Ray Mansfield – Page 133

Randy Stonehill – Welcome To Paradise – 1976

This album was Randy’s third and at this point Randy was a very accomplished musician.

His song writing had always been very strong but now his guitar work was catching up. For many this album was their first exposure to Randy Stonehill and it had strong sales numbers.

Larry Norman both produced and played guitar on the album.

Point of trivia is that T-Bone Burnett joined the album as a bass player.

Track Listing
1 – King Of Hearts – 4:53
2 – Keep Me Runnin’ – 5:57
3 – The Winner (High Card) – 3:43
4 – Lung Cancer – 3:31
5 – Puppet Strings – 4:25
6 – First Prayer – 3:08
7 – I’ve Got News For You – 3:49
8 – Song For Sarah – 3:28
9 – Christmas Song For All Year ‘Round – 3:56
10 – Good News – 2:54

Credits:
Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Randy Stonehill
Bass – The Mighty T-Bone
Conductor [Charts And Baton] – Anthony Harris
Drums – Mark Walker
Electric Guitar, Piano, Harmony Vocals – Larry Norman
Engineer – Andy Johns
Engineer [Co-Engineer] – Tom Trefethen
Lead Guitar – Jon “Wonderfingers” Linn
Management – Street Level Artists Agency
Producer, Arranged By, Photography By, Design [Album Design] – Larry Norman
Typography [Lettering] – Joe Taylor
Written-By, Performer [Performed By] – Randy Stonehill

Sparrow Christmas – 1988

It’s Christmas time so here’s Sparrows 1988 Christmas album. Highlights on this album are, White Heart – Little Drummer Boy, Steve Taylor – Winter Wonderland, and Geoff Moore & The Distance – Jingle Bell Rock.

Track Listing:
1 – Bebe & Cece Winans – Silent Night, Holy Night – 5:43
2 – Margaret Becker, Steven Curtis Chapman, Geoff Moore, Bebe & Cece Winans, White Heart And Steve Camp – Home For The Holidays – 4:18
3 – White Heart – Little Drummer Boy – 4:12
5 – Michael Card – What Child Is This? – 2:47
6 – Deniece Williams – Do You Hear What I Hear? – 4:13
7 – Steve Taylor – Winter Wonderland – 1:56
8 – Margaret Becker – O Come, O Come Emmanuel – 4:52
9 – Steve Camp – O Holy Night – 4:09
10 – Tim Miner – The First Noel – 4:35
11 – Geoff Moore & The Distance – Jingle Bell Rock – 2:59
12 – Steven Curtis Chapman – Away In A Manger – 4:18
13 – Margaret Becker, Steven Curtis Chapman, Geoff Moore, BeBe Winans And White Heart – Angels We Have Heard On High – 3:31

Street Angel – (self titled) – 1986

Street Angel was an 80’s Christian band with 2 releases.

This EP release was the demo they shopped around before being picked up by Dark Records. The band was fronted by Bill Romansky who had a solo album in 1979 just catching the end of the Jesus music era. The album has strong U2 influence, but with slightly more synth.

Track Listing:
1 – When The Sun Comes Up – 3:26
2 – I Am Calling – 6:21
3 – The Blood – 5:20
4 – Together We – 5:32
5 – Falling – 3:33
6 – MTV – 3:44
7 – The End – 2:47

Petra – Come And Join Us – 1977

This album from 1977 supplied us with the Christian equivalent of a Rock Anthem.

God Gave Rock And Roll To You was on every Christian mixed tape I remember. That said, the album has other gems that have been forgotten over time.

My personal favourite is Woman Don’t You Know.

Little known fact is that God Gave Rock And Roll To You was actually a cover of a Russ Ballard song originally recorded by his band Argent in 1973.

Track Listing:
1 – God Gave Rock And Roll To You – 5:37
2 – Holy Ghost Power – 2:27
3 – Woman Don’t You Know – 3:41
4 – Sally – 4:26
5 – Come And Join Us – 4:39
6 – Where Can I Go – 3:52
7 – Without You – 4:27
8 – Ask Him In – 3:31
9 – God Gave Rock And Roll To You (Reprise) – 2:50

Credits:
Arranged By – Petra (9)
Artwork – Dennis Bellile
Bass Guitar – John DeGroff
Drums, Percussion – Bill Glover
Engineer – Terry Jamison
Guitar – Bob Hartman, Greg Hough
Keyboards – Steve McElyea
Percussion – Steve Mergen
Producer – Austin Roberts

Margaret Becker – Never For Nothing – 1987

This is the introductory album from Margaret Becker.

While usually classified as easy listening I think it’s one notch closer to Rock & Roll though you won’t hear any screaming guitars. I do detect a Patty Smyth and Scandal sound but with less lead guitar riffs.

Track Listing:
1 – Fight For God – 4:02
2 – Standing On Top Of The World – 3:31
3 – Never For Nothing – 3:43
4 – Break The Silence – 3:32
5 – Sacred Fire – 4:32
6 – Love Was Waiting – 3:27
7 – What You Feel – 3:42
8 – Make It Right – 5:19
9 – Giants Will Fall – 4:09
10 – For The Love Of You – 4:24

Credits:
Art Direction – Barbara Catanzaro-Hearn
Design – Stan Evenson Design*
Engineer – Brent King, Doug Sarrett, Jeff Balding, Joe Bellamy, Mike Psanos
Executive-Producer – Peter York
Mastered By – Steve Hall
Mixed By – David Schober
Photography By – Steven A. Heller
Producer – Billy Smiley

Level Heads – (self titled) – 1986

Level Head was a new wave band out of Sarnia Ontario Canada.

This was their self titled introductory EP that appears to only have been released in Canada. Very heavy New Wave influence on this album makes it a favourite of mine.

The music has a strong Depeche Mode feel while I can’t actually nail down a comparative vocalist. The bottom line is that the album has a very strong Synth sound and yes the track Wo Wo Wo is supposed to end that way.

Track Listing:
1 – Excuses (Really?) – 3:12
2 – Behold – 2:41
3 – How Long? – 7:23
4 – Wo Wo Wo – 3:17
5 – The Fighter – 3:10
6 – Tell Me What You See – 2:25

Credits:
Bass – Craig Gillings
Cover – Sue Houden
Drums – Todd Gillings
Engineer – John Press (2)
Guitar – Jim Chevalier
Keyboards – Scott Douglas
Marimba – Scott Douglas
Performer [Level Heads Is] – Craig Gillings, Jim Chevalier, Scott Douglas, Todd Gillings
Producer – Gamiel Shabawda, Level Heads
Vocals – Craig Gillings, Jim Chevalier

Resurrection Band – Awaiting Your Reply – 1978

Awaiting Your Reply was the first commercial release of Resurrection Band.

The hard rock, blues sound would become the signature sound for Resurrection band. The album was controversial for its time and was often sold from under the counter.

Word of mouth, however made the album very popular and paved the way for future releases to be on the racks instead of being hidden.

Trivia point for the album is that it was recorded on a budget of $8000, a tiny amount given the quality of the recording.

Track Listing:
1 – Waves
2 – Awaiting Your Reply
3 – Broken Promises
4 – Golden Road
5 – Lightshine
6 – Ananias & Sapphire
7 – The Death Of The Dying
8 – Irish Garden
9 – The Return

Credits:
Bass – Jim Denton
Drums – John Herrin
Harmonica – Tom Cameron
Lead Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer – Stu Heiss
Percussion – Roger Heiss
Saxophone, Flute – Kenny Soderblom*
Vocals – Wendi Kaiser
Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Dulcimer – Glenn Kaiser

Geri Baird – Cool Age – 1980

Geri Baird has been described as the Pat Benatar of Christian music.

This album doesn’t really have any hard rock tunes but I think it could have held it’s own in the secular music scene that was the 80’s. My research into this album indicates that it was only released in Canada which is a pity as I think it was ripe for the U.S. market.

The fan favourite was “Backside Of The Desert” but my personal favourite was “Taking My Baby For A Ride”. Oh and she was very attractive which is probably the reason we bought this album 🙂

Track Listing:
1 – Super Heroes
2 – Backside Of The Desert
3 – Cool Age
4 – Somebody Loves Me
5 – Family
6 – Taking Baby For A Ride
7 – Living On Broken Hearts
8 – Visions
9 – Just A Heart
10 – I Know

The Lifters – What Love’s All About – 1985

The Lifters return after their successful EP release.

This regular length album is more of the same Rockabilly sound. There was one track carry over from the EP “Eternity Bop” which is very slightly altered. If you had to pick a “single” that would be it, but personally I suggest “C’mon Back” Bottom line is that this is a fun sounding album that should keep your toes tapping.

Track Listing:
1 – Be Like You – 2:10
2 – Operator – 2:45
3 – Scream and Shout – 2:41
4 – I’m Goin’ to Heaven – 3:01
5 – Front Slidder – 1:49
6 – No Middle Ground – 3:13
7 – What Love’s All About – 2:24
8 – Do What I Do – 2:48
9 – Eternity Bop – 2:21
10 – C’mon Back – 3:13
11 – My Love For You Will Stay – 4:04

Credits:
Albert Berry – Background Vocal
Chris Brigandi – Producer, Songwriter, Guitars, Lead Vocals
Lucky Chuck – Background Vocals
Derri Daugherty – Engineered, Mixed
Stan Endicott – Over Dub Production
Rex Harvey – Songwriter, Guitars, Background Vocals
Dave Kaplowitz – Sax
Kass – Bass, Background Vocals
Mark Kirschak – Songwriter
Joey Mitchell – Drums, Background Vocals
Kathy Perry – Background Vocals
Brian Ray – Drums
Joanne Saundenberg – Background Vocals
Marnie Saundenberg – Duet Vocal, Background Vocal
William Spivery – Songwriter
Adrian Tapia – Sax, Clarinet
Joe Van Gilder – Piano

Larry Norman – Something New Under the Son – 1981

This album is probably Larry’s best straight out Rock and Roll album.

Recorded in 1977 it didn’t get released until 1981 due in part to difficulty with Word Records. In fact Word censored “Watch What You’re Doing”. Given these difficulties, this album was the end of Larry’s distribution agreement with Word Records. It was also his last release on Solid Rock Records, which was actually shut down before this album was released.

As a teen I remember loving “Watch What You’re Doing” though now I can enjoy all of the album with more years of life experience under my belt.

Track Listing:
1 – Hard Luck Bad News
2 – Feeling So Bad
3 – I Feel Like Dying
4 – Born To Be Unlucky
5 – Watch What You’re Doing
6 – Leaving The Past Behind
7 – Put Your Life In His Hands
8 – Larry Norman’s 97th Nightmare
9 – Let That Tape Keep Rolling (C:12/L:6)

Credits:
Bass – Billy (Shazam) Batstone*, Dave Coy, Tim Jaquette
Drums – Alex MacDougall, Peter Johnson (3)
Guitar, Slide Guitar – Jon Linn
Producer, Arranged By, Written-By – Larry Norman
Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Bass, Piano, Harmonica, Saxophone, Harmony Vocals, Photography By, Artwork – L.N.*