the Thrash genre.

Tracklist
1 – Tormented Forever – 4:18
2 – The Charmer – 7:16
3 – Forbidden Desires – 3:43
4 – I Of The Needle – 5:38
5 – Expletive Deleted – 3:23
6 – Dr. Hatchet – 6:04
7 – Locked Up In Chains – 5:07
8 – Acoustic Interlude – 0:39
9 – Katie – 9:41
10 – Epilogue – 1:48

Credits
Artwork – Rodney Matthews
Bass – Simon Bibby
Drums – Tank (7)
Guitar [Rhythm] – Scott A. Rawson
Producer, Engineer – Paul Hodson
Vocals, Guitar – Ian Arkley

Companies, etc.
Licensed From – Edge Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Edge Records
Copyright (c) – Edge Records
Glass Mastered At – MPO

Scott Wesley Brown – Kingdom of Love – 1984

This is Scott’s 8th studio album and at this point in his career he had making albums down to a fine art. While not my preferred style of music I can’t deny that Scott was good at what he did and produced some of the best albums in this style of CCM. This album has a couple upbeat tunes that are actually quite likeable for those us a little more rock oriented. As usual for Scott he did well on the charts with “Yeshua Ha Mashiach” making it to #1 and Kingdom Of Love making it to #29. Other than that I don’t have much to say about the album but I don’t mean that in a negative way I just find it difficult to talk about Easy Listening albums.

Tracklist
1 – Yeshua Ha Mashiach – 4:25
2 – Kingdom Of Love – 3:24
3 – Stronger – 3:52
4 – Give Your Life Away – 2:48
5 – Jesus I Love You – 3:21
6 – Born To Love You – 3:36
7 – The Wall – 4:04
8 – Peace By Peace – 2:47
9 – All Of Us Together – 3:24
10 – In Jesus’ Name – 3:31

Credits
Arranged By [Rhythm] – Scott Wesley Brown
Arranged By [Rhythm], Conductor – Greg Nelson
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor – Alan Moore
Arranged By [Strings], Orchestrated By – David T. Clydesdale
Engineer – Bob Clark
Engineer [Additional] – Brent King, Chris McCullom, Doug Sarrett, Gary Laney, Scott Hendricks
Engineer, Remix – Joe Neil
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Mixed By, Recorded By – Lynn Fuston
Producer – Greg Nelson, Phil Naish

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Nineteenth Street Productions
Copyright (c) – The Sparrow Corporation
Distributed By – Nye Toner / Teovision, Finngospel, Sephora Diffusion, GMI Records, Master Music, Grace Music, Leon Music A.B., Kir Music, Word (Uk) Ltd., Pila Music
Produced For – Nineteenth Street Productions
Made By – Shorewood Packaging
Printed By – Shorewood Packaging

Tim Koller – Last Days – 1980

This was the one and only album from Tim Koller and it’s almost impossible to find any info on him. His album appears to be the first full album released on Ministry Resource Center which in itself is rather historic. Taking a look at the credits we can see that Kelly Willard sang some background vocals and her husband Dan engineered and produced the album. We also see Michelle Pillar supplying some background vocals so there was no shortage of talent on the album. The track “May You Get All The Glory” appears to have been the single and was also released on the 1981 sampler “Back To The Rock!”. The album itself has a late 70’s rock feel and is actually really good and I’m surprised it wasn’t more widely heard but that’s how this industry went at the time. If you missed this one in the 80’s (and I’m guessing you did) give it a listen now.

Tracklist
1 – Last Days – 5:16
2 – New World Comin’ – 4:40
3 – Rock-n-Roll for Jesus – 4:05
4 – Take Another Drink – 4:58
5 – Spiritual Counterfeits – 4:51
6 – May You Get All The Glory – 5:53
7 – The Just Shall Live By Faith – 3:29
8 – The Puzzle – 5:14

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals – Tim Koller
Drummer – Keith Edwards
Keyboards – Jeff Lams
Bass – Darrel Cook
Electric Guitar – Tony Dean
Piano, Background Voclas – Kelly Willard
Background Vocals – Michelle Pillar
Producer, Engineer – Dan Willard
Master – Kevin Grey, Thom Roy
Photography – Bill Valenzuaia
Art Director – Bill Converse

Matthew Ward – Point Of View – 1992

This was Matthew’s first and only album on Benson Records after the untimely closing of Live Oak Records. I’m not really too sure how much effort he put into this album as quite frankly it’s a little dull. It leans to easy listening and quite frankly there aren’t many tunes that caught my attention though “Talk About” did interest me. I’m not saying it’s a bad album it’s just kind of dull. It only had one charting single, “Forever Stay” which made it to #10 but don’t expect much it is a frightfully easy listening track. Snooping through the credits I found that the drummer for the album was Dean Castronovo who is better known as the drummer for Bad English. Strangely I can only find that he ever appeared on 2 Christian albums, both by Ward. Also it was interesting to see Phil Keaggy played guitar on “Waterfall”. The song doesn’t have a guitar solo and I’m not really too sure why Keaggy was on the track as you can barely even make out the guitar track. All that said I am glad I have listened to the album for at least the historical value.

Tracklist
1 – Point Of View – 3:12
2 – Black And Blue – 3:25
3 – Waterfall – 3:48
4 – Too Late – 4:03
5 – Forever Stay – 4:14
6 – Teach My Heart – 3:40
7 – Faces Once More – 3:14
8 – Talk About – 3:43
9 – Sin For A Season – 4:17
10 – I Will Bless The Lord – 2:18

Credits
Art Direction – Connie Harrington
Backing Vocals – Bob Carlisle (tracks: 1, 2, 4 to 6, 8, 9), Debi Lee (tracks: 1, 4 to 6, 8, 9), Matthew Ward (tracks: 1, 4 to 6, 8 to 10), Nelly Greisen (tracks: 3, 7)
Bass – Leon Gaer
Design – The Riordon Design Group Inc.
Drums – Dean Castronovo
Engineer, Arranged By – Greg Hunt
Guitar – Martin Walsh, Phil Keaggy (tracks: 3)
Keyboards, Arranged By – Gary Leach
Mastered By – Denny Purcell
Photography – Russ Harrington
Producer, Arranged By – Matthew Ward

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Benson Music Group, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Benson Music Group, Inc.
Recorded At – Rosewood Studio
Mixed At – Rosewood Studio
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters