Ray Mansfield – Page 2

Michael W. Smith – I’ll Lead You Home – 1995

A few times I’ve been asked when it all went wrong for Christian music. I truly believe that this album was that moment. This was MWS’s 10th album and as far as commercial success goes it was his biggest. This album actually entered the Billboard 200 at #16 which is the highest-debuting Christian album in history. It also won the 1996 Grammy Award in the ‘Best Pop-Contemporary Gospel Album’. Unfortunately this caught the attention of record executives and that lead to where we are today. When Christian artists were small change their labels were lead by other Christians who knew what Christians wanted to hear. Now we are fed what the executives think we want which most people listen to reluctantly and some even actually think they like it. This album is literally every worship service I now hear on Sunday minus the congregation singing along. The songs are absolutely dull and has zero creativity. The album was recorded in 8 different studios with 22 engineers. I’m not kidding, 22 engineers and 40 musicians. As a result the album has absolutely no flow at all and no continuity in the sound or feel of the album. It’s just a collection of mediocre worship songs. This is what record executives thought we wanted to hear. No, it’s what our parents wanted to hear, we wanted to hear Rock & Roll whatever definition that had in 1995. So this was the beginning of the end. I have listened to this album 3 times in 2 days now and I can not remember one track. Not one. Absolutely nothing on this album stood out. Sorry Michael you put zero effort into the album and it shows but apparently that’s what our parents wanted and here we are today.

Tracklist
1 – Cry For Love – 5:12
2 – Breakdown – 5:27
3 – As It Is In Heaven – 5:09
4 – Straight To The Heart – 2:48
5 – Someday – 3:52
6 – I’ll Be Around – 4:45
7 – I’ll Lead You Home – 5:23
8 – Trilogy: The Other Side Of Me – 4:24
9 – Trilogy: Breathe In Me – 3:55
10 – Trilogy: Angels Unaware – 4:37
11 – Calling Heaven – 4:54
12 – A Little Stronger Everyday – 4:43
13 – Crown Him With Many Crowns – 4:34
14 – I’m Waiting For You – 3:12

Credits
A&R – Don Donahue
Acoustic Guitar – Bruce Gaitsch
Arranged By, Conductor – Jeremy Lubbock
Art Direction – Rob Birkhead
Backing Vocals – Brent Bourgeois, Chris Rodriguez, Gardner Cole, Lisa Cochran, Louis Johnson, Micah Wilshire, Molly Felder, Natalie Jackson, Renee Garcia Bliss, Richard Page, Tim Erwin
Bass – Lee Sklar, Tommy Simms
Choir – Angelo, Anointed, Bob Bailey, Chris Harris, Chris Rodriguez, Da Dra Crawford, Denise “Nee-C” Walls, Donna McElroy, Kim Fleming, Mary Tiller, Micah Wilshire, Michael Mellett, Nicole Coleman Mullen, Steve Crawford, Veronica Petrucci, Vicki Hampton
Contractor – Jules Chaikin
Coordinator [Vocal Coordinator] – Donna McElroy
Design – Buddy Jackson, Karinne Caulkins
Design [Creative Assistant] – Diana Lussenden
Drum Programming – Marc Moreau, Patrick Leonard
Drums – Brian MacLeod, Chris McHugh, Steve Brewster, Vinnie Colaiuta
Engineer [Second] – Al Lay, Darren Smith, David Dilbeck, David Faulkner, Dennis Patton, Greg Parker, Jason Wilder, Jeff Wright, John “JT” Thomas, Krish Sharma, Mike Janas, Patrick Kelly, Paula Montondo, Rob Burrell, Scott Lenox
Executive-Producer – Michael Blanton, Michael W. Smith
Guitar – Dann Huff
Keyboards – Patrick Leonard
Keyboards, Piano – Michael W. Smith
Mastered By – Doug Sax
Mixed By – Bill Deaton, Craig Hansen, David Thoener, Jerry Jordan
Organ – Patrick Leonard
Percussion – Luis Conte
Photography By – Ben Pearson, Russ Harrington
Photography By [Cover] – Timothy White
Producer – Michael W. Smith, Patrick Leonard
Programmed By – Michael W. Smith
Programmed By [Additional] – Brian MacLeod, Dennis Patton
Programmed By [Synth] – Patrick Leonard
Recorded By – Bryan Lenox, Craig Hansen, Jerry Jordan, Keith Compton, Marc Moreau
Steel Guitar – Paul Franklin
Vocals – Michael W. Smith

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Pila Music
Manufactured By – Reunion Records
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Reunion Records
Copyright © – Reunion Records
Recorded At – Sixteenth Avenue Sound, A&M Studios, Deer Valley Studio, Franklin, TN, Gambit Studio, Johnny Yuma Recording, Masterfonics, Sound Kitchen, Studio At Mole End, The Castle Recording Studios
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab
Glass Mastered At – Adivan Switzerland
Designed At – Jackson Design

Bliss Bliss – Bliss Bliss – 1994

Let’s call this album what it is, it’s Reneé Garcia’s third album. Her husband (Lang Bliss) played small roles on her previous 2 albums but suddenly they’re a band called Bliss Bliss. Yes he did play a bigger role on this album but without her there really was no album but without him the album could easily have gone ahead. Furthermore he is apparently a drummer but all of her albums have electronic drums. How can you be the drummer on an album with electronic drums? If anything you may be a programmer but you aren’t a drummer. There I’ve said my piece. Most people know that I quite like Reneé Garcia so I was pretty happy when I discovered she had more albums using this name. While the album was on a new label Chris Eaton returned to produce this album though the electronic drummer also took production credits. I don’t think the songwriting measures up to her first 2 albums but it’s okay and her vocal skills make up for it. So it’s another fun pop album here from Reneé and if you liked her first 2 you’ll probably like this one.

Tracklist
1 – Fight For Peace – 4:34
2 – Building Bridges – 4:51
3 – Field Of Daisies – 4:27
4 – A Little Love – 4:19
5 – Believe In You – 4:37
6 – When The World’s Asleep – 5:06
7 – House Of Cards – 3:46
8 – Modern World – 4:39
9 – Walking Through Paradise – 3:37
10 – Chain Of Fear – 4:46
11 – Love And Devotion – 5:04
12 – House On The Hill – 5:52

Credits
Lang Bliss – Producer, Songwriter, Keyboards, Drums, Background Vocals, Choir
Keith Brown – Songwriter
Dave Bunker – Executive Producer, Choir
Tina Clark – Background Vocals, Choir
Eric Darken – Percussion
Chris Eaton – Executive Producer, Songwriter, Background Vocals
Gene Ford – Guitars
Reneé Garcia – Songwriter, Choir, Background Vocals, Vocals
Joe Gautier – Songwriter
Bob Halligan, Jr. – Songwriter
Mike Haynes – Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Renay Herrington – Background Vocals, Choir
Chris Kearney – Choir
Isabella Kearney – Choir
Jamie Kearney – Choir
Bryan Lenox – Additional Engineer
Russ Long – Co-Producer, Engineer, Mixed
John Mallory – Songwriter
Blair Masters – B-3, Keyboards
Heath McMillen – Choir
Michael Mellett – Background Vocals
Patsy Moore – Songwriter
John Mark Painter – Bass
Tim Pierce – Guitars
Kip Summers – Songwriter
Hank Williams – Mastered

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – R.E.X. Music
Copyright © – R.E.X. Music
Mastered At – Mastermix
Made By – Disc Manufacturing, Inc., Huntsville – 102125

Wall Bros. Band – Start All Over Again – 1978

The Wall Brothers are one of the most mystifying 70’s bands I have listened to. I missed this album back in the day and I’m guessing it’s because it wasn’t released in Canada. That said the band was hugely popular in the Genre. We get comments all the time about how much people liked them yet, I can find next to nothing about them. Bass player Randy Nelson has chimed in on our website and speaks fondly of his time with the band and says he’s still in contact with them. All that said I can find very very little about them in the interwebs. How did such a popular and excellent band become so unknown? This is a travesty because these guys were great and deserve some attention. Okay let’s get onto the album. While the album has a 70’s feel it does not have a typical Jesus Music sound. This is a Rock & Roll album and not some worship album. That said it does have some Ballads but they are actual Rock ballads. The lyrics are in your face Christianity. None of this ship in the desert stuff. This is well thought out Christ lyrics. Wish I had heard this one back in the day, it would have fit in nicely with our early SCB listening sessions.

Tracklist
1 – I Never Understood – 3:10
2 – Wind On Summer Nights – 4:46
3 – Walkin’ On The Water – 3:15
4 – Your Love Is Just What I Need – 4:45
5 – I Am – 4:38
6 – Givin’ It Up – 3:07
7 – Start All Over Again – 5:12
8 – Joyman – 3:48
9 – Clouds Of Glory – 4:32
10 – Where Will You Be Tomorrow? – 4:42

Credits
Arranged By [Horn Arrangements] – Shane Keister
Art Direction, Design – Bob McConnell
Bass, Vocals – Greg Wall
Drums, Percussion – Lance DeMers
Electric Guitar – Randy Nelson
Engineer – Bob Clark, Gene Eichelburger
Flugelhorn, Trumpet – George Tidwell
Flute – Billy Puett
Keyboards [Fender Rhodes], Lead Vocals – Kraig Wall
Lyrics By – Lance DeMers
Mastered By – Glenn Meadows
Mixed By – Travis Turk
Music By – Kraig Wall
Photography By – Dill Beaty
Producer – Phil Johnson
Synthesizer [Arp] – Shane Keister

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Greentree Records
Published By – John T. Benson Pub. Co.
Published By – Dimension Music
Recorded At – Great Circle Sound
Mastered At – Masterfonics

The Alarm – Change – 1989

This was the fourth studio album from The Alarm and the band/label continued their Russian roulette approach to producers. Tony Visconti was chosen as the producer/engineer for this one and quite frankly wasn’t the best choice. He completely failed to capture the feel of The Alarm and instead produced a commercial sounding album that made the band sound like anything else that came out in 1989. This is not to say that the album isn’t good, in fact the songs are great, it’s the arrangements/mix that sucked. So many great songs and if you see any of them live they are fantastic but for whatever reason the label thought the band needed a mainstream sound. The Alarm were not a mainstream band, they were a band of Christians with an edge that Rock and Roll needed, especially in 1989. Some interesting trivial about the album is that it was released on vinyl even though the vinyl version had to eliminate 2 tracks because the album was 2 long. There was a version of the album released in the U.K. that had the extra 2 tracks on a 7 inch insert. If I still collected vinyl I’d love to have that version. The album’s first single, “Sold Me Down the River” is a fantastic track and if you ever hear it live you realize how good a track it really is. It reached #13 on the UK charts, #75 in the US charts and in Canada it reached # 19 so I remember it very well. My personal belief is if this had been mixed properly it would have been a top 10 hit but the label knew better than me, or at least they think they did. Anyway I urge you to listen to the album as it really is very good and I absolutely love it. BUT, if it had been produced properly it would have been huge in my opinion.

Tracklist
1 – Sold Me Down The River – 5:25
2 – The Rock – 4:39
3 – Devolution Workin’ Man Blues – 4:11
4 – Love Don’t Come Easy – 4:08
5 – Hardland – 4:09
6 – Change II – 2:52
7 – No Frontiers – 3:53
8 – Scarlet – 4:17
9 – Where A Town Once Stood – 3:48
10 – Black Sun – 4:30
11 – Prison Without Prison Bars – 3:48
12 – How The Mighty Fall – 4:19
13 – Rivers To Cross – 3:42
14 – A New South Wales – 4:46

Credits
Arranged By – The Alarm
Bass – Eddie MacDonald
Drums – Nigel Buckle
Guitar – Dave Sharp
Keyboards – Mark Taylor
Management – Barry Dickins, Elliot Roberts
Producer, Engineer – Tony Visconti
Vocals – Mike Peters

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Cinram
Record Company – I.R.S. Records
Distributed By – MCA Records
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – International Record Syndicate, Inc.

Lynn Haney – Rebirth – 1972

My discovery of Lynn Haney is a result of another of my clicking on Discog links. Glenn Schwartz and the All Saved Freak Band join Lynn on the track “Building The Earth” and I found her from them. Lynn was not a member or involved with the All Saved Freak Band in any way that I can find but her sound is much like them. I hesitate to call this a Jesus Music album because it’s much more than that. There is some fantastic blues on this album and that just wasn’t heard in the Jesus Music genre yet. The album is on Tribute Records who had nothing else that sounded like this on their label. In fact while they were a Christian label most of their stuff was geared at the Catholic market so I have no idea how they got involved in this project. Anyway this is almost completely unknown Jesus Music era album that was great and deserved to be better known.

Tracklist
1 – If We Could Share – 3:02
2 – Believe It’s Time – 2:09
3 – Reality – 2:37
4 – Raise Your Voice – 3:04
5 – Hobab – 1:14
6 – Just My Life – 4:16
7 – Building The Earth – 3:03
8 – Makaha – 3:33
9 – You Can’t Run Away – 3:00
10 – Man Of Love – 2:34
11 – Go In Peace – 2:58

Credits
Artwork – Lynne Dudnik
Backing Vocals – Linda Sterrett
Bass – Bob Surga, James Nice
Drums – Jerry Coleman
Engineer – Ken Hammond, Marty Feldman
Guitar – Glenn Schwartz
Guitar, Producer – Ray Tate
Lead Vocals – Lynn Haney
Photography – Billy Bass
Piano, Harpsichord, Flute – Al Porth

Whitecross – In The Kingdom – 1991

This is the 4th studio album from Whitecross. To say it was successful would be an understatement. The album reached #12 on Billboard’s Top Contemporary Christian Albums chart and won a Dove award for Hard Music Album of the Year. The revolving door of members continued on this album with Butch Dillon on bass and Mike Feighan on drums for this album. I think it’s fair to say that at this point Whitecross was Scott Wenzel and Rex Carroll. Interestingly the track “Holy War” featured hip hop artist Alton Hood of Disciples of Christ. I’ve listened to this track a couple times now and one time I think it’s an excellent track and the next time I think it’s disjointed and doesn’t work. I don’t know if they were trying to reproduce the success of Aerosmith/Run-DMC but it’s certainly not of that level. One last point of trivia was that the music video for “No Second Chances” was the band’s first video ever seen on MTV’s Headbangers Ball.

Tracklist
1 – No Second Chances – 4:45
2 – We Know What’s Right – 6:06
3 – In The Kingdom – 5:20
4 – In His Hands – 3:37
5 – Good Enough – 3:58
6 – Love Is Our Weapon – 4:41
7 – The Eternal Fire (Guitar Solo) – 2:00
8 – You Will Find It There – 6:00
9 – If He Goes Before Me – 4:13
10 – Tell Me The Time – 4:29
11 – Holy War – 5:55

Credits
Backing Vocals – Butch Dillon, Dez Dickerson, Glenn Kaiser, Linda Clifford, Mike Feighan, Rex Carroll, Rey Parra, Scott Wenzel, Steve Watkins, Vicky Hubly
Bass [Musical Support] – Rick Cua
Bass, Vocals – Butch Dillon
Booking, Management – Gavin Markel, PGM Management
Creative Director – Toni Thigpen
Design, Layout – Jeff Spencer
Director Of Photography – Toni Thigpen
Drums [Musical Support] – Mike Mead
Drums, Vocals – Mike Feighan
Engineer [2nd engineer, mixing @ 16th Avenue Sound] – Graham Lewis
Engineer [2nd engineer, recording @ Jor-Dan Studio] – Glenn West
Engineer [editing @ Georgetown Masters] – Carlos Grier
Engineer [mastering @ Georgetown Masters] – Denny Purcell
Executive Producer – Dez Dickerson
Guitar, Vocals – Rex Carroll
Keyboards [Musical Support] – Chris Cameron
Lead Vocals – Scott Wenzel
Other [Make-up] – Michael Tyler
Percussion [Musical Support] – Richard Trelease
Photography By – Russ Harrington
Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Simon Hanhart
Rap – Alton Hood

Companies, etc.
Record Company – Star Song Communications
Distributed By – Word Ltd.
Manufactured By – Word Ltd.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Star Song Records
Copyright © – Star Song Records
Recorded At – Jor-Dan Studios
Mixed At – Sixteenth Avenue Sound
Mastered At – Georgetown Masters
Edited At – Georgetown Masters
Glass Mastered At – Nimbus

The Alpha Band – The Alpha Band – 1976

The Alpha Band rose out of the ashes of the backup band from Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1976. T-Bone Burnett, Steven Soles, and David Mansfield had worked so well together on the tour they decided they should head top the studio and this album is the result. The album has a strong T-Bone fell but that’s going to happen as his vocals are so distinct. But musically this is definitely a T-Bone album and is much more in the style of T-Bone than Soles or Mansfield. The album features T-Bone’s signature songwriting but Soles was also heavily involved in songwriting. If you’ve listened to a T-Bone album then you will know what to expect from this album. If the first track doesn’t work for you keep listening as it gets much better. I’m not disrespecting “Interviews” but I just don’t think it was a good choice for the lead track. Track 2 “Cheap Perfume” is much better and set’s the album on a good path.

Tracklist
1 – Interviews – 3:52
2 – Cheap Perfume – 2:49
3 – Keep It In The Family – 4:34
4 – Ten Figures – 4:09
5 – Wouldn’t You Know – 3:51
6 – Madman – 4:23
7 – The Dogs – 4:20
8 – Arizona Telegram – 4:25
9 – Dark Eyes – 3:34
10 – Last Chance To Dance – 3:18

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Nancy Greenberg
Bass – David Jackson (4)
Drums – Matt Betton
Lacquer Cut By [JG etched in runouts] – John Golden
Management [Personal Representation] – Jonathan Taplin
Photography By [Cover] – Deborah Turbeville
Photography By [Sleeve] – Camera 5, Ken Regan
Piano – K. O. Thomas* (tracks: A3)
Recorded By – Larry Hirsch
Violin, Mandolin, Guitar – David Mansfield
Vocals – Rosanna Taplin (tracks: B2), Roscoe West (tracks: A1)
Vocals, Guitar – Steven Soles
Vocals, Guitar, Piano – T-Bone Burnett

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Arista Records, Inc.
Copyright © – Arista Records, Inc.
Recorded At – Paramount Recording Studios
Mastered At – Kendun Recorders
Pressed By – PRC Recording Company, Richmond, IN

Lanny Cordola – Of Riffs And Symphonies – 1992

Lanny was best known as a member of Giuffria, House of Lords and Magdallan/Magdalen but he actually was in many bands. He grew up in L.A. and joined the music scene as a young man and worked as a Guitar tech for a few bands. His recording career started with Giuffria. Anyway to make long story short he eventually started the band Magdallan for which he is probably best known amongst our readers. While still in Magdallan he released this solo album. While this album is mostly instrumental tracks there are a few tracks with guest vocalists that included Jon Gibson. I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting a lot from this album but I was horribly wrong. This is a fantastic album that deserved much more recognition than it got. The album really centers around Larry’s fantastic guitar work but the whole band is spot on. The band included brother Matt and Gregg Bissonette who are some of the best in thew business. We also have a guest appearance from Darrell Mansfield. So if you missed this one in 1992 be sure to give it a listen now. Full disclosure I played producer by merging a few tracks that were separated but were probably meant to be merged. This is another album that should have been listened to on vinyl and not on CD.

Tracklist
1 – Kaleidescope – 0:49
2 – Armashreddin’ – 5:39
3 – Play It Again Shem (That Funky Music) – 4:12
4 – Interlude – 0:18
5 – The Real Thing – 3:19
6 – YV – 4:58
7 – Gettysburg – 3:58
8 – Won’t Be Long Till Paradise – 4:32
9 – The Obstinate Toy Soldiers – 5:14
10 – Nan – 5:00
11 – The Revelation – 4:50
12 – For The Brothers – 5:30
13 – Donna Lee – 4:19
14 – Lo I Be With You Always – 4:02

Credits
Art Direction – Robert Beeson
Co-producer, Engineer – Charlie Watts
Design [Production] – Michael Seeley, SP&D
Mixed By – Paul Freeman
Musician, Backing Vocals – Allegra Parks, Sandra Stevens
Musician, Bass – Matt Bissonette, Mike Norton
Musician, Drums – Greg Bissonette*
Musician, Guitar – Lanny Cordola
Musician, Harp – Darrell Mansfield
Musician, Horns – the Martin Bros.
Musician, Keyboards – Tim Heintz
Musician, Percussion – Scott Breadman
Musician, Vocals – Bret Taylor, James Christian, Jon Gibson, Phil Bardowell
Producer, Arranged By – Lanny Cordola

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Front Page Studios
Mixed At – Front Page Studios
Distributed By – Brentwood Music, Inc.
Glass Mastered At – U.S. Optical Disc, Inc.

Force 3 – Opposing Forces – 1987

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Force 3 only had one album but they did have this demo. There is a lot of debate on when this demo was released but given all my reading I have settled with 1987.I could be entirely wrong however that’s pretty rare. As for the album it has 2 tracks that aren’t on their album and was released on a double sided cassette. There is not credits or year out there so I can’t tell you much more than that. If you’re a fan of Charlie Wilson here’s a couple bonus tracks for you.

Tracklist
1 – Opposing Forces – 6:32
2 – Devil In Disguise – 5:57

The All Saved Freak Band – For Christians, Elves, And Lovers – 1976

The story of the All Saved Freak Band is a fascinating one and I would urge you to read up about them and everything that stood in their way of getting their music out to the populace. But here we will concentrate on their second album. At some point the band discovered that J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian. He was actually the Catholic brand of religion but a pretty devout one apparently. Anyway the band was a fan and they brought together the fantasy world of The Lord Of The Rings with Evangelism and this album was the result. This album helped the band branch out to a whole new audience and was a big hit due to this invented theme. A copy of this album has actually been added to the Tolkien Collection at Marquette University. This album is best listened to it in it’s entirety and in the original order as the album definitely has a conceptual feel and flow.

Tracklist
1 – Stephen – 2:37
2 – Our Feast Of Love (A Merry Go Round) – 3:25
3 – By The Fire – 3:03
4 – The 100th Psalm – 5:21
5 – You Haunt My Mind – 3:38
6 – Water Street – 3:03
7 – Theme Of Fellowship Of The Ring – 3:59
8 – Elfin Chimes – 2:02
9 – Big Race – 3:23
10 – Great Victory – 3:30
11 – The Lord Is My Shepherd – 2:30
12 – Old Man Daniel – 3:07
13 – Valley Of Decision – 2:02
14 – Larry’s Song – 1:25

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Mike Berkey
Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Bells, Producer, Arranged By – Rob Galbraith
Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Violin, Cello – Kim Massmann
Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Violin, Cello, Arranged By [Special String] – Pam Massmann
Artwork, Photography By – Gary Allen, Joe Markko, John Davies, Mike Bishop
Artwork, Photography By, Engineer – Ken Hamman
Bass – Morgan King
Drums, Percussion – Tim Hill, Tom Eritano
Harp – Cindy Ratzloff
Keyboards – Carole King
Keyboards, Producer, Arranged By, Artwork, Photography By – Larry Hill
Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar – Glenn Schwartz
Rhythm Guitar – Ed Durkos
Violin, Viola – Jane Massmann, Richard Massmann

Companies, etc.
Distributed By – Windy Distributor Company
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Rock The World Enterprises
Copyright © – Rock The World Enterprises
Recorded At – Cleveland Recording Company
Lacquer Cut At – Cleveland Recording Company
Mastered At – Nashville Record Productions