Ray Mansfield – Page 65

Ransom – Soul Asylum – 1992

This is the second and unfortunately last album from Ransom. The album leans a little more Rock and a little less Metal than their first release but it should satisfy fans of both genres. I’m more Rock oriented and I love this album. Lisa Faxon’s vocals shine again and are even better than their first release. Producer Lanny Cordola stepped in for this album and though he didn’t have many productions under his belt at this point he knocked it out of the park with this one. It is a very very well produced album. The last track is rather odd in that it’s a blues tune that doesn’t fit with the rest of the album BUT it features Oz Fox (Stryper) so it is a must listen. I’d love to hear the story of how that arrangement occurred. Anyway this is a great Rock album and deserves to be listened to.

Tracklist
1 – Soul Hymn – 4:29
2 – Exit (Euthanasia) – 4:35
3 – Windows Of My Heart – 4:22
4 – The Lies – 3:20
5 – Prayer Asylum – 4:37
6 – Only The Just Let Go – 4:12
7 – Not That Kind Of Girl – 4:19
8 – Watching Over Me – 4:42
9 – Higher Ground – 4:13
10 – Sister Blue – 4:16

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Bass – Michael Preciado
Co-producer, Engineer – Mike Mierau
Drums [Additional Musicians], Percussion [Additional Musicians] – Joe Calletta
Guitar – Tony Ortiz
Illustration [Original Illustration] – Kevin Short (2)
Keyboards [Additional Musicians] – Roger Mielke
Layout – Brian Godawa
Mastered By – John Matousek
Other [Hair And Make-Up] – Dawn Gill
Photography – Wayne Armstrong
Producer – Lanny Cordola
Vocals – Lisa Faxon

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Mixing Lab A
Recorded At – Mixing Lab B
Mixed At – Front Page Recording
Mastered At – Soundworks West

Teri Desario – A Call To Us All – 1983

This was Teri’s 4th album but her first in the CCM genre. She had a very successful run in Secular music before having a disagreement with her record company and switching to Word/Dayspring records. As a point of trivia her separation from secular Casablanca records left an album on the shelf that has never been released. Another weird piece of trivia is That she put out a secular album in the same year as this one but it was only released in Japan. Anyway onto this album, it was produced by her hubby, Bill Purse. He didn’t have much of a production history but did a great job on this album. The album had 2 singles with “Battleline” making it to #8 and “I Dedicate All My Love To You” to #10. Pretty successful album but given her secular success this isn’t surprising. Actually I’m a little surprised they didn’t pull a 3 and 4th single off the album. The album is a Easy Listening affair but has a couple pretty good upbeat tracks. “Dig A Little Deeper” is the track that most resemble her secular work and has a nice pop dance feel to it.

Tracklist
1 – Thank You – 3:30
2 – Battleline – 3:40
3 – I Dedicate All My Love To You – 4:57
4 – Dig A Little Deeper – 4:00
5 – Clouds Without Water – 5:30
6 – All I Need – 4:30
7 – Jesus, Call Your Lambs – 4:10
8 – I’ll Carry On – 4:54
9 – A Call To Us All – 7:25

Credits
Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin – John Chiodini
Art Direction, Design – Paul Gross
Backing Vocals – Bill Purse, David Roitstein, Kelly Koehr, Kim Fox, Nicole Ann Kujala, Rosalina R. Sackstein, Stephen R. Kujala, Teri DeSario Purse
Berimbau, Kalimba, Caxixi – Michael Fisher
Concertmaster – Doug Cameron
Design [Inner Sleeve] – Steve Elowe
Drums – Carlos Vega, Tony Lewis
Engineer [Assistant] – Steve Ford
Flute – Rosalina R. Sackstein
French Horn – William Alsup
Guitar – Kevin Clark
Harp – Amy Shulman
Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
Photography By – Harry Langdon
Producer, Arranged By, Piano, Synthesizer – Bill Purse
Recorded By, Mixed By – Kevin Clark
Saxophone – Dave Boruff
Sitar – Dan Ratkovich
Tabla, Percussion – Ron Wagner

Companies, etc.
Mastered At – A&M Studios
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.

DeGarmo & Key – The Pledge – 1989

DeGarmo & Key are back with one of their most successful albums. When I say successful I am referring to radio play and sales numbers. Personally it’s not one of my favorites but I’m from the early 80’s crowd so of course I prefer their work from that era. That said I admit this is a pretty good album. D & K had album making down to a fine science at this point. In a 1989 interview with John Styll, Eddie DeGarmo said they “planned to place more emphasis (than before) in their ministry towards motivating young Christians and those in church to witness to people and win them to Christ, as well as motivating them to take a stand in situations that affect the public” and I think that’s where this album really shined. I have seen “Pledge” patches everywhere over the years and there are still places you can get one. As for the charts this album had 4 charting singles. “If God Is For Us” did the best at #3, “Hand In Hand” made it to a respectable #7, “I’m Accepted” to #15, and “Who Will” made it to #24. All in all a pretty successful album.

Tracklist
1 – Boycott Hell – 3:21
2 – Aliens And Strangers – 3:04
3 – I’m Accepted – 3:55
4 – Hand In Hand – 4:37
5 – The Pledge – 5:15
6 – Life In The New Age – 2:32
7 – Let’s Get Upset – 4:31
8 – Who Will – 3:20
9 – Right On Track – 4:30
10 – If God Is For Us (Who Can Be Against Us) – 3:30

Credits
Art Direction, Design – Jackson Design
Backing Vocals – Eddie DeGarmo, Steve Taylor, Tommy Cathey
Bass – Tommy Cathey
Choir – Christ Church, Nashville TN
Drums – Chuck Reynolds
Engineer, Mixed By – Billy Whittington
Executive-Producer – Dan R. Brock
Guitar – Dana Key, Steve Taylor
Keyboards – Carl Marsh, Eddie DeGarmo
Lead Vocals – Dana Key
Management – Brock And Associates
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Percussion – Carl Marsh
Photography By – Dave Hawkins
Producer, Engineer – Ron W. Griffin

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright (c) – The ForeFront Communications Group, Inc.
Copyright (c) – DKB Music
Distributed By – Benson Music Group
Made By – Discovery Systems – 56D0600A
Recorded At – Ardent Studios
Recorded At – OmniSound Studios
Mixed At – The Castle Recording Studios
Mixed At – Masterfonics
Mixed At – Kiva Recording Studio
Mastered At – Mastermix

Tom Franzak – Shadowboxing – 1985

This is the second of 2 albums from Tom Franzak in the 80’s but he has released some worship albums in the 2000’s. If you don’t know Tom’s background I’ll just skim it here. He was the first Catholic performer signed by Word records and as such stands out as an oddity. This album is considerable better than his first album. Not that his first album is bad, it’s actually quite good but this one is quite a bit better. The themes are Christian but there’s no hint of evangelism as he was Catholic. That said the lyrics are solidly Christian and regardless of your denomination there are some good messages here. The album is pop keyboard heavy and at times even has a Steve Taylor feel. Tom continues in a music career becoming the Director of Music Ministries at St. John XXIII Parish in Pennsylvania. If you missed this one in the 80’s and you like Pop you should really give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – We Can Make A Difference – 3:56
2 – Theology – 3:25
3 – I’ll Come After You – 4:08
4 – Stuff – 3:39
5 – David Danced – 3:33
6 – Shadowboxing – 4:17
7 – Where’s Love For Susie – 4:33
8 – Soon To Be Without A Major Attraction – 4:54
9 – Without Love – 5:49

Credits
Dawn Bianchi – Background Vocals
Bill Bodine – Bass
Kevin Clark – Engineer, Mixed, Guitar, Bass-o-matic
Laura Creamer – Background Vocals
Jeff DeMorris – Assistant Engineer
Teri DeSario – Background Vocals
John Flynn – Background Vocals
Tom Franzak – Songwriter, Arrangements, Keyboards, Vocals
Bill Purse – Producer, Arrangements, Keyboards, Background Vocals
Brooke Romano – Background Vocals
Peter Romano – Background Vocals
Robert Sanchez – Background Vocals
Doug Sax – Mastered
Larry Treadwell – Guitar
Cheryl Wilks – Background Vocals
Art Wood – Drums
R. Tandy Xeno – Assistant Engineer

Companies, etc.
Pressed By – Electrosound Los Angeles – Δ27133
Mastered At – The Mastering Lab

Leon Patillo – Don’t Give In – 1981

This is Leon’s second album. His first album over on Maranatha! Music was a snorefest but his deal here with Myrrh records turned up the funky fun. This was really the album that established Leon’s long standing run in the CMM genre. Myrrh must have had some real confidence in Patillo as they paid licensing fees for 2 tracks that must not have been cheap. George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher And Higher” are both excellent covers and both bring an element of fun to the album. The album did do well garnering 2 charting songs on the CCM charts. “Star Of The Morning” made it into the top 10 at #9 and the title track “Don’t Give In” made it to #16. The album also contains one of Patillo’s most famous tracks “Flesh Of My Flesh” which oddly didn’t single. This is a fun funk album that mainly stands in the Easy Listening crowd but has some upbeat tracks that made for some listening fun in 1981.

Tracklist
1 – Blessed Is – 3:33
2 – Have Faith – 4:33
3 – Flesh Of My Flesh – 4:42
4 – We Must Believe – 4:38
5 – (Your Love Is Lifting Me) Higher And Higher – 3:14
6 – Star Of The Morning – 3:48
7 – Don’t Give In – 4:13
8 – How Can I Begin – 4:04
9 – My Sweet Lord – 3:13
10 – Go – 3:27

Credits
Art Direction – Dennis Hill
Backing Vocals [Background, Additional] – Dennis Correll, Fred Field, Joni Dias, Kirsten Konte, Mickey Rooney, Jr., Patty Bolton, Regunia Peoples, Tim Correll
Backing Vocals [Background] – Donn Thomas, Leon Patillo
Bass – Charlie Souza
Booking – Dharma Artist Agency
Drums – Gaylord Birch
Engineer – Brook Johnson, Willie Harlan
Lead Vocals, Keyboards – Leon Patillo
Mastered By – Richard Donaldson
Mixed By – Willie Harlan
Orchestrated By – Dave Garland
Photography By – Alan Bergman
Producer, Percussion – Skip Konte
Written-By – Leon Patillo

Companies, etc.
Recorded At – International Automated Media
Mixed At – International Automated Media
Mastered At – International Automated Media
Record Company – Myrrh Records
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Published By – Dayspring Music
Published By – Chevis Music, Inc.
Published By – Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.
Published By – BRC Music Corp.

Saint – Time’s End – 1986

The second album from Saint is often considered their best by their hardcore fans. They definitely turned up the Metal for this album. The only lineup change was the drummer with Brian Willis replacing Mike Lowery. Strangely the band went through a drummer every album for their first six albums. While I personally loved their first album, and consider it my favourite, most never even heard of it. Instead this was their first exposure to Saint. The album cover was a little controversial with it’s depiction of beasts but I believe they were trying to represent “Time’s End” visually with a depiction of the Antichrist, at least that’s my theory. The cover was well received by Christian Metal heads partly because it resembled a secular cover which is also just my theory. Anyway this was one of the original CCM metal albums and deserves a place in infamy because of that. The album was reissued several times over the years. The 2002 version contains Live Cornerstone tracks as a bonus and is apparently very well remixed.

Tracklist
1 – In The Night – 3:25
2 – Island Prisoner – 4:18
3 – Through You – 4:13
4 – Space Cruiser – 5:15
5 – Times End – 4:42
6 – Primed And Ready – 3:47
7 – Destroyers – 3:17
8 – Phantom Of The Galaxy – 2:34
9 – Steel Killer – 3:43

Credits
Bass, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – Richard Lynch
Cover – Jeff Spencer
Drums – Brian Willis
Engineer – Dave “R” Lore
Guitar, Backing Vocals [Background Vocals] – John Mahan
Lead Vocals – Josh Kramer
Producer – John Mahan, Richard Lynch

Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Nimbus, Virginia
Distributed By – Refuge Music Group
Recorded At – Falcon Studios
Published By – Snellsong

Scarlet Rayne – Theater Humanitarian – 1990/2008

Scarlet Rayne was a late 80’s metal band out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They released a 3 track demo in the late 80’s but at this time we are unable to find a copy. The internet tells me that they actually turned down a record deal and instead chose to release this album independently. They released 1000 CD’s and 1500 Cassettes. Not big numbers but it must have been well received as they became quite popular. The internet also tells me that after some personnel changes they changed names to SolScape and recorded a second album but unfortunately the band split and never released the album. This album was reissued in 2008 by Arkeyn Steel Records with 4 bonus tracks. We have included those bonus tracks here. As for the album it’s a fairly commercial Metal sound but the vocals do stand out as being well above average for the time of the recording. Pretty good metal album here and if that’s your style of choice you should definitely give it a listen.

Tracklist
1 – Scarlet Rayne – 5:58
2 – Alpha & Omega – 4:41
3 – Tales Of The Lost – 4:31
4 – Covered Fear – 5:40
5 – C.F.C. – 4:40
6 – Sands Of Time – 6:50
7 – Through Eyes Of The Past – 6:51
8 – Midnight Excursion – 0:41
Bonus Tracks
9 – Razorback – 4:12
10 – Lost Meaning – 5:04
11 – Lions Den – 3:18
12 – How Now – 3:59

Credits
Artwork, Layout – Kostas Athanasoglou
Bass, Vocals, Guitar – Kyle David
Drums, Percussion – Crash
Guitar, Vocals, Bass – Danyl J.

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Arkeyn Steel Records
Copyright (c) – Arkeyn

1990 Release

2008 Release

Holm, Sheppard, Johnson – Soldiers Again – 1989

Dallas Holm, Tim Sheppard, and Phil Johnson first came together in 1981 and put out a self titled album. At the time they were all under contract to Greentree Records so there was no contractual issues to work out. They had to wait until 1989 to put out a second album as along the way they were under contract to different record companies and this can cause unsurmountable legal issues. In 1989 none of them were under a contract so they were able to record a follow up album. This is that album. I actually consider them to be a supergroup as they were 3 very top ranked vocalists. Now you normally wouldn’t apply the term supergroup when it comes to the worship genre but I think they deserve it. The album was fairly successful on the CCM charts with “Feel Every Heartbeat” making it to #3 and “Soldiers Again” just poking on to the charts at #40. If you’re a fan of worship oriented music don’t miss out on listening to this one, I’m guessing you’ll love it.

Tracklist
1 – Feel Every Heartbeat – 4:25
2 – Give Me This Water – 4:31
3 – Fighter – 3:13
4 – Standin’ There – 4:00
5 – Child In His Arms – 4:02
6 – Run For The Finish Line – 3:36
7 – City – 4:16
8 – Wisdom – 4:57
9 – I Can See Your House – 3:06
10 – Soldiers Again – 4:17

Credits
Acoustic Guitar – Mark Baldwin
Arranged By – Smitty Price
Art Direction – Amy Linde, Terri Short
Bass – Gary Lunn
Cello – John Catchings
Design – Ken Spradley
Drums, Percussion – Dennis Holt
Electric Guitar – Jerry McPhearson, Mark Baldwin
Engineer [Additional] – JB, Smitty Price
Engineer [Assistant] – John Harley, John Kunz, Michael Vasquez
Keyboards – Reed Arvin, Smitty Price
Mastered By – Hank Williams
Photography By – Neill Whitlock
Producer – Neal Joseph
Recorded By [Vocals] – Paul Mills
Recorded By, Mixed By – JB
Saxophone – Mark Douthit

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word, Inc.
Copyright (c) – Word, Inc.
Manufactured By – Word, Inc.
Recorded At – Dallas Sound Lab
Recorded At – Digital Recorders
Recorded At – BDR Sound
Mixed At – Dallas Sound Lab
Mastered At – Mastermix

The Call – The Call – 1982

This album was our introduction to The Call. Well in my case it honestly it was their second album, I missed this one almost entirely. Actually I think a lot of people missed this first album which is a pity because it’s actually very good. There isn’t much information on the formative years of The Call but we do know they formed in 1980 in Santa Cruz, California. The original lineup was Michael Been (lead vocals, guitar), Scott Musick (drums), Tom Ferrier (guitar), and Greg Freeman (bass). Steve Huddleston (keyboards) joined 1981. This album would set the sound we would come to love but this album only did moderately well and didn’t rank in the U.S. top 100 album chart. It just didn’t have a breakout single, that would wait for their second album. The chosen single was “There’s A Heart Here” but really I think “Bandits” would have been a much better choice but who am I to question the record company gurus. Anyway if you joined The Call on their second album be sure to take the time to listen to this one and hear where it all started.

Tracklist
1 – War Weary World – 4:18
2 – There’s A Heart Here – 2:56
3 – Doubt – 4:19
4 – This Is Life – 3:06
5 – Fulham Blues – 3:13
6 – Who’s That Man – 3:05
7 – Upperbirth – 3:38
8 – Bandits – 3:28
9 – Flesh And Steel – 4:54
10 – Unbearable – 2:37
11 – Waiting For The End – 5:15

Credits
Bass, Vocals – Greg Freeman
Drums, Vocals – Scott Musick
Engineer – Hugh Padgham
Engineer [Assistant] – Andy Lyden, Howard Grey, Steve Prestage
Guitar, Vocals – Tom Ferrier
Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards – Michael Been
Producer – Hugh Padgham
Synthesizer, Piano, Saxophone – Garth Hudson
Written-By – Michael Been

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – PolyGram Records, Inc.
Copyright © – PolyGram Records, Inc.
Manufactured By – PolyGram Records, Inc.
Marketed By – PolyGram Records, Inc.
Lacquer Cut at – Sterling Sound
Made By – Hauppauge Record Manufacturing Ltd.

Sam Phillips – The Indescribable Wow – 1988

This is Leslie Phillips first album using the moniker Sam Phillips. It is also her first release in the secular music stream. Much has been written of her departure from the Christian music market but I will quote her instead of offering my opinion. In an interview with Enio Chiola in 2011 this is what she stated “I found out through that whole process that I wanted to learn how to write songs and make music better than I had before, and I realized that a lot of the fundamentalist people didn’t care about that, or were judgmental about that. It seemed that they had a very utilitarian view of art. That art was only to serve one purpose, which was to get across their point of view, and I didn’t agree.” I think I can safely say there were “artistic differences” between her and Myrrh records. For her first pop album T-Bone Burnett came on board to produce and the result is probably the best cross over album of any artist. It is no surprise to my regular readers that I am a huge T-Bone fan and this album is one of those reasons. After this album came out T-Bone and Leslie/Sam confirmed they were in a relationship and they did marry a year later.

Tracklist
1 – I Don’t Want To Fall In Love – 2:50
2 – I Don’t Know How To Say Goodbye To You – 3:18
3 – Flame – 2:33
4 – Remorse – 3:43
5 – What Do I Do – 3:52
6 – I Can’t Stop Crying – 3:17
7 – Holding On To The Earth – 3:00
8 – She Can’t Tell Time – 3:35
9 – What You Don’t Want To Hear – 2:59
10 – Out Of Time – 4:26

Credits
Arranged By – T Bone Burnett (tracks: 5), Van Dyke Parks, Van Dyke Parks (tracks: 5)
Bass – Jerry Scheff
Cello, Double Bass [String Bass] – Buell Niedlinger
Coordinator [Production Co-ordinator] – Tim Davis
Drum Machine – Ralph Forbes
Drums – Mickey Curry, Steve Jordan
Engineer [Assistant] – Brian Soucy, Clif Norrel, Dave Knight
Harpsichord, Harmonium, Bass – David Miner
Mastered By – Howie Weinberg
Mixed By – Kevin Killen
Organ – Mike Utley
Percussion, Drums – Alex Acuña
Producer, Guitar, Mandocello, Marxophone – T-Bone Burnett
Recorded By – Rik Pekkonen
Recorded By [Additional Recording] – Tchad Blake
Recorded By [Assistant] – Mike Ross
Trumpet – Darrel Leonard
Written-By – Sam Phillips (tracks: 1 to 10), T Bone Burnett (tracks: 7, 8)

Companies, etc.
Copyright © – Virgin Records America, Inc.
Copyright © – Virgin Records America, Inc.
Distributed By – WEA
Recorded At – Ocean Way Recording
Recorded At – The Sound Factory
Mastered At – Masterdisk